Column: KU bigs no-show in Philadelphia

Kansas forward Perry Ellis gets boxed out on a rebound during the Jayhawk's game against the Temple Owls Monday at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA.

TEMPLE 77, KANSAS 52

• Box score

Philadelphia ? The silliest chant in all of sports broke out, “Overrated! Overrated!” as Temple poured it on in a game the Owls would win Monday night, 77-52, against No. 10 Kansas. 

Just then, a college-age spectator wearing a Kansas T-shirt had seen and heard enough. He couldn’t take it anymore. He stood up, spread his arms and wildly screamed support for his school at a predominantly Temple crowd numbering 11,188, many of whom retaliated with words that tried to make him surrender. He didn’t. He stood his ground and took on an entire building as his team took an unsightly beating.

Frank Mason III, who competed well for 40 minutes, must have known how he felt.

Kansas University’s sophomore point guard came to play Monday night, making 4 of 6 three-pointers, scoring 20 points and adding three rebounds, three steals and two assists to go with five turnovers, all in the first half. Kelly Oubre Jr. was Mason’s lone teammate to bring his A game, contributing nine points, seven rebounds and two steals.

The game played at the Wells Center, home of the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA, Flyers of the NHL and Soul of the Arena Football League, more than any this season, exposed KU’s weaknesses, none of which can be addressed with a present wrapped and placed under the tree.

KU’s five post players — Perry Ellis, Cliff Alexander, Jamari Traylor, Hunter Mickleson and Landen Lucas — combined to make 2 of 15 shots from the field and, worse, attempted just one free throw, which by the way did not go in.

The big men were more of a non-factor against Temple than in the Kentucky rout, where the five players made just 3 of 21 field goals, but at least drew fouls and made 8 of 14 from the line.

An enormous size disparity largely explained Kentucky’s inside dominance.

That didn’t apply here.

Temple center Devontae Watson is 6-foot-10, 210 pounds, power forward Jaylen Bond 6-7, 225. Bond, Jaylen Bond, played like an action hero, played a lot bigger than his height against Ellis, who made just 1 of 10 field goals.

Alexander, KU’s talented freshman, looked lost, as if he’s not clear yet on what is being asked of him. Not so great, Alexander got off just one shot in 17 minutes.

Complicating matters, now that freshman Devonté Graham is sidelined anywhere from four weeks to all season with a severe big-toe injury, quick backcourts give Kansas trouble because with the exception of Mason, its guards are bigger than they are quick and the speedy Owls repeatedly cashed in on that.

So the question lingers as to what the best approach is for a team that lacks low-post scoring and has just one healthy blow-by guard? Maybe start Mason, three other three-point threats, one post player, spread the floor, take more three-pointers and exploit the spread-out defense with drives to the rim.

Temple coach Fran Dunphy, not wanting his players to get too high on themselves in the wake of playing so much better with the addition of mid-year-eligible sharp-shooters Jesse Morgan (17 points) and Devin Coleman (five points), was cautious in reading too much into the slaughter of the nation’s 10th-ranked team.

“Kansas is a really good program,” Dunphy said. “We beat a good program tonight.”

And beat it soundly on the same day that the Associated Press released a top-25 poll that included seven Big 12 schools.

Temple did beat a “really good program,” but how good a team the Owls trounced remains a mystery.

More news and notes from Kansas at Temple