1955–56 Temple Owls men's basketball team

1955–56 Temple Owls men's basketball
1955–56 Temple Owls men's basketball
NCAA tournament, Third place
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 14
AP	No. 15
Record	27–4
Head coach	Harry Litwack (4th season);
Home arena	The Palestra
	Seasons ← 1954–55 1956–57 →

The 1955–56 Temple Owls men's basketball team represented Temple University during the 1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season. The team was led by head coach Harry Litwack and played their home games at The Palestra in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Playing out of the East region, the Owls made a run to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament – the first in program history. In the National semifinals, Temple lost to Iowa. The Owls bounced back to defeat SMU in the consolation game to finish with a record of 27–4. It would be the second time in three seasons Temple reached the Final Four and took third place.

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	5	Guy Rodgers	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	So	Northeast HS	Philadelphia, PA
G	6	Hal Lear	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	Sr	Overbrook HS	Philadelphia, PA

Head coach

Harry Litwack

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

^[1]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Dec 1, 1957*		Albright	W 87–56	1–0	South Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dec 7, 1957*		Gettysburg	W 74–53	2–0	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dec 10, 1955*		at No. 2 Kentucky	W 73–61	3–0	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky
Dec 14, 1957*	No. 11	at Gettysburg	W 74–53	4–0	Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Dec 17, 1955*	No. 11	Princeton	W 83–80	5–0	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dec 20, 1955*	No. 12	vs. Penn	W 93–72	6–0	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jan 4, 1956*	No. 16	at Lehigh	W 81–48	7–0	Taylor Gym Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Jan 6, 1956*	No. 16	at Scranton	W 90–60	8–0	John Long Center Scranton, Pennsylvania
Jan 11, 1956*	No. 10	vs. Villanova	W 80–73	9–0	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jan 14, 1956*	No. 10	Manhattan	W 91–79	10–0	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jan 21, 1956*	No. 8	Lehigh	W 72–44	11–0	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jan 26, 1956*	No. 6	at Delaware	W 108–81	12–0	Newark, Delaware
Jan 28, 1956*	No. 6	at Navy	W 93–74	13–0	Dahlgren Hall Annapolis, Maryland
Feb 1, 1956*	No. 7	at Muhlenberg	L 66–67	13–1	Memorial Hall Allentown, Pennsylvania
Feb 4, 1956*	No. 7	at Saint Francis (PA)	W 103–68	14–1	Loretto, Pennsylvania
Feb 6, 1956*	No. 9	at Duquesne	W 63–48	15–1	Duquesne Gymnasium Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Feb 8, 1956*	No. 9	Bucknell	W 88–50	16–1	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Feb 10, 1956*	No. 9	Penn State	W 77–58	17–1	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Feb 15, 1956*	No. 9	vs. La Salle	W 60–57	18–1	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Feb 18, 1956*	No. 9	at Lafayette	W 66–65	19–1	Alumni Gym Easton, Pennsylvania
Feb 20, 1958*	No. 10	Lebanon Valley	W 72–68	20–1	South Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Feb 22, 1956*	No. 10	vs. Saint Joseph's	L 68–77	20–2	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Feb 25, 1956*	No. 10	Duquesne	L 64–66	20–3	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Feb 29, 1958*	No. 14	at Albright	W 86–75	21–3	Reading, Pennsylvania
Mar 7, 1956*	No. 13	St. John's	W 71–66	22–3	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mar 10, 1956*	No. 13	vs. Saint Joseph's	W 89–82	23–3	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
NCAA Tournament
Mar 12, 1956*	No. 15	vs. No. 14 Holy Cross First round	W 74–72	24–3	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Mar 16, 1956*	No. 15	vs. Connecticut Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	W 65–59	25–3	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mar 17, 1956*	No. 15	vs. Canisius Regional final – Elite Eight	W 60–58	26–3	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mar 22, 1956*	No. 15	vs. No. 4 Iowa National semifinal – Final Four	L 76–83	26–4	McGaw Hall Evanston, Illinois
Mar 23, 1956*	No. 15	vs. No. 7 Southern Methodist Consolation	W 90–81	27–4	McGaw Hall Evanston, Illinois
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Eastern Standard Time.

^[2]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked т = Tied with team above or below
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	Not released	—	11	12	17 т	16	10	8	6	7	9	9	10	14	13	15
Coaches	—	—	11	16 т	—	19	14	9	7	7	8	9	8	12	14	Not released

^[3]^[4]

Awards and honors

Hal Lear – All-American

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	7	Hal Lear	Philadelphia Warriors

^[5]

References

^ "1957–58 Temple Owls Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
^ "2019-20 Temple Owls Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Temple Owls. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 643–644. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
^ "1955-56 College Basketball Polls". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
^ "1956 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved December 29, 2021.

[1] "1957–58 Temple Owls Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 29, 2021.

[2] "2019-20 Temple Owls Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Temple Owls. Retrieved December 29, 2021.

[ESPN-3] *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 643–644. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[4] "1955-56 College Basketball Polls". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 29, 2021.

[5] "1956 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved December 29, 2021.

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[5]

v t e Temple Owls men's basketball
Venues	Mitten Hall South Hall Convention Hall (1938–1955) Palestra (1955–1984) McGonigle Hall (1969–1997) Liacouras Center (1997–present)
Culture & lore	City 6 Philadelphia Big 5 Big 5 Classic Robert V. Geasey Trophy
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics