Temple Men’s Basketball To Compete In Inaugural Gotham Classic

Temple will compete in the inaugural Gotham Classic with a headline game against Syracuse at Madison Square Garden on December 22, 2012.  The format for the Gotham Classic will have Temple and Syracuse playing three games at home starting on December 15 before moving to a matchup between the schools in New York City.    The entire field will be announced at a later date.

Temple is the sixth winningest Division I program with 1,790 wins.  The Owls return two starters from this past season in Junior guard Khalif Wyatt (17.1 ppg) and Junior forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson (9.3 ppg).  The Cherry and White posted a 24 – 8 record winning the Atlantic 10 regular season championship and a fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance.  for the upcoming season forwards Scootie Randall and Dalton Pepper return from their red-shirt season.

Syracuse comes off a 34 – 3 season culminating in an Elite Eight appearance.  The Orange won the Big East regular season title and return three starters.

Syracuse leads the all-time series with Temple 16 – 13.  The teams have not met in a game since the Owls defeated the Orange 65 – 64 in the NIT third place game at Madison Square Garden on March 28, 2002.