Temple basketball: Owls avoid let-down in OT win over South Florida

After Temple basketball’s big win over Houston, the Owls avoided a big let-down with an overtime win over South Florida.

Temple basketball fans felt like their program was on top of the world after Ernest Aflakpui took a charge to seal a Temple victory against previously unbeaten Houston. The Owls were 12-3 on the season, and had come through one of the toughest stretches anyone will face in this AAC season with a 2-1 record. This talented Temple team had gone on the road to beat Missouri and Wichita State, downed Davidson on a neutral court, and had now toppled 17th ranked Houston at Liacouras Center. But perhaps more importantly, Temple hadn’t suffered a major let-down or lost to anyone they were a clear favorite over.

Over the previous two seasons, Temple basketball had just as many very bad losses as they had good wins. Last season they beat all of Clemson, Auburn, and Wichita, only one of those games at home, but would lose to La Salle, George Washington, and Tulane. Other recent disappointments had included losses against New Hamphsire, UMass, another to George Washington, ECU in the 2017 conference tournament. It seemed whenever success found these Temple teams, major disappointment was right around the corner.

So Temple fans held their collective breath and tried not to address the elephant that was in the room before Saturday’s 2:00 p.m. tipoff: South Florida was the perfect suspect to tear a hole in Temple’s now-impressive March resume. The Bulls are a much improved squad from the one Temple saw a year ago, and were ready to catch an unsuspecting Owls team, fresh off one of their most important regular season wins in years, off guard.

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But the first half went as smoothly as Temple fans could have hoped. South Florida pushed back from the 17-point deficit Temple put them under, but a J.P Moorman three-pointer at the end of the first half gave Temple a seemingly comfortable 14-point lead. And besides, Temple had been a second half team all season; this one had to be in the bag.

But things are rarely that simple with Temple basketball. South Florida came flying out of the break, and in less than seven minutes held the lead. Temple’s offense fell apart, and countless turnovers gave South Florida consistent easy buckets in transition. The Bulls eventually opened an eight-point lead in front of a stunned Liacouras Center crowd.

But playing from behind is what Temple has been comfortable doing all season, erasing sizable second half deficits on an almost regular basis. Two quick threes and a converted three-point play from Shizz Alston put the Owls right back on top, and the two teams would slug it out for the rest of the second half. When Temple had finally looked to put the game away with less than 30 seconds left, USF recovered their own missed free throw and kicked it straight out to LaQuincy Rideau for the game-tying three.

Temple again fumbled the close in overtime after opening a quick six-point lead, but despite a late three from Xavier Castaneda that cut the Temple lead to two, the Owls would hold on. Free throws ended up being the difference in the game, with Temple hitting 23 of 28 and 9 of 10 in overtime, South Florida only hitting 10 of 25 from the stripe. Nate Pierre-Louis’ 22 and Shizz Alston’s 20 led Temple’s offensive effort, J.P Moorman adding a double-double on 3-4 shooting from three. South Florida’s LaQuincy Rideau had a triple-double in the losing effort. The teams combined for 41 total turnovers and 47 total personal fouls.

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Temple fans aren’t happy about the effort the team gave after the huge win against Houston, and the two-point margin against an improved but still down South Florida team won’t reflect favorably in the all-important NET rankings, but the Owls did escape with the win. Temple will be the heavy favorite in their next three leading up to a Sunday afternoon clash with Cincinnati on the 27th, and the goal until then is clear: no let-downs.