It was not a pretty matchup, but the Owls got the job done Wednesday night against Tulsa.
In a game where Temple only shot 32.4% from the field, they were able to outlast the Golden Hurricanes to the score of 59-58.
The driving force behind this win was the Owls’ defensive tenacity. The men in cherry-and-white gave Tulsa headaches throughout the game forcing them to commit a whopping 18 turnovers compared to the Owls 6.
Things did not look good for Temple early in the game. Obi Enechnioyia, the team’s leading rebounder, and third-leading scorer, picked up 2 early fouls forcing him to the bench.
Fran Dunphy elected to use freshmen J.P. Moorman II as his replacement. Moorman II was so eager to get on the court, he forgot to take off his warmup pants.
The freshman’s motivation translated in a big way for the Owls. He was a key factor in the win logging 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals, which are the most of any Temple player this season.
Fran Dunphy cited Moorman II one of the freshmen who has been pushing himself to get more minutes and it is paying off.
This was most apparent in the closing seconds of the game where Moorman secured an offensive rebound and then assisted the cutting Josh Brown for the game-winning basket.
The game also saw a solid performance from Quinton Rose who was previously benched in place of Nate Pierre-Louis. Rose had 19 points while connecting on 4 of his 10 3-pointers.
The Owls’ next game will be against Penn at 2 pm on January 20th.
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