"Franny, Franny," Temple basketball coach John Chaney said after his team's 48-46 win over Princeton last night. "I pity Franny. He has to play them twice. Jesus Christ."
Indeed, Penn coach Fran Dunphy has to square off against the Tigers two times a year. Chaney on the other hand, who coached his 1,000th Division I basketball game last night, vowed to never play Princeton again.
"I'll be laughing in my grave if I ever see them again," the Hall of Fame coach said.
"If I get to the NCAAs and I see them, I'm just going to mail in a little card that says 'Best Wishes' because I ain't showing up," he added.
Temple added Princeton to their schedule after Miami dropped the Owls from their schedule this summer.
Luckily for Chaney, he walked away with a win over the Tigers (5-3), albeit a controversial one.
Temple (4-5) led by 10 with 7:49 remaining in the game. However, a flurry of Princeton three-pointers and Owls missed foul shots cut the home team's lead to just two points with 10 seconds left.
With time expiring, Tigers guard Will Venable drove to the basket, laying the ball off the glass.
The shot was blocked by Temple guard Dustin Salisbery, though the referees could have very easily called goaltending.
"We should be playing overtime," Princeton coach Joe Scott said.
"I saw my 6-4 guard, his elbow above the rim, shooting the ball off the top of the square, hitting the backboard and then their guy swiping it off the backboard," he added. "The ball's obviously going down when you hit it off the top of the square.
"Everyone in the gym knew it was a goaltending call."
The final play provided excitement in a game that featured little scoring. The two squads combined for just 40 points in the first half.
This was not surprising, however, as both teams pride themselves on their style of play which stresses tough defense and long offensive sets.
"I think what these two schools do is good," Scott said. "And if you want to say it's different, I believe it's basketball. It's fundamentally sound, good hard basketball -- trying to stop the other teams from scoring and playing to win."
Scott said that he was happy that college basketball fans around the nation had a chance to see this style of play, as last night's game was televised on ESPN2.
"Every night you put on ESPN, you see the same teams playing," he said. "I think it gets boring after a while.
"Everyone plays the same way. Nobody wants to defend each other. Scores are in the nineties."
But both coaches agreed that this is not a matchup that they would like to have on a more regular basis.
"I don't know if I want to play them again," Scott said.
"I've got guys walking around with question marks over their heads instead of exclamation marks," Chaney said.
Chaney compared Princeton's offense to an old comic strip called Katzenjammer Kids.
"There were guys in cars, there were guys in buses, two old ladies were pushing carriage -- 50 people on one page," he said. "They were doing everything. You don't know what the hell they were doing. That's what this team looks like. I swear to God, you can't simulate it."
This was Temple's second close win over an Ivy League opponent this month. The Owls defeated Penn, 52-51, on Dec. 8.
Owls guard Mardy Collins, who led all scorers with 25 points, said that Ancient Eight opponents are particularly difficult to play against, as they are able to grasp Temple's complex matchup zone defense.
Early in the second half, Collins became the 41st Owls player to score 1,000 career points.
Venable and freshman Noah Savage led Princeton with 12 points each.
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