Temple Has Ku’s Number

Top 25

John Chaney has no one to blame but himself and no one deserves as much credit, either.

Just nine days after beating then-No. 2 Villanova, Temple beat No. 1 Kansas 74-66 in overtime Friday night in the opening game of the inaugural Jimmy V Classic at the Meadowlands.

Chaney does the scheduling. He also does the coaching.

“Everybody we play has a number. They’re No. 5, No. 1, No. 10. There’s a lot of numbers out there,” Chaney said after his Owls (3-4) scored the first 10 points of the overtime to take control against Kansas. “I schedule as many tough teams as I can. The more tough teams you play the more character you develop.”

The Owls lost to No. 9 Cincinnati in between the wins over Nos. 1 and 2 and things didn’t look too good for them against the Jayhawks (7-1).

Jerod Haase of Kansas was at the free throw line with 8.2 seconds left in regulation and the score 56-56. He was 10 for 10 from the line until then, but missed both. Temple didn’t even get a shot off, but it didn’t matter.

Kansas, which had shot horribly throughout regulation against Temple’s 2-3 zone, couldn’t get any worse in the overtime. The Jayhawks missed their five shots and by the time they got on the board with 1:22 left, Temple had a 66-56 lead.

Kansas finished 20 for 71 from the field (28 percent), well off its 49 percent season mark.

“Their defense is always good and they are more aggressive in the way they play than most teams that play zone,” Kansas coach Roy Williams said. “Their big players may not be flying high-wire acts, but they are very effective at what they do.”

The most effective by far was 6-foot-10 wide-body Mark Jackson, who had a career-high 31 points and 12 rebounds. He had four of the points in the opening run of the extra session.

“Of course it feels good to beat teams like these, but we still have a losing record and we have to pick that up,” Jackson said.

(2) UMass 75, (21) Georgia Tech 67

In the Jimmy V Classic nightcap, the Minutemen took advantage of the opportunity to move to the top of the polls with a victory over the Yellow Jackets.

Massachusetts (7-0) wasn’t as impressive as in its other victories this season, but took control with a 9-0 run midway through the second half.

The Yellow Jackets (6-5), who have lost four of five, were within 42-41 with 13:59 to play, but the Minutemen went on the 9-0 run with Carmelo Travieso, who finished with 17, scoring five of the points.

(7) Villanova 80, New Orleans 72

At New Orleans, Kerry Kittles shook off one of the poorest performances of his career, coming back to score 30 points and lead the Wildcats (8-1) past the Privateers (2-3).

Villanova could not put the game away until the final 5 minutes when it outscored New Orleans 12-2, with Kittles scoring seven.

Nine days after Kittles missed 12 of 14 shots in Villanova’s loss to Temple, he started off slowly against New Orleans. Kittles, who holds 13 school records, did not score for the first 7-1/2 minutes. But after finding his mark, Kittles had 16 points in the first half, including 10 of 10 free throws.