Temple’s Lynn Greer won the Owls’ 70-67 win over Wisconsin nearly singlehandedly. But a coaching decision may have really decided the game.

With 33 points of his team’s 50, including five three-pointers, Bo Ryan decided not to double-team the 6-foot-2 senior with 22 seconds left. Greer promptly sunk a three and sent the game to overtime.

“That’s what Greer can do,” the Badgers’ head coach explained.

But it was what the rest of the team could do, Ryan said, that kept UW from double-teaming Greer. The Badgers were worried Temple’s assists leader would be able to find open teammates if double-teamed.

“I’m surprised that they didn’t double the whole game,” Greer said. “The other four teams we’ve played, when I come off the screen and roll they doubled. When I come off picks they doubled — everything. This is the first time, actually, that I wasn’t doubled. So I was surprised they let me get the ball at the end of the regulation and the overtime.”

In the first half, UW complemented its usual zone by guarding Greer with Travon Davis, and gave up 18 points on eight of 13 shooting. So, on the last possessions before halftime and after the break, Ryan moved to a sort of box-and-one, with the main responsibility falling between Devin Harris and Freddie Owens.

So the Badgers did nothing differently in the crunch than they had the rest of the game. UW was content to force Greer to beat them, and he did, but only after Ryan’s offense opportunistically turned a 16-point deficit into a six-point lead.

“I think Bo is doing a great job here,” Temple’s John Chaney said. “He had those guys really working hard on our zone — as well as anybody. He found holes.

“His players did a tremendous job of executing: penetrating and splitting us and finding the shooters.”

Indeed, by keeping his players’ composure, first-year coach Ryan went toe-to-toe with Chaney, a Hall of Fame inductee with 433 wins under his belt, and nearly scrapped out a win.

Chaney goes off on Rollerson: A double-overtime matchup may have been too much of a test for Temple with Duke looming on Wednesday. Three of the Owls played the full 50 minutes. But Chaney felt one of his players was more of a detriment than the physical exhaustion.
“We’re in big trouble. There’s no way, humanly possible, as I see it, with Ron Rollerson playing the way he’s playing, the way he played tonight, that we stand a chance at Duke,” Chaney said. “He gave us a terrible effort. A terrible effort, there’s no question about it.”
Rollerson played only three minutes in the first half after picking up two quick fouls. The 330-pound senior fouled out with two points in 20 minutes.