Temple's Eric returns after 2-month layoff

Micheal Eric was as happy as an NBA lottery pick on draft night.

For Temple's 6-foot-11 center, it had everything to do with playing in Saturday's 73-60 victory over Maryland at the Palestra. It was his first appearance since Nov. 20 against Wichita State in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

"Man, this felt good," said Eric, who missed 13 games with a fractured right kneecap. "And to top it off, we had this win against a very, very good team. So that feeling was amazing."

The graduate student, who was a starter before the injury, entered the game to chants of "Micheal Eric! Micheal Eric!" with 12 minutes, 29 seconds left in the first half.

Eric, who was cleared to play on Friday, looked rusty and at times unsure of himself while playing a total of seven minutes. He missed his lone field-goal attempt and committed two fouls.

"That was one of the shots that I needed to take to get my confidence back and start building from it," Eric said. "It was a good shot, because it was an open shot."

Eric hopes to play a more significant role by the Feb. 1 game against Fordham at the Liacouras Center.

"We were thrilled to get him as many minutes as he did," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "While it was only seven minutes, it was seven toward getting better."

Dunphy added that those minutes were a confidence builder for the defensive stopper.

"We've talked a lot about if you are not doing some things, is it fear [of reinjuring his knee] or is it pain?" Dunphy said. "If it's pain, that's one thing. We can't be dealing with pain.

"But if it's fear, we will work through that. There's a little bit of that."

Eric was upset that he didn't get a defensive rebound in the first half.

"But that's going to make him better, because that same rebound he's going to get on Wednesday," Dunphy said of the game at Charlotte.