Garden Party

Ever since Temple began play in the NIT as the tournament's No. 1 overall seed, the storyline has been the same:

The Owls play with a chip on their shoulder. The Owls play well. The Owls win and advance.

"I think I made the statement that we're going to win the NIT," Temple point guard Will Cummings said, referring to how he answered questions following the disappointment of being left out of the mix on Selection Sunday, "and that's kind of where I've been focused."

But there's really been no 'kind of' in Temple's approach, and the Owls are now just two wins away from that goal.

Still clearly fueled by an NCAA Tournament snub, the top-seeded Owls led wire-to-wire for the second consecutive game and rolled past Louisiana Tech, the No. 3 seed in Region 1, 77-59, Thursday night at the Liacouras Center to advance to the NIT semifinals. The Owls, who improved to 26-10 with the victory, will play Miami, the No. 2 seed out of Region 2, Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden at 7 p.m.

It will be the Owls' first NIT semifinal appearance since 2002, when they lost to a Dajuan Wagner-led Memphis team by a point before beating Syracuse in the third-place game. Temple last won the NIT in 1969 with a team led by Hall of Fame coach Harry Litwack and big man John Baum, who now does the color commentary on the team's radio broadcasts.

This edition of the Owls was heartbroken when it was left out of the NCAA Tournament field a day after it lost to SMU in the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinals. The team needed about a day to process everything, but Cummings said he knew the team had its focus back when it practiced again a day later.

"I haven't gone into any game really thinking it's going to be my last," said Cummings, who collected 15 points (on 3 of 5 shooting from 3-point range), six assists and three steals Thursday night. "I'm just staying confident, doing my same routine.

"The vision is where we're at right now. That's how I envisioned it and we're just doing every little thing we can just to keep it going right now."

With Cummings leading the way, other Temple players have followed suit and responded with some of the best basketball of the season and - in some cases - their respective careers.

Quenton DeCosey, who battled stretches of inconsistent play during the regular season, played what Temple coach Fran Dunphy called his best game of the season, recording the first double-double of his career with 21 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. He scored the game's first five points, finished strong with 11 in the second half and knocked down 3 of his 4 shots from 3-point range.

With Sunday's win over George Washington (he was held to four points in 21 minutes) being the lone blip on the radar, DeCosey has scored in double figures in seven of his last eight games and averaged 13.5 points per game during that stretch. His 11 rebounds were also a game-high.

"I just wanted to help out on the glass," DeCosey said. "I know Jaylen (Bond), he battles guys every game, so I just wanted to be another person on the glass helping out."

Senior Jesse Morgan, who like Cummings played his final game in the Liacouras Center, added 17 points and six rebounds, knocking down 2 of 6 from 3-point range on a night when Temple shot 9 of 18 from beyond the arc and 49.1 percent overall. And in an encouraging sign for Temple's present and future basketball forecast, redshirt sophomore forward Daniel Dingle looked loose, confident and decisive in adding seven points, five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal in 20 minutes off the bench.

Dingle, a 6-foot-7 Bronx native, got a medical redshirt after suffering a meniscus tear in his right knee on Dec. 29 of last season. He didn't look the same when he first resumed playing this season and now admits he wasn't at 100 percent, even thought he said he told everyone he was.

"It meant a lot," Dingle said of his performance Thursday night. "I've been through ups and downs this year, minutes-wise, mentally preparing myself every game, not knowing if I was going to play or not play or how many minutes I was going to get, so it definitely meant a lot. (Assistant) coach (Aaron) McKie and all the coaches told me to be ready, stay focused and be ready when the time comes."

Dingle scored his first bucket on a strong move to the basket in the first half, and two more confident drives through the lane led to assists on dunks by Devontae Watson (nine points, four rebounds) and Obi Enechionyia.

Maybe it's a healthier knee that's now closer to full capacity, or maybe it's something else.

"My whole thing is I think it was the haircut," Cummins said of Dingle's new tightly-cropped cut as the postgame media room broke out in laughter. "It was my opinion for him to get it cut. I think he's back to himself and we're looking for him to keep playing good basketball, being aggressive and all the guys in the locker room keep motivating him to keep playing good basketball and stay himself."

Temple led by 41-33 at halftime, saw it cut to five at 43-38 on a layup from Louisiana Tech's Alex Hamilton with 18:44 left to play, but bumped its lead back out to 10 a little more than a minute later on a pair of Morgan free throws. Once Morgan drained a 3-pointer to make it 52-40 with 16:11 remaining, the Owls led by double digits the rest of the way.

Louisiana Tech, which lost to Temple at the Liacouras Center by seven back on Nov. 17, saw any hopes of a comeback thwarted when its point guard, best player and Conference USA Player of the Year Kenneth "Speedy" Smith fell to the ground with 11:26 left after suffering what looked to be a bad left ankle injury. He writhed in pain for several minutes before he was carried off the court and returned with his ankle elevated and heavily wrapped.

Temple will now turn its sights to New York City and Madison Square Garden. The last time the Owls played there, they upended then-No. 3 Syracuse two seasons ago just before Christmas. Cummings called the venue "the stage of all stages."

Everyone involved with the program would acknowledge that the Owls are playing with something to prove, and they seem to have found the right balance of using that as motivation while also embracing the moment.

"We're still playing college basketball and we're thrilled by it," Dunphy said. "Madison Square Garden's going to be great and we're going to embrace it. We're going to soak it all in and hopefully we'll play our best game against Miami - and we're going to need to do so."

OwlScoop.com editor John Di Carlo can be reached at jgdicarlo@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @OwlScoop_com or @jdicarlo.