Dionte Christmas

Classroom

Christmas is an inner-city student-athlete who has worked hard in the classroom.  Dionte is on track to graduate this May from Temple University with a degree in African American Studies.

Character

Dionte is a co-captain and leader of team, both on the court as well as off the court.

“Dionte has grown into a tremendous leader, both on and off the court, for our program over the past two seasons.  He has made an impact on the development of our team, and has been instrumental in our success.  As far as his character, he is involved in our Big Brothers/Big Sisters program and is one of the first players to step up, albeit speaking at a school on the value of an education, or helping with other community service outreach ventures.”  - Fran Dunphy, Temple Men’s Basketball coach

Community

Christmas has spoken to classes around the Philadelphia area on the importance of education and is involved with Big Brothers/Big Sisters Philadelphia chapter.

Competition

The third player in history of A-10 to lead league in scoring in consecutive seasons, Christmas was tabbed the 2008 Atlantic 10 Tournament Most Outstanding Player.  He is a two-time USBWA First Team All-District selection, a two-time all-conference, and all-Philadelphia Big 5 honoree.  Dionte has received seven A-10 Player of Week citations, fourth most in league history, and has scored 600 or more points in each of last two seasons.  In 2007-08, he set a school record with 104 three-point field goals and has had eight career 30-point games (36 games with 20 or more points).  As a junior, Christmas tallied 670 points, ranking him 12th on TU single season list.  He entered this season with 1,381 points and 212 three-pointers made.