Jan. 25, 2010

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The Temple men’s basketball team extended its winning streak to six games last week with wins over Xavier and Fordham and that did not go unnoticed by the voters as the Owls climbed to 15th in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today national polls released today.

The Owls, 17-3, 5-0 in Atlantic 10 Conference play, have now won 13 of their last 14 games and stand alone at the top of the conference standings. This week marks the sixth straight week that Temple has appeared in the national rankings.

Temple has now been ranked in the AP poll 137 weeks in the program’s history, including #1 the final six weeks of the 1987-88 season. The No. 15 ranking marks the highest place for Temple since the final regular season poll of the 1999-2000 campaign when the Owls were fifth in both polls.

The Owls next travel to Charlotte (14-5, 4-1) on Wednesday night at 7:00pm.

Xavier (13-6/5-1) is receiving votes in both polls.