1937–38 Temple Owls men's basketball team

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. The team finished the season with a 23–2 record^[1] and was retroactively named the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.^[2][3] They won the Eastern Intercollegiate Conference title with a 9–1 record, and the Owls also won the first-ever National Invitation Tournament (NIT) by winning all three games in the tournament.^[4] Additionally, this Temple squad reached the finals of the 1936 Olympic Trials.^[4]

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
Seasons ← 1936–37 1938–39 →

1937–38 Eastern Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	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

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	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^[5]