Temple Basketball: 5 memorable moments of Quinton Rose career

Here are five memorable moments from the eventful collegiate career of Temple basketball guard Quinton Rose.

With the disappointing news that, along with the rest of major sports competition in North America, the NCAA basketball was ending last week came the abrupt and untimely end to the college careers of most seniors playing division one basketball. For Temple basketball, that meant Quinton Rose, Alani Moore, and Damion Moore wouldn’t suit up again in the cherry and white.

While all three will leave Temple fans with lasting memories, Quinton Rose had an exceptional career for Temple basketball. He played in every single game Temple competed in while he was on the roster, broke records, made dozens of highlight-reel plays. Temple basketball fans took the good, the great, the stunning with the inconsistent and unpredictable, but he’ll leave a lasting positive impression on North Broad.

Reflecting on a career that’s now over, here are five of Q’s most memorable moments as an Owl.

5. Young Rose breaks out against Florida State

Rose’s freshman 2016-17 season started rocky for the Owls, with Temple dropping early games to both Massachusetts and New Hampshire, but they had a shot to make some noise against a deep field in Brooklyn for that season’s NIT Tipoff tournament. Temple would beat two ranked and undefeated teams to claim the tournament title, but it was the first-round game, a Thanksgiving morning showdown against #25 Florida State, that was Q’s first big-time performance at the college level.

Temple trailed by as many as 18 points in the second half to a Florida State team that had four top-100 recruits and was led by the same core that would bring the ‘Noles to back-to-back Elite Eights the following two seasons. Temple closed the gap with a 30-12 run over six and a half minutes in the middle of the second half and held off FSU for an 89-86 win. Alani Moore, Shizz Alston, Jr and Obi Enechionyia hit timely threes late in the game to get Temple over the hump, but it was Rose’s 26 that led all scorers. Florida State wouldn’t lose again until the middle of January and would finish the season as the 16th ranked team in the country.

Rose, playing in his fifth college game, scored from all areas of the floor, going 2-5 from behind the arc and earning 15 trips to the free throw line (where he’d score 12 of his 26), and added six rebounds and four assists. Just like that, some kid from Rochester, New York had become a star on North Broad Street, setting the tone for four years of all- league-level play and highlight-reel moments.