St. Joe's–Temple rivalry

The St. Joe's–Temple rivalry is a college rivalry between the Hawks of Saint Joseph's University and the Owls of Temple University. The rivalry is rich in history and is particularly intense in men's basketball. Both schools are located in Philadelphia, are members of the Big 5, and are members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The teams usually play one another twice per season. Many of the games are played at the Palestra on the University of Pennsylvania's campus. The rivalry is probably the second most anticipated in the Big 5 after the Holy War between Villanova and Saint Joseph's.

Temple leads the all-time series 84-65 and have defeated St. Joseph's in their last five match ups (three regular season, one A-10 Quarters and 1 A-10 Finals) . John Chaney, legendary coach of Temple, helped win a large number of match-ups between the two schools while more recently, Phil Martelli has led the Hawks over Temple more often than not. Most recently, the two teams played one another in the Atlantic 10 Conference final in 2008. Temple ended up prevailing and both teams would make the NCAA Tournament. Earlier on in the season, SJU had beaten Temple by one point and the Owls had beaten the Hawks by a single point.

The rivalry intensified when John Chaney sent in a player, Nehemiah Ingram, to intentionally foul Saint Joseph's senior John Bryant in 2005. Bryant, co-captain of the St. Joe's squad, ended up with a broken arm and an end to his college career. John Chaney would ultimately retire but the immediate consequences were light.^[1]

The rivalry is still intense but has become friendlier since Fran Dunphy became coach of Temple. Dunphy and Phil Martelli are close friends but the student bodies of each school still share hate for one another as St. Joe's students lovingly refer to Temple as "Thug U" and Temple students return the favor by calling SJU "St. Blows".

History of the Programs

References