# Marsh, Drake, Njie shine in Owls debut en route to season opener win

PHILADELPHIA - After nearly eight months of waiting, the Owls finally returned to North Broad to kick off the 2026-27 season with a 68-56 win over Central Connecticut.

A lot of the win can be credited to the new guys, who certainly made their presence known on this new Owls team. Jordan Marsh, Baboucar Njie, and Deuce Drake combined for 35 points, 18 rebounds, and seven assists, all of whom just transferred to Temple over the summer.

Marsh, who head coach Adam Fisher had high praise for on media day, led the team in scoring with 16 points, and 56 seconds into the season, drained a three to set the crowd off and score the Owls first points of the season.

The Owls played with a lot of tempo for the most part on both ends, which is what coach Fisher wants them to do, and we should expect more of it.

“Coach Fish wants us to play fast, so that’s what we need to do,” Marsh said.

Right after he drained his first three, he nabbed the rebound off a missed shot from Central Connecticut, took it down the floor, and drained another. After another missed shot by Central Connecticut, Marsh grabbed the rebound and found Gavin Griffiths, who drained the three on a fast break. The Owls were 3/4 on three point attempts to begin the game.

At the first media timeout, the Owls were on a 17-0 run to begin the game and looked like this game had been destined for a blowout. But the Owls then allowed the Blue Devils to go on a 9-0 run, and the game was suddenly a 10-point game at the second media timeout.

Something worth noting is that Derrian Ford was not in the starting lineup, as he was dealing with a knee injury during the offseason which was still bothering him at media day, where coach Fisher said he was questionable. But Ford still got in the game but in limited minutes.

“I thought it was \[Ford’s\] best interest to stay warm,” Fisher said. “We all in this room know what he can do. I just wanted to ease him back into it.”

But the knee didn't stop him from scoring, as he drove into the paint for a slam dunk to tally his first points of the season.

At halftime, it was all Owls as they were up 36-16. The Owls shot relatively well, 50% overall and 37% from deep. Marsh and Gavin Griffiths led the scoring with eight apiece.

The second half is where things got dicey. It stemmed from the fact that the Owls got trigger happy from the three point line, leading to a slower pace of scoring, which Fisher was not happy about.

“I was disappointed in some of the settling,” Fisher said. “I thought we could have got downhill more.”

This allowed the Blue Devils to start making a run, and got the lead down to as low as 10 points.

The Owls actually shot well from inside the arc and the paint, 19 for 29, good for 65% But the inability of shots falling and the Owls defense getting sloppy in the second half allowed the game to get close.

“It was a lack of attention to detail,” Njie said. “Lost it towards the end, but we gotta stay with it on the little things.”

A lot of the second half struggles may have come from exhaustion, as that's the way the Owls play.

“We had multiple times in the first half that guys put up a fist that they had to come out of the game because they were gassed.” Fisher said. “\[Marsh\] put it up twice. He was gassed, and that’s what we want. We want the next guy to bring that same intensity.”

The Owls did pull out the win, even if it's in a way they may not have wanted it to be. The transfers made themselves known with Marsh and Drake leading the team in scoring, and Njie leading the team in rebounds with 12, while also tallying eight points of his own. Griffiths continued his good play as a two-way guy, racking 11 points with eight rebounds and a steal.

The Owls start off 1-0 to begin the 2026-27 campaign, and will get plenty of rest, as their next game will be Sunday, November 8th against Richmond for the Owls first of two games at The Palestra, celebrating its 100th year.