Bullying the Bulls; Owls defense carries them to 65-47 over USF

Photo By: Zamani Feelings

After a truly remarkable second half on the defensive side of the floor, Temple (5-10, 4-10 AAC) pulled off a 65-47 victory over USF (8-9, 4-7 AAC) to snap a six game losing skid.

It was on the backs of its defense that Temple toppled the Bulls in Tampa, remaining a perfect 7-0 at the Yuengling Center. The Owls forced 17 turnovers, 10 of which coming in the second half, and limited USF to 28.8% shooting from the field.

The game was a reversal from a 83-76 loss to USF on Sunday at the Liacouras Center, in which the Owls were careless with the basketball and allowed USF to work the ball into the paint with ease. In Wednesday’s game, the Bulls mustered up only 12 points in the paint and the Owls kept themselves to just 10 turnovers, their third lowest total of the season.

“That’s their game, they try to beat you in the interior and we tried to take that away,” head coach Aaron McKie said. “They can just throw big after big at you and we’re limited, we’re down a big. But, all of our guys that went out there contributed and they battled, we just disrupted the flow of their offense and we took some of that away from them.”

Another key to the win was held in the Owls work on the glass. While still being outrebounded by a big USF team, Temple held their own in the second half and limited second chance points. USF only scored five second chance points despite 15 offensive rebounds.

While the Owls performance was encouraging, it should be noted that big man Alexis Yetna injured his ankle in the first half and did not return. Yetna, who averages over 10 points and seven rebounds per game for USF, was seen in a walking boot and only walked back to the bench in the second half with help from his teammates.

The margin of shots taken in recent games has gone against the Owls numerous times as the team continued to win close games late. In the two games leading up to Wednesday’s contest, Temple had taken 30 less shots than their opponent. 

“I think that not allowing those guys to get 17 more shots than us helps,”. “I think that was the difference in the last game and the turnovers, so we did a decent job of cleaning that up.”

Khalif Battle once again drove the engine for the team offensively as Damian Dunn missed his third consecutive game due to injury. Battle finished with 22 points, six rebounds and four assists, leading the team in scoring for a third straight game.

The recent stretch has been a fruitful one for the sophomore guard. He’s averaging 25 points per game on 24-of-50 (48%) shooting from the field and 11-of-24 from beyond the arc (45.8%) in the last three games. Even as teams like USF key in on him, it’s been tough to stop him.

“We try to move him around, we don’t keep him in one spot and our guys look for him,” McKie said of Battle. “He can score at three levels: he can score at the basket, he can go get him a shot off the bounce, we can put him on some screen and rolls and he can catch and shoot. It’s hard to guard when you got to play against guys like that.”

The thought of having him and Dunn on the floor together and firing at all cylinders is an exciting one for the Owls’ future. Elsewhere in the mix is freshman guard Jeremiah Williams, excelling as the team’s lead guard especially on the defensive end.

A pair of early steals from Williams and his 11 first half points helped Temple jump out to its early lead. Described by Battle as his “court general,” the guard out of Simeon High School was a thorn in the side of USF’s backcourt. David Collins, Justin Brown, Xavier Castaneda and Caleb Murphy turned the ball over 10 times and shot 13-of-40 from the floor. 

The senior captains had impressive nights for Temple as Dre Perry (11 points) and J.P. Moorman II (10 points) both finished in double figures. Moorman came off the bench for the second consecutive game and has looked good in his new role. Freshman Nick Jourdain started in his place once again as McKie opted for length against a team full of it.

McKie likes what Jourdain brings in versatility and spacing, as the forward knocked down a pair of threes and added a trio of blocks to the statsheet. 

In the end, it was a solid road win after a flurry of difficult, late-game losses. 

“We’ve been working hard, practicing hard and it just hasn’t materialized to wins,” McKie said. “I know where their heart is at, I know where their minds are at, they want to win basketball games. This is the ugly part of it when you’re close and you’re right there and you just don’t get those wins. And, hopefully, they’re learning from it and for them to taste victory and to get a W today, hopefully, this moves us in a different direction, especially being a young team.

The Owls are headed down the street from Disney World for their next game as UCF plays host to Temple in a Saturday afternoon game this weekend.