Temple Prepares For Tourney Match-Up With Iowa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Temple Owls begin their NCAA Tournament journey on Friday afternoon when they take on the Iowa Hawkeyes in the first round in Brooklyn.

The Owls had to play the waiting game to see if they would make this year's field after losing to UConn in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament. It was a waiting game made even more dramatic by the fact that Temple was in a similar situation last year and got left out of the field. Head coach Fran Dunphy is very happy that the outcome was much different this time around.

"I think anytime you get into the NCAA Tournament," Dunphy tells KYW Newsradio, "the feeling is that you've had a really good season and you've won enough games to be considered by the committee. So we're excited by it, know we have a great challenge in front of us with Iowa and we're ready to go. Hopefully we'll play well on Friday and see what we can do."

Listen to the entire interview with Temple's Fran Dunphy:

The Owls bring a 21-11 record into the tournament. They won the AAC's regular season title and seemed to find their stride after a 4-5 start to the season. Dunphy talks about how his team has improved over the course of the campaign.

"I think in total team play," Dunphy says. "On the defensive end, I think you get used to one another where (you know) who's going to cover for you and in what circumstances they'll cover for you. On the offensive end, I think we've moved the ball better, we've stepped up and made shots at timely junctures of the game. We still can get to be more consistent on both ends of the floor. So I think we've become a better team, but we still have room to move."

Dunphy says the Hawkeyes are a quality opponent with one player in particular really catching his eye.

"(Senior forward) Jarrod Uthoff is really a very, very good basketball player," Dunphy says. "(Temple assistant coach) Aaron McKie mentioned 'Dirk Nowitzki-like' in his approach to the game. Outside, can made shots, can drive it to the rim. Has got a lot of blocked shots (81) on the other end of the floor. So just really a solid player."

Uthoff leads Iowa in scoring (18.8 ppg) and is second in rebounding (6.5 rpg).

Dunphy says the Hawkeyes also pose problems on the perimeter.

"They shoot the ball very well from the three-point line," Dunphy says. "Their three-point numbers are good (38%), so we're going to have to pay attention to that."

Iowa is 21-10. They do come into the tourney struggling a little bit, having lost six of eight, including a 68-66 loss to Illinois in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Temple and Iowa will tip-off at 3:10pm on Friday.