Temple Owls Edge Out Florida Atlantic in a Nail-Biter at Dickies Arena

The Temple Owls, with a season record of 26-8, narrowly defeated the Florida Atlantic Owls, who held a record of 31-3, in an intense matchup that concluded with a final score of 74-73. The game was played at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth and was part of the American Athletic - Semifinal 2.

The Temple Owls started off trailing behind their opponents after the first half ended with them scoring only 25 points to Florida Atlantic's 33. However, they staged an impressive comeback in the second half by adding an additional 49 points to their tally. The team's overall field goal percentage for the game stood at 43 percent with a significant contribution from beyond the arc where they shot an impressive 50 percent.

Temple's aggressive defense resulted in nine steals and six blocked shots against them. Despite not recording any blocks themselves, their defensive efforts were relentless throughout the match. They also managed to keep their turnovers low with just eight compared to Florida Atlantic's fourteen.

Offensively, Temple capitalized on turnovers by scoring twelve points off them and added ten fast break points which contributed to keeping up the pace against Florida Atlantic. Their efforts inside were notable as well; despite being outscored in paint points (22 for Temple versus Florida Atlantic’s dominant performance resulting in forty), they fought hard under both baskets.

One area where Temple struggled was free throws; they made only twelve out of nineteen attempts which translated into a free throw percentage of just sixty-three percent. This could have been costly but for their three-point shooting that kept them within striking distance until they eventually overtook Florida Atlantic.

Florida Atlantic had better overall shooting accuracy with fifty-four percent from the field and seventy-four percent on two-point attempts but couldn't maintain their lead due to higher turnover numbers and less effective long-range shooting – making only three out of seventeen three-point attempts (eighteen percent).

As fans look forward to what comes next for Temple Owls basketball, attention turns towards their upcoming game against UAB Blazers scheduled on March 17th at Dickies Arena once again. Fans can catch this anticipated encounter live on ESPN at around 9:00 PM US/Central time zone as both teams take to the court aiming for victory.