Temple Falls to No.1 Villanova: 78-57.

Temple has been a team that is notorious for being unpredictable. They lose to teams they outmatch on paper, and then upset top 25 teams out of nowhere. They defy the logic of basketball every season, so naturally entertaining a no.1 upset idea is not that far fetched. In Temple’s matchup against no. 1 Villanova, that upset dream quickly turned into a nightmare for Temple fans. Neither team could buy a bucket in the first half. For the majority of the first half, Temple and Nova had a combined shooting percentage of less than 50% from the field. Both of these teams’ average over 40% from the field on the season, and both teams ended the first half well under 40% from the field. Temple shot 25% from the field and the three, and Nova shot 34.6% from the field and 28.6% from the three. In the second half Temple improved to shooting over 40% from all over. Villanova also improved shooting 57% from the field and 54.5% from behind the arc in the second half.

 

FOUL SHOTS:

Not only did Villanova pick up their field and perimeter shooting, they were able to maintain their exceptional free throw percentage. They did not just shoot 90% from the charity stripe, they made it a point to get to the free throw line. They were able to score 18 points with no time on the clock because they shot 20 foul shots…Temple shot 6. Not only did Temple only shoot 6 foul shots, they only made 3. A huge reason Villanova was able to execute from the line is because Temple fouled more than twice as much as Nova. The Owls ended with 22 fouls, the Wildcats had 10.

 

T FOR TEMPLE TURNOVER:

Temple is a team that prides itself on taking care of the bal

l. Heading into the game they averaged just over 11 turnovers per game. That includes the West Virginia game when they had 19 turnovers against WVU’s daunting full court press, and still the Owls prevailed in that matchup. Temple turned the ball over 18 times against the Wildcats. One third of those turnovers came from the back bone of the Temple offense, Obi Enechionyia. Temple’s turnovers allowed Villanova to score in transition, a lot. The Wildcats racked up 12 points from fast break opportunities, Temple scored 0 points off of fast break opportunities.

 

HART AND SOUL:

While Temple was struggling from all over, Villanova just seemed to have more hart. Josh Hart that is. The senior guard dropped 26 points, shooting over 51% from the field. The Owls initially had Hart locked up, after coming off a career high of 37 points against Notre Dame, he only recorded 2 points in the first half against the Owls. He quickly heated up from the floor in the second half, and proceeded to score 24 points. Hart was not the only Wildcat that was able to put the ball in the basket. The Wildcats had four players score in double figures. Temple only had two, and leading scorer, Obi Enechionyia, was not one of them.

 

CATCH THEM NEXT:

Temple is now 3-1 in the Big 5 and 7-4 overall. They are set to take on NJIT Saturday December 17^th, at 2:00 pm at the Liacouras Center.