Wednesday night was a reflective one for La Salle head coach Fran Dunphy.

And even if it wasn’t of his own thought process, he was sure to be asked about it with all of the obvious variables.

Coaching in a building where he spent 17 seasons as Penn’s head coach and against a Temple program where he had been the Owls’ head coach for 13 seasons and the university’s acting interim athletic director for a year after that, Dunphy’s Explorers took an eight-point lead into halftime but ultimately fell to the Owls, 67-51, Wednesday night in the first game of a Big 5 doubleheader at the Palestra.

And Dunphy, now trying to turn around a La Salle program where he played from 1967 to 1970, was of course coaching against Temple head coach Aaron McKie, who served as an assistant on Dunphy’s Temple staff for five seasons before succeeding Dunphy as the Owls’ head coach prior to the 2019-20 season.

“I don’t like it,” Dunphy said. “I don’t want to coach against Aaron McKie because I’m rooting for him like crazy. Obviously I’m not rooting for him tonight, but it’s a tough situation, to be honest with you”

McKie echoed Dunphy’s comments.

“It was just so unsettling to me to play this game,” McKie said. “I guess I could say I don’t know why it was unsettling, because I like competition, but I do know why, because I was playing against him.”

“We both said it after the game,” McKie added. “I’m glad this is over.”

Wednesday night marked just the sixth time in the history of the Big 5 that it held a doubleheader at The Palestra, and Dunphy talked about how he felt about doing it more going forward.

“I thought it was great,” Dunphy said. “I’m anxious to see because obviously we play St. Joe's and Penn, so I’m anxious to sit in the corners up there and watch the game and be a part of the Big 5 doubleheader, coaching the first one and watching the second one. Philly has something special going on, and I hope we all appreciate it.”

Both La Salle (3-4) and Temple (4-4) needed a win Wednesday night, and the Owls eventually used a 19-2 second-half run and a more talented roster to prevail. But the building was less than half-full when the two teams tipped off, and the atmosphere was a far cry from the vibe longtime Philly college basketball fans romanticize when they think of the Big 5.

But that won’t stop Dunphy, McKie and their players from wanting the tradition to continue.

“It’s always special to be here, whether all the corners are filled or they’re not, and I don’t think they were filled tonight,” Dunphy said. “But It’s fun to be here. It’s a great atmosphere. It’s nothing quite like it. The competition, you live for that, and you want your guys to live for that, too. That’s what you want to give them, the understanding how special this place is, and how special playing in the city of Philadelphia is as a college basketball player.”

McKie again agreed with his former boss.

“I think we have a unique, unique brand here with our Big 5, City 6,” McKie said. “It was just good to play here and be a part of the doubleheader. I’m sure that the more that we do it, the more eyes that we’ll have.

“Again, I’m new to this (as a head coach.) We’ve gotten away from it, and for good reason for the schools. Everything we do, it boils down to the finances, so we got away from it. I thought the energy was good, it was exciting, and my guys got the chance to play here at The Palestra. This is a historic place that they got to play at, so it was good.”

"I've been around here for a minute to witness Big 5 play at Temple," said Owls guard Damian Dunn, who scored 17 points in the win. "Just going through my previous years of watching and not being able to play Big 5 games (Dunn was injured as a freshman, and the Owls couldn't play any nonconference or Big 5 games in 2020-2021 due to the COVID pandemic), and hearing Coach McKie and the rest of the coaches talk about how much it means to them, we took that personally and wanted to go out there and win as many Big 5 games as we can for them mostly."

If Temple beats St. Joe's next Tuesday and Penn next Saturday, it will secure its first Big 5 title since the 2012-13 season, when the Owls shared it with La Salle. Villanova has otherwise dominated the city series landscape, winning seven of the last eight Big 5 championships.

Dunphy is the first head coach to take two Big 5 programs to the NCAA Tournament. He did so 17 times - nine times with Penn, and eight with Temple.

After stepping down as Temple following the 2018-2019 season, Dunphy was named Temple’s interim athletic director in July of 2020, and remained in the position until Arthur Johnson was hired in October of 2021.

Following two seasons away from coaching, La Salle convinced Dunphy to return after it parted ways with former head coach Ashley Howard following last season. Although Dunphy wasn’t campaigning for the job and gave it much thought before returning, he said he is happy to be coaching again and that the job has exceeded his expectations.

“It’s probably exceeded them in many ways,” Dunphy said. “I just love being with the guys in the practice session, trying to go over every aspect of the game to try to get us all better, and I want my guys to help me get better as well. So it’s been terrific.”

Dunphy’s career record now stands at 583-329 after the loss to Temple, which is still the best record in Big 5 history after passing his predecessor and Temple late Hall of Famer John Chaney’s 516 wins.

While Dunphy has played and coached countless times in the Palestra, it doesn’t get old.

“It’s always great,” Dunphy said. “When I first got here, I walked down the ramp in the corner. It's a steep walk, and it’s a terrific walk. It's a beautiful part of Philadelphia college basketball in the Palestra, and I am certainly happy to be a part of it tonight.”