By Sam Bush
Shizz Alston Jr. scored 18 points, Quinton Rose had 17 and Temple rolled to an 85-57 win over UConn.
The Owls shot 49 percent from the field in their most lopsided win of the season and their largest margin of victory over UConn.
Christian Vital finished with 15 points for the Huskies, who were playing for the first time since it was revealed their program is the target of an NCAA investigation.=
After UConn took an early 18-14 lead on three straight 3-pointers, Temple (11-10, 3-6 American Athletic Conference) went on a 24-4 run to take control of the game. The Owls built their lead to 53-30 on an off-balance floater by Rose with 14 minutes left en route to their third win in their last four contests.
Ernest Aflakpui added a season-high 13 points, freshman Nate Pierre-Louis had 12 off the bench, and Obi Enechionyia grabbed 10 rebounds, eight of them on the offensive end, to go along with nine points.
“It’s nice to have a game like we had tonight,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. “I thought on both sides of the ball we played pretty well.”
UConn (11-10, 4-4) committed 16 turnovers and shot 5 for 17 from 3-point range to lose for the third time in four games.
“We wanted to take the first punch, and I thought we did that,” Ollie said. “Then they threw their second punch and we didn’t counter-punch.”
