RTC Live: Temple @ Villanova
Posted by rtmsf on December 30th, 2010
Game #83. RTC Live heads to the City of Brotherly Love for one of the best rivalries in all of college basketball.
The battle for Philadelphia bragging rights is on the line when Temple invades the Pavilion to take on Villanova tonight at 7 p.m. The two squads, which have combined to win or share every Big 5 title since Jameer Nelson and St. Joe’s won it in 2003-04, are far and away the cream of the city crop once again. The eighth-ranked Wildcats, led by high-scoring guards Corey Stokes (15.7 ppg) and Corey Fisher (15.5 ppg), can wrap up the Big 5 title tonight as they’ve already beaten Penn, La Salle, and St. Joe’s. This will be Temple’s first Big 5 game of the season but the No. 25 Owls are riding a six-game winning streak and are coming off a Big 5 crown of their own. Last year, Fran Dunphy’s Owls stunned then-No. 3 Villanova, 75-65, on their way to a perfect 4-0 city record. The winner of this year’s game will almost certainly win the quirky Philadelphia round-robin tournament — and also charge into the new year as perhaps the best team in their respective conference.
