Temple Basketball: Owls still need consistency from emerging Monty Scott

Monty Scott has started breaking out during his first season for Temple basketball, but the Owls need more consistency from their redshirt junior.

Monty Scott, and the role he was going to have on this year’s Temple basketball team, were largely a mystery to most Temple fans entering the season. The Kennesaw State standout and Union, NJ native sat out a season ago after transferring to North Broad after averaging over 17 with Kennesaw in his sophomore season. Coming into 2019-20, no one outside the program knew whether to expect Scott to contribute the kind of role he was playing at Kennesaw State or for him see more limited minutes off Temple’s bench.

Scott had a difficult time finding an offensive rhythm through his first 20 games for Temple. After starting the season opener and going 3-11 from the floor in 26 minutes against Drexel, Scott’s role was reduced to coming off the bench, rotating in for the three or four guards he often found himself behind in the rotation. His shooting performances early in the season included 3-8, 3-10, and 2-7 showings from the floor. His minutes often fell to 10 or fewer, and he’s been held scoreless six different times on the season.

Following a stretch of five games in which he scored only 13 total points, Scott dropped 22 in a dramatic overtime win against SMU at Liacouras Center on February 8th. He was a perfect 7-7 from inside the three-point arc, adding a season-high of six assists. Managing to score only ten fewer points than he did the entire month of January, Scott set the tone for an impressive stretch that has continued through Thursday’s disappointing loss at Wichita State.

Excluding Temple’s blowout loss at the hands of Villanova on February 16th, Scott has averaged close to 18 points since being held scoreless against East Carolina on February 1st. He’s hit 29 of 37 two-point attempts in that span and has started to show the offensive instincts, ability to finish creatively and under pressure, and the offensive vision he displayed leading Kennesaw State during his time there. He’s been finishing shots with high degrees of difficulty, highly contested and tough-angle shots, with astounding consistency, becoming an offensive leader and creator for a Temple team that’s been so desperate for an offensive spark.

Free throw woes

Even during Scott’s coolest stretches this season, he was a consistent free throw shooter when he was able to get himself to the line. He’s earned more trips to the line over the last six contests than he did in his first 20 combined, but a sudden slump from the charity stripe has been costly for an Owls team that’s melted down late in their last two games. Scott isn’t alone in abruptly going cold from the free throw line, (the Owls practiced free throw shooting with simulated crowd noise this week after shooting 13-26 in Greenville on Sunday), but his combined clip of 3-10 over the last two contests has contributed to Temple’s inability to close out on the road this week.

Struggling from deep

While Scott has shown he is an exceptionally talented pure scorer from two-point range, he’s had difficulties putting the ball through the hoop from beyond the arc. A barely-average three-point shooter at Kennesaw (he shot around 36% and 34% in his first two seasons, respectively), his rate from three-point range has fallen to 24.7% in his first go with Temple. Scott wasn’t brought to Temple to hit 90 or a hundred threes a year, but he needs to find a little more success from deep.

Scott has finally broken out and become the kind of player Aaron McKie thought he was getting after his impressive career at Kennesaw State, despite questions about his ability to compete at this level over his first few months on North Broad. He’s shown that he’ll have a primary role for Temple hoops going forward and could be a major difference-maker for the Owls in the AAC next season, but he’ll need to regain his form from the free throw line and improve his numbers from beyond the arc to become someone McKie can trust consistently late in close games.