DeCosey steps into key role for Temple

Not long after the Temple men's basketball team returned from its late-summer trip to Europe, coach Fran Dunphy got to thinking about the Owls' first season in the American Athletic Conference.

Temple lost five seniors from its sixth straight 20-win team, and Dunphy was looking to rebuild, mostly with the players who were still here.

Players like sophomore guard Quenton DeCosey.

After DeCosey averaged 1.9 points and 1.1 rebounds per game playing meager minutes as a freshman, Dunphy watched the 6-foot-5 sophomore guard from Union, N.J., light it up in the four games the Owls played abroad. He led Temple in scoring (14 points per game), and he made 11 of 27 three-point shots.

"He has to be either our first or second leading scorer, I would think, maybe third," Dunphy said. "Quenton is going to be expected to score."

However, Dunphy wants more than offensive numbers.

"What I would really like to say to Q is now you take the best perimeter scorer and you guard him and do a really great job of it," Dunphy said. "I think he has every component athletically that he needs. Now it's just getting that discipline and that mind-set to become a complete player. He really is a talented player."

The Owls, who have made six consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, open the regular season at Penn on Nov. 9.

Not long after Dunphy said these things, DeCosey, who had been in the weight room, emerged, soaked in sweat. Although this was perhaps the first time Dunphy has issued the challenge publicly, DeCosey has heard it before.

"We have talked about it," said DeCosey, who noted that he has added almost 20 pounds to his listed weight of 180. "The trip to Europe was helpful because we got to play extra games and bond. I think I showed that I have grown as a person and a player.

"But I know that there are expectations, especially since we lost so many players."

Of the returning players, junior forward Anthony Lee (9.8 ppg.) had the highest-scoring average last season. Sophomore guard Will Cummings, like Lee a starter last season, averaged 5.8 points.

With Khalif Wyatt (20.5 ppg.), Scootie Randall (11.3) and Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson (8.9) gone, bigger numbers will be expected from Lee and Cummings.

"We're going to play 10-deep, so there are going to be opportunities," Dunphy said. "For Q and everyone else."