1937–38 Temple Owls men's basketball team

1937–38 Temple Owls men's basketball
1937–38 Temple Owls men's basketball
National Invitation Tournament Champions; Helms Foundation National Champions; Premo-Porretta National Champions; EIC Champions
Conference	Eastern Intercollegiate Conference
Record	23–2 (9–1 EIC)
Head coach	James Usilton (12th season);
MVP	Don Shields

1937–38 Eastern Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Temple	9	–	1	.900	23	–	2	.920
Penn State	6	–	4	.600	13	–	5	.722
Pittsburgh	5	–	5	.500	9	–	12	.429
Georgetown	5	–	5	.500	7	–	11	.389
Carnegie Tech	3	–	7	.300	3	–	7	.300
West Virginia	2	–	8	.200	6	–	13	.316

The 1937–38 Temple Owls men's basketball team represented Temple University during the 1937–38 NCAA men's basketball season in the United States. The head coach was James Usilton, coaching in his 12th season with the Owls.^[1] The Owls finished the season with a 23–2 record, going 9–1 in conference play to win the Eastern Intercollegiate Conference championship.

The Owls entered the inaugural National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and won the championship in three games. The team was hailed as national champions after their Invitation win.^[2]^[3]

The team was also later retroactively named the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.^[4]^[5]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
12/18/1937*	St. John's (MD)	W 54–26	1–0	Mitten Hall Philadelphia, PA
12/20/1937*	Illinois	W 51–38	2–0	Philadelphia Arena Philadelphia, PA
12/30/1937*	Stanford	W 35–31	3–0	Convention Hall Philadelphia, PA
1/7/1938*	SMU	W 53–41	4–0	Philadelphia Arena Philadelphia, PA
1/10/1938	vs. Georgetown	L 22–39	4–1 (0–1)	Ritchie Coliseum College Park, MD
1/12/1938*	Muhlenberg	W 40–23	5–1	Philadelphia Arena Philadelphia, PA
1/14/1938*	at Manhattan	W 45–38	6–1	Manhattan, NY
1/18/1938	at West Virginia	W 34–31	7–1 (1–1)	WVU Fieldhouse Morgantown, WV
1/20/1938	at Carnegie Mellon	W 39–37	8–1 (2–1)	Pittsburgh, PA
1/22/1938*	at La Salle	W 37–22	9–1	Convention Hall Philadelphia, PA
1/28/1938*	Villanova	L 28–36	9–2	Convention Hall Philadelphia, PA
2/4/1938	Penn State	W 49–25	10–2 (3–1)	Philadelphia Arena Philadelphia, PA
2/5/1938	West Virginia	W 51–32	11–2 (4–1)	Mitten Hall Philadelphia, PA
2/8/1938	at Penn State	W 49–39	12–2 (5–1)	Rec Hall University Park, PA
2/9/1938	at Pittsburgh	W 43–41	13–2 (6–1)	Pitt Pavilion Pittsburgh, PA
2/12/1938*	NYU	W 42–34	14–2	Convention Hall Philadelphia, PA
2/14/1938	Carnegie Mellon	W 48–39	15–2 (7–1)	Mitten Hall Philadelphia, PA
2/16/1938*	at Navy	W 61–58	16–2	Annapolis, MD
2/18/1938	Pittsburgh	W 46–34	17–2 (8–1)	Philadelphia Arena Philadelphia, PA
2/23/1938*	Albright	W 46–25	18–2	Convention Hall Philadelphia, PA
2/25/1938	Georgetown	W 51–34	19–2 (9–1)	Philadelphia Arena Philadelphia, PA
3/4/1938*	Saint Joseph's Rivalry	W 40–34	20–2	Convention Hall Philadelphia, PA
National Invitation Tournament
3/9/1938*	vs. Bradley NIT Quarterfinals	W 53–40	21–2	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
3/14/1938*	vs. Oklahoma A&M NIT Semifinals	W 56–44	22–2	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
3/16/1938*	vs. Colorado NIT Championship	W 60–36	23–2	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Source^[6]^[7]

References

^ "Hall of Fame – James Usilton, Sr". OwlSports.com. Temple University. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
^ Avery, Leslie (March 17, 1938). Written at New York. "Temple Captures National Mythical Court Title by Conquering Colorado". The Democrat and Leader. Davenport, Iowa. United Press. p. 28. The tournament sweep gave the eastern conference champions clean claim to the mythical national title.
^ Wilson, Dave (March 29, 1938). "Temple's National Champions Honored Again at Banquet — City Fetes Temple, National Champion". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 19. Representatives of this city's official family, leaders in education and prominent men in athletics paid tribute to Temple University's national championship basketball team at the dinner given by Mayor S. Davis Wilson in the ballroom of the Bellevue-Stratford last night. [...] Following his speech Mayor Wilson presented Jimmy Usilton, Temple coach, with a wrist watch and also gave each member of the Owl team a gold ring-tokens of gratitude for the fame and honor which the Templars brought to this city.
^ "NCAA Division I Men's Basketball – NCAA Division I Champions". Rauzulu's Street. 2004. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
^ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 546. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
^ "History and Records (p. 96)" (PDF). 2013–14 Temple Owls Men's Basketball Media Guide. Temple University. 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
^ "Temple Owls season-by-season results". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.

[USILTON-1] "Hall of Fame – James Usilton, Sr". OwlSports.com. Temple University. Retrieved June 13, 2014.

[UP1938NIT-2] Avery, Leslie (March 17, 1938). Written at New York. "Temple Captures National Mythical Court Title by Conquering Colorado". The Democrat and Leader. Davenport, Iowa. United Press. p. 28. The tournament sweep gave the eastern conference champions clean claim to the mythical national title.

[PhiladelphiaInquirer1938-3] Wilson, Dave (March 29, 1938). "Temple's National Champions Honored Again at Banquet — City Fetes Temple, National Champion". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 19. Representatives of this city's official family, leaders in education and prominent men in athletics paid tribute to Temple University's national championship basketball team at the dinner given by Mayor S. Davis Wilson in the ballroom of the Bellevue-Stratford last night. [...] Following his speech Mayor Wilson presented Jimmy Usilton, Temple coach, with a wrist watch and also gave each member of the Owl team a gold ring-tokens of gratitude for the fame and honor which the Templars brought to this city.

[HELMS-4] "NCAA Division I Men's Basketball – NCAA Division I Champions". Rauzulu's Street. 2004. Retrieved June 13, 2014.

[5] ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 546. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[6] "History and Records (p. 96)" (PDF). 2013–14 Temple Owls Men's Basketball Media Guide. Temple University. 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2014.

[SR-7] "Temple Owls season-by-season results". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.

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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 2025–26
Helms national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics