PHILADELPHIA _ Given it was a Big Five encounter, Temple didn't need any extra motivation to play Villanova on Tuesday night and the Wildcats didn't need any extra motivation to get up for the Owls.
Still the specter of 'Nova moving to No.1 in the Associated Press and USA Today coaches polls loomed heavily at the Liacouras Center.
Knocking off the new top-ranked team in the land would've been a nice feather for the Owls to put on their resume _ not to mention they would've stopped the Cats' City-Series winning streak at 21 games.
There's always a crimp in every well-thought-out plan.
In this particular case, it was Villanova, and specifically junior Jalen Brunson, a first-team preseason All-America.
Brunson scored 22 of his career-high 31 points in the first half and redshirt freshman Omari Spellman had a career-high 27 points to lead 'Nova (11-0) to a convincing 87-67 victory.
Quinton Rose scored 27 for Temple (6-3).
Sooner or later, some team from Philadelphia will beat Villanova again, but at the earliest it won't be until next season.
In games against Penn, St. Joseph's, La Salle and now Temple, the Wildcats have outscored their city brethren by an aggregate of 348-250 _ that's an average difference of nearly 25 points against Big Five teams.
During the streak, Villanova has won 20 of the 22 games by at least 10 points.
Whatever energy Temple fans brought into the Liacouras Center was quickly displaced into a cold December night when Brunson scored 12 in the first 8 minutes as 'Nova raced to a 20-5 lead.
The way the Wildcats are playing right now, it's been hard for most teams to stay with them.
Temple quickly found itself trying to fight back from a 15-point deficit _ not an impossible task but extremely difficult.
The Owls strung together a few decent runs, but Villanova always had an answer to stop things from getting uncomfortable.
