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GAME NOTES: The Temple Owls hope to put their recent troubles behind them as they fly in Mount Pleasant for tonight's non-conference clash with the Central Michigan Chippewas.

Temple had been ranked in the Top-25 since the start of the season, but losses to California (57-50) and Texas A&M (54-51) in the Old Spice Classic in the last week cost coach Fran Dunphy's team its lofty status. The Owls did manage to salvage one win in the event, topping Georgia last Friday in a 65-58 final. Temple is a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, and it still must face formidable foes in Maryland, Georgetown and Big 5 rival Villanova, before opening league play at Fordham on January 5th.

Central Michigan, which opens the brand new McGuirk Arena tonight, posted a narrow win over Cal State Fullerton in the opening game of the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii, but right after the team suffered three consecutive defeats, two in that event, to fall to 1-3 on the year. The Chippewas managed to put the brakes on the slide with a 62-52 win at Illinois-Chicago last Wednesday. This game marks CMU's home opener, and the team will begin Mid-American Conference play at Western Michigan on January 9th.

This bout marks the first-ever meeting between these two schools in men's basketball.

Neither team shot the ball well, but in the end it was Texas A&M that earned the narrow win over Temple in the final round of the Old Spice Classic in Florida over the weekend. The Owls hit just 31.3 percent of their field goal attempts, compared to a 33.3 effort by the Aggies, who won the game on the strength of a lopsided 45-30 rebounding advantage, which they turned into a 16-7 edge in second-chance points. Lavoy Allen and Juan Fernandez each netted 10 points for the Owls, who made good on just 4-of-16 three-point attempts. Temple is far from an offensive juggernaut, averaging 62 ppg on 42.7 percent field goal efficiency and only 23.8 percent from three-point land, instead earning its keep by playing stingy defense (54.8 ppg, .356 FG percentage, .273 three-point FG percentage). Ramone Moore is the only Owl currently averaging double digits in scoring with his 10.8 ppg, although Fernandez and Allen are close to joining him with 9.6 ppg apiece.

Trey Zeigler made the most of his 29 minutes of action off the bench, netting 17 points and grabbing seven rebounds to lead Central Michigan to its 10-point victory at UIC. Starters Jalin Thomas and William McClure pitched in with 13 and 12 points, respectively, with the latter actually logging a double-double by adding 10 rebounds. As a team, the Chippewas drained 46.9 percent of their field goal attempts, but just 4-of-12 three-point tries and 12-of-18 free throws. Zeigler, the son of CMU head coach Ernie Zeigler, has started four of CMU's five games this season, and currently paces the team in scoring (18.8 ppg) while ranking second in rebounding (6.8 rpg). Thomas is averaging 14.0 ppg and has 12 steals for a Chippewa squad that is putting up 65.6 ppg, but yielding 66.2 ppg. Defending the three-pointer has been the club's Achilles' heel to this point, as foes are dropping 44.8 percent of their long-range shots.

Expect the Chippewas to put forth maximum effort in their first game in their new digs, but for the Owls to prevail on the strength of another stifling defensive effort.