Currently: - Game info: 7:30 pm EST Thu Mar 27, 2003
PHILADELPHIA (TICKER) —Temple will try to carry its late season surge to Madison Square Garden when it hosts Minnesota on Thursday at the Liacouras Center in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament.
The Owls (18-15) have won five of their last six games and 11 of their last 13. Temple has not lost to a team that did not make the NCAA Tournament since January 11 at Richmond.
The Owls have not suffered a home loss since January 25 against Dayton, and have not lost here to a non-NCAA Tournament team since their season opener against Rutgers on November 24. Temple has defeated intracity rival Drexel, Boston College and Rhode Island since losing to Dayton in the final of the Atlantic 10 tournament. The Owls are the only team remaining that played an opening round game.
Minnesota (18-12) has defeated Saint Louis and Hawaii after a five-game losing streak that included an embarrassing loss to Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
The Golden Gophers defeated the Owls in the 1997 NCAA Tournament and are 21-8 all time in the NIT.
The winner will meet Georgetown in the semifinals on Tuesday in New York.