Tag Archives: Temple Men’s Basketball

HALFTIME UPDATE: Owls: 19, Bulls: 15

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The Owls lead, 19-15 at the half and the game began as expected with low-scoring and physical.

The Bulls struggled offensively at the half, shooting 11.1 percent from the field, going 3-27. Meanwhile the Owls had 14 fewer field goal attempts and went 5-for-13 (38-5 percent).

The score was 11-5 at the 10-minute mark of the first half, in favor of Temple and junior forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson led the squad with four points, two steals and a rebound.

Entering the game, the Owls were expecting to face a tough South Florida defense. The Bulls have been stingy all year and has been talked about lately, after coming off a win over California in the first round of the NCAA Tournament where they allowed 13 points in the first.

Junior guard Khalif Wyatt scored nine points at the half, which bested all scorers in the game. Wyatt added two rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block as well.

Redshirt-senior guard Ramone Moore senior failed to score in the half and senior guard Juan Fernandez recorded a single point. Both guards average 17.7 and 11.4 points per game, respectively, on the year and are statistically the Owls first and third-best scorers.

The Bulls are led by sophomore forward Victor Rudd Jr., who scored four points in the half. The Bulls’ defense has kept the game close with suffocating man-to-man coverage, as it recorded five steals and a block.

Redshirt-freshman forward Anthony Lee, sophomore Aaron Brown and senior guard T.J. DiLeo all saw action as reserves in the half and combined for two points.

March Madness: Temple MBB: Scouting the South Florida Bulls

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NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The Owls practiced for their allotted 40 minutes Thursday evening at the Bridgestone Arena in preparation for a second round NCAA Tournament match up with the play-in game winner South Florida Bulls.

Although the practice appeared to be nothing more than a typical pre-game shoot around, the fifth-seeded Owls made it evident during its press conference earlier on Thursday that they weren’t going to take the 12th-seeded Bulls lightly. The game will tip-off at 9:50 p.m on Friday (TNT broadcast).

Friday’s game will feature the Owls’ first meeting with the Bulls in program history, but coach Fran Dunphy told the media that he has been following South Florida’s play in the Big East Conference this season.

“I thought they were a really terrific defensive basketball team, who took care of the ball in pretty good fashion and great control of games; most teams played at their pace,” Dunphy said. “And then last night, obviously they defended very well, but they also made shots, and made a ton of them early and got a sizeable gap between they and California. I just thought they were on their game last night.”

Graduate center Micheal Eric said South Florida appears similar to an opponent that Temple faced earlier in the year at the 5 Hour Energy Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

“I think they remind me of Wichita St., [South Florida] has depth with the guards and scoring abilities from the wings” Eric said. “It’s going to be an interesting game.”

The Owls defeated Wichita St. in overtime, 78-74.

South Florida is led by 6-foot 10-inch senior forward Augustus Gilchrist who averages 9.6 points per game.

The Bulls have four other players who average at least eight points. Senior guard Hugh Robertson averages 6.7 points per game and is the team’s leader in field goal percentage at 52.7 percent.

Wyatt took several shots during the practice that looked like he was anticipating shooting over the length of the Bulls.

Temple will be facing a South Florida defense that shutdown California in the first round game on Wednesday night, as they went onto win 65-54. The Bulls held the Bears to 13 first half points and to 5-of-24 shooting.

“We’re going to have to move the ball, be patient and move without the ball too,” senior guard Juan Fernandez said. “And play as a team more than ever on offense, if we’re going to break them down.”

The Owls will look to make it two consecutive years in which they make it past the second round, as last year then-No. 7 Temple defeated No. 10 Penn State, 66-64 at Tucson, Ariz. in the NCAA Tournament. Temple’s run ended in 2011 when they lost to No. 2 San Diego State in double overtime, 71-64.

“This is our [seniors’] last go-around, as far as we’re going to make it, it would be great to make it to the Elite Eight.,” redshirt-senior guard Ramone Moore said. “But, we don’t want to try to look too far ahead.”

March Madness: Men’s basketball earns No. 5 seed

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The Owls were selected as the No. 5 seed in the Midwest bracket and will play the winner of 12 seeds California and South Florida on Friday in Nashville, Tenn for the second round of the NCAA tournament.

North Carolina is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest and will play the winner of a first round game between 16 seeds Lamar and Vermont. The No. 2 seeded Kansas Jayhawks will face No. 15 Detroit.

The following matchups round out the Midwest bracket: No. 8 vs. No. 9 Alabama, No. 4 Michigan vs. No. 13 Ohio, No. 7 Saint Mary’s vs. No. 10 Purdue, No. 3 Georgetown vs. No. 14 Belmont and No. 6 San Diego State vs. No. 11 N.C. State.

The other No. 1 seeds in the tournament are Kentucky, Michigan St. and Syracuse.

Three other Atlantic Ten Conference teams earned a spot in the “Big Dance” including No. 9 seed St. Louis, No. 10 seed Xavier and the A-10 tournament champion No. 14 St. Bonaventure.

Drexel was one of the teams left out of the tournament along with Miami, Northwestern, Seton Hall, Mississippi State, Nevada and Washington.