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Philadelphia, Pa. - The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team returns to Philadelphia to take on the Temple Owls of the American Athletic Conference in a game broadcast on ESPN3.  The Knights (2-5) and Owls (2-3) are scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.
 
GAME DETAILS
FDU (2-5) at Temple (2-3)
Where: Liacouras Center – Philadelphia, Pa.
When: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 – 7 p.m.
Series History: Temple leads 1-0
First Meeting: 12/29/93 – Temple W, 63-51
Last Meeting: 12/29/93 – Temple W, 63-51
Last FDU Win: N/A
 
The Knights (2-5) have already visited Philly once this season, dropping their opener to then #11/9 Villanova on November 13.  The Owls (2-3) were also in action that night taking on then #1/1 North Carolina.  The young FDU squad features 11 freshmen and sophomores, while the Owls have a veteran lineup with eight juniors and seniors on the roster.
 
Series History:  This is just the second all-time meeting between the Knights and the Owls with the only other contest taking place on December 29, 1993.  That game was played at Madison Square Garden as part of the ECAC Festival and won by Temple, 63-51.
 
FDU Against the AAC: Today's game against Temple is FDU's only contest against a member of the American Athletic Conference this season.  Since the inaugural season of the AAC in 2013-14 the Knights have played a member just one time, in November of 2013.  FDU defeated Rutgers, 73-72, in a game of the NIT Season Tip-Off.  The Knights will also have non-conference games with members of the Big Ten, Big East, Atlantic 10, Colonial Athletic Association, Ivy League, Patriot League and the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference.
 
Coming Up:  FDU will have a week long break from games before visiting Lafayette on December 9.  On Dec. 18 Towson will visit Stratis Arena and non-conference play will wrap-up on Dec. 23 at Rutgers.  The Northeast Conference opener will be against St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday, January 2.
 
Where the Points Come From:  Of the Knights' 522 points this season 479 have come from sophomores or freshmen, which is 92% of FDU's scoring this season.  The underclassmen are also responsible for 90% (1,268 minutes) of the teams 1400 minutes this season.
 
Earl Earns Weekly Honor:  Potts has averaged 20.0 points per game and grabbed 7.0 rebounds per game last week as the Knights defeated Saint Peter's and fell by a single point at Delaware.  He scored 21 against Delaware and 19 against Saint Peter's.  He was also 7-of-15 from behind the arc over the last two games.  Potts was rewarded for his performance by being named NEC Player of the Week by the Northeast Conference and CollegeSportsMadness.com.  He is the first Knight to earn player of the week honors since Sidney Sanders Jr. on Jan. 6, 2014. Sanders earned the honor twice during the 2013-14 season.
 
League Leaders (as of 12/1): The Knights rank near the top of the Northeast Conference in several statistical categories, particularly on offense.  FDU is first in the NEC in field goal percentage (44.9%), three-point field goal percentage (32.5%) and assist to turnover ratio (0.99).  The Knights are also second in scoring at 74.6 points per game just behind Sacred Heart's league leading 75.2 PPG.  Defensively, the Knights lead the NEC in total steals (62) and rank second in steals per game (8.86.)
 
Individually, sophomores Darian Anderson (Washington, D.C./St. John's College ) (14.0) and Earl Potts Jr. (Severn, Md./Archbishop Spalding ) (13.9) both rank among the top-10 NEC players in scoring.  Freshman Mike Holloway (Pittsgrove, N.J./Arthur P. Schalick ) leads the league in field goal percentage (64.7%) and Anderson ranks fourth in three-point field goal percentage (45.0%).  Sophomore Marques Townes (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph (Metuchen)) is tied for third in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.69 and Townes and Anderson currently share second in the NEC in steals with 2.14 per game.
 
Last Time Out:  The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team fell to Princeton on Monday night at the Jadwin Gymnasium.  The Knights (2-5) were led by 13 points from sophomore Darian Anderson (Washington, D.C./St. John's College ) in the 91-61 setback.  The Tigers (4-0) were led by Henry Caruso who scored a game-high 27 points.

Princeton used a 51.9% (14-of-27) second period shooting performance to pull away from the Knights after leading by 15 at the half.

In the first half, a quick start for the Knights was erased by solid shooting and strong rebounding.  FDU led 12-5 with 15:29 left in the half, but Princeton used a 10-2 run to take a 15-14 lead less than four minutes later.  The teams traded baskets and the lead over the ensuing five minutes before Princeton pulled away late in the period with three-point shooting.  The Tigers were just 5-of-15 from beyond the arc in the period, but all five came in the final seven minutes of the half.
 
Coach G on the Princeton Game:  "If the game was 10 minutes long we would have been fine, but after that we literally had nothing left in the tank.  From that point on Princeton was dominant and we simply had no answers for (Henry) Caruso and (Amir) Bell.  We just have to learn from it - turn the page and move on to Temple.  Again, it's hard to go through this schedule, but these games will help us in conference play." – Head Coach Greg Herenda after the Princeton Game