OWLS AT A GLANCE: M. Hoops looks for respect with win cross town

Quakers try to upset No. 13 Temple Quaker fans won't be the only Penn group taking the subway to tonight's matchup with Temple. Coach Fran Dunphy has decided the 9-1 Quakers will travel underground to No. 13 Temple (8:00 p.m., WSSJ 1310-AM, WCZN 1590-AM, WXPN 88.5-FM). Dunphy's reasoning? "What the hell, we are in Philadelphia." The subterranean route may be the perfect choice. Subway riders quickly learn the value of patience and also the danger of not guarding their valuables. These lessons should reinforce the ones learned during last year's 72-58 loss to Temple (7-2), a contest during which Penn turned the ball over 15 times and trailed by 20 at the intermission. "I think we were terribly impatient last year," Dunphy said. "They got to spots sooner than we were anticipating. We made some bad choices with the ball. A lot of our errors were unforced. We are going to have to really be careful with the basketball and make sure we get good shots." The Quakers have walked to away games before against La Salle at the Civic Center but have never taken SEPTA with Dunphy at the helm. Breaking tradition against Temple, though, may be a wise idea since Penn has dropped 12 straight to its city rival. Yet those 12 teams were not as talented as this one. Penn has won 22 of its last 23 regular-season games, including eight in a row. And while sold-out McGonigle Hall is a graveyard for highly-touted opponents, Penn has already beaten USC and Washington on the road this season. Yet those schools don't play defense like Temple. The Owls' patented matchup-zone defense makes getting quality shots a brutal task. Only Cincinnati has topped the 70-point mark against Temple, and the Bearcats lost by 16. Third-ranked Kansas notched only 59 points at home in a loss to the Owls. While Temple's defense has been superb all season, its offense has flickered on and off like bad lighting. In its losses to Georgia Tech and West Virginia, the Owls shot miserably and tallied 51 and 47 points, respectively. Temple is led offensively by its "Fire and Slice" combination -- Aaron McKie and Eddie Jones. McKie, a 6-5 senior guard, is shooting 38 percent from behind the three-point arc and averages 18.8 points per game. Last year he was named Atlantic-10 Player of the Year. Jones possesses a quick first step that enables him to slash through the lane towards the basket. The 6-6 senior forward leads the Owls in scoring at 19.3 points per contest. Both Jones and McKie also pull down more than six rebounds per game. Jones is not only quick on his first jump after a rebound, but looks as if he were on a pogo stick. He often gets rebounds on his second and third leaps at the basketball. Temple's unsung hero is junior guard Rick Brunson. Brunson has played every minute for the Owls this season and has scored 13 points per game. He leads Temple with over five assists per contest. Brunson is Temple's answer to Heidi Fliess -- he runs the show, works all night, can score when needed, and is best at setting up others. Last year he torched Penn for four three-point shots. "Hopefully they won't shoot the ball as well as they did last year," Dunphy said. "Brunson made some jumpers that were so deep that I don't think you could anticipate anyone shooting them let alone making them." Temple also starts sophomores Derrick Battie and Jason Ivey. The Owls primary weakness is depth. Only 6-11 sophomore William Cunningham sees significant time off the bench. The 250-pound center is an intimidating defender who limited George Washington's 7-1 star Yinka Dare to single digits. Offensively Cunningham is as rough as a porcupine, averaging less than a point per game. "They really don't have much of a weakness because they are big inside and their perimeter players, as everyone knows, are great," Penn junior guard Matt Maloney said. People are starting to know that Penn's perimeter players, junior guards Jerome Allen and Maloney and senior captain Barry Pierce are also a talented trio. The three have sparked the Quaker eight-game win streak by combining for over 45 points per game. For Penn to win though, these three must get help. Last year against Temple Tim Krug led the Quaker post players with six points. Penn will look to Shawn Trice for inside scoring. The power forward was wide awake in Seattle scoring 42 points in two games against Washington and Georgia, but scored only five in two Ivy contests this weekend. Over the weekend the Quakers had plenty of ammunition without Trice as the heavily favored Penn squad coasted to two victories. Tonight the Quakers enter the game as the underdog and have a chance to catapult into the Associated Press Top 25. But Maloney says Penn can't get too caught up in the hype for the non-league game. "It is the Ivy League that is going to get us into the tournament like it did last year," Maloney said. "Even if we win this game we could come in second in the Ivy League and not make the tournament." If Penn does beat Temple, part of the credit will go to an Owl assistant coach, Maloney's father Jim, who works with the Temple guards. Whichever Maloney comes out on top, the game does not count in the City Series standings, the official Big Five Championship. This one is more important. This is the one-game Subway Series.