After junior guard Juan Fernandez’s last second shot to beat Penn State, the men’s basketball team looks to face No. 2 seed San Diego State in the second round of the NCAA tournament after they defeated Northern Colorado, 68-50.

The Aztecs entered the tournament as the Mountain West Conference Champions with a 32-2 record and a 14-2 conference record. The No. 6 team in the nation is lead by sophomore forward Kawhi Leonard, who averages a double double with 15.4 points per game and 10.7 rebounds per game. Leonard has been listed as a possible lottery pick in this years National Basketball Association’s draft by ESPN and other media outlets.

He is supported by senior forward Malcolm Thomas and senior guard D.J. Gay, who average 11.5 and 11.2 points per game, respectively.

Tipoff is Saturday at 6:10 pm EST.

Senior pitcher Kristen Marris pitched five innings of shutout softball to give the Owls a 12-0 mercy-rule win over the Delaware Blue Hens as part of a double header today.

Marris struck out two batters in the 12th no-hitter in program history. Katie Burdeaux pitched the last no-hitter for the team in a 24-0 win over Coppin State on March 25, 2008.

Marris is 4-5 with a team leading 3.14 ERA. Following the no-hitter, the Owls would lose to the Blue Hens, 11-5. The team is currently 9-11 on the season.

Yesterday, women’s basketball coach Tonya Cardoza was named the Atlantic Ten Conference Coach of the Year in her third season as head coach of the Owls. Under Cardoza, the Owls went 22-7 this year and posted a 13-1 record which included a 14-game winning streak.

A major component of the season’s success was because of Temple’s  “Big 3” of junior guard Shey Peddy, junior forward Kristen McCarthy and senior Qwedia Wallace, which averaged 15.8, 13.9 and 12.9 points per game, respectively. Peddy was named to the first team All A-10 and was first team all-defensive selection. McCarthy was a second team selection and Wallace was a third team selection.

The Owls will be playing in the A-10 Tournament this weekend in Lowell, Mass. as they will face the winner of St. Bonaventure and Fordham on Saturday.

The Owls only need to win one more game to go to the ACHA Nationals for the first time in team history.

The Owls beat Bowling Green State University, 4-2, in their opening game of the ACHA Regionals on Saturday afternoon. Junior forward Taylor Lockhart scored two goals and junior goalie Will Neifeld had 27 saves on 29 shots.

The Owls have already come further than any Temple ice hockey team before them; the Owls had been knocked on the first day of Regionals every time prior to today. They play Liberty University tomorrow morning at the Northeast Skate Zone with an invitation to Nationals on the line.

The exceptional season that Temple ice hockey has had just keeps getting better.

Owls’ junior goalie Will Neifeld won the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association conference award for Best Goalie and League MVP last weekend. Neifeld holds a tie for first in the MACHA conference with three shutouts and is third in the country in minutes (1473.77). He had a goals against average of 2.69 to go along with a save percentage of .92 in 26 games played for the Owls this year.

Neifeld led the Owls to a 20-11 record this season and a 5th place ranking in the American Collegiate Hockey Association southeastern conference. The Owls will play Bowling Green University tomorrow in the ACHA Regional playoffs at the Northeast Skate Zone at 4:50 p.m.

The playoffs are a single-elimination tournament in which the final two teams advance to the National playoffs in San Jose, CA. If the Owls win tomorrow and win in the finals on Sunday, they will earn their first trip to Nationals in the program’s history.

Former Temple guard Aaron McKie, who, along with Rick Brunson and Eddie Jones, was recently inducted into Temple’s Hall of Fame, spoke to a handful of media outlets, including The Temple News, at halftime of Sunday’s win over St. Joseph’s.

McKie, an honorable mention Associated Press All-American during the 1992-93 season, finished his career sixth on Temple’s all-time scoring list with 1,650 points. McKie never came off the bench for the Owls, as he started 92 games in his three-year tenure on North Broad Street.

McKie was drafted in the first round of the 1993 NBA Draft by the Portland Trailblazers. McKie would also later play for Detroit, Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Lakers during his 14-year professional career. While with the Sixers, McKie was named the Sixth Man of the Year following the 2000-01 season. McKie would later join the Sixers as an assistant coach, a position he still holds.

Listen to McKie’s thoughts on a variety of things, includi his induction, former Temple coach John Chaney’s impact on his coaching style and this year’s Temple squad, among other things

Aaron McKie

According to Mike Kern at the Daily News, Temple will announce tomorrow that the Owls will play a three-game series with Notre Dame.

The times and locations of the games haven’t been announced yet, but since the Fighting Irish’ schedule is set for the next two seasons, the earliest it could start would be 2013.

Check out the original article.

Temple’s fencing squad, which is currently No. 9 in nation, will see itself rising in the rankings after defeating No. 2 Penn State and No. 8 Penn at the Penn State Multi-Meet on Saturday.

The Owls defeated the host and defending NCAA National Champion Nittany Lions, 14-13, and took down the Quakers, 17-10. The team also defeated North Carolina and Drew with its only loss of the weekend coming to Duke, 16-11.

The team was lead by the individual efforts of junior Kamali Thompson, who went 9-1 in sabre and sophomore Mikayla Varadi and freshman Epiphany Georges each went 8-2 in foil. The team will return to McGonigle Hall on Feb. 27 after spending nearly a month on the road.

The football team has issued a press release that confirms that junior defensive tackle Muhammad Wilkerson will enter the NFL Draft.

“I enjoyed my time at Temple University,” Wilkerson said in the release. “It was a good experience for me. I’m thankful for the opportunity for a scholarship and for an education. I promise to come back and get my degree. I’m definitely going to miss my teammates and being a student-athlete at Temple.”

Experts vary on where Wilkerson could be drafted. Most have him leaving the board around the third round, but CBSSports’ Rob Rang released a mock draft yesterday that featured Wilkerson being drafted No. 26 overall in the first round by the New Orleans Saints.