Can the Temple Owls Bounce Back After a Nail-Biter at Moody Coliseum?
The Temple Owls, with a rank of 0, faced off against the SMU Mustangs at Moody Coliseum in Dallas. The game ended in a narrow defeat for the Owls with a final score of 66-68. The Mustangs' victory was marked by their slightly better field goal percentage of 44 and free throw percentage of 61. Both teams displayed defensive skills with each recording five blocks.
The Owls started strong, leading the first quarter with 18 points to the Mustangs' 24 but fell behind in the second quarter scoring only nine points to their opponent's thirteen. They regained momentum in the third quarter adding another twenty-two points to their tally and concluded with seventeen points in the fourth. Despite this effort, they could not surpass the home team's total score.
Temple's performance was highlighted by aggressive play that resulted in eighteen fast break points and twenty-three points off turnovers. Their defense was on display as they racked up nine steals over four quarters. However, personal fouls were an issue for them as they accumulated twenty throughout the game.
Offensively, Temple had forty-six two-point attempts making forty-four percent of them while also attempting fifteen three-pointers but only connecting on twenty-seven percent. From the charity stripe, they made seventy-four percent of their nineteen free throws attempted.
On rebounds, Temple showed dominance with thirty-six total rebounds; ten offensive and twenty-five defensive ones contributed significantly to second-chance opportunities which led to nine second-chance points.
The Mustangs countered effectively by capitalizing on sixteen turnovers from Temple and converting these into sixteen points themselves. Their assist-to-turnover ratio stood at 0.93 compared to Temple's lower ratio of 0.86 indicating slightly better ball management during critical moments.
Looking ahead for fans of The Temple Owls: The next challenge awaits at Devlin Fieldhouse where they will face Tulane Green Wave on January 28th at 3:00 PM Eastern Time (2:00 PM Central). This away game will be available for fans to watch live from New Orleans as both teams strive for victory on court.