Can Temple Owls Rebound After Narrow Defeat to Rice Owls at Liacouras Center?

The Temple Owls faced a challenging contest against the Rice Owls, concluding with a score of 69-66. The home team's record now stands at 0-1, while the visitors improved to 1-0.

In an intense matchup at the Liacouras Center, the Temple Owls displayed a strong performance but fell short by three points against their namesake rivals from Rice. The game was tightly contested with lead changes occurring three times and the score being tied twice, indicating how closely matched both teams were throughout the duration.

The Temple Owls started off trailing in the first half with 28 points to Rice's 41 but managed to close in during the second half by adding another 38 points to their tally. Despite this effort, they could not overcome Rice's consistent scoring which added another 28 points after halftime.

Temple showcased defensive agility with eight steals and also capitalized on fast breaks by scoring eight fast break points. However, they struggled from the free throw line shooting only fifty percent compared to seventy percent accuracy from their opponents. The home team also excelled in generating second-chance opportunities leading that category with thirteen second chance points.

Offensively for Temple, field goal attempts were plentiful as they took sixty-two shots and made twenty-five of them resulting in a forty percent field goal percentage. From beyond the arc, they attempted twenty-nine three-pointers and succeeded on nine occasions giving them a thirty-one percent success rate from long range.

The rebounding battle was won by Rice who collected forty-one total rebounds over Temple's thirty-one. This included ten offensive boards for Rice which provided additional scoring opportunities despite both teams ending up with three team rebounds each.

One notable aspect of Temple’s game was their assist-to-turnover ratio which stood at an impressive 1.63 indicating good ball movement and decision-making despite having eight turnovers during play.

Looking ahead for fans of The Temple Owls, their next challenge will be against South Florida Bulls at Liacouras Center on January 24th at 7:00 PM Eastern Time. This upcoming game will be available for viewing on ESPN+ as part of internet broadcast coverage.