Temple Leaves Legends Classic 1-1 After Topping Cal 76-59

New day, new team. The Temple Owls bounced back strong after their tough loss to VCU in the first round of the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, NY, with a 76-59 win over the California Golden Bears.

Shizz Alston Jr. and Quinton Rose made sure that the two would not have another synonymous off night on the stat sheet. “I don’t think that I and him [Quinton Rose] are going to have those types of games at the same time any other time,” said Alston. Rose led all scorers with 23 points. He also grabbed 5 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists. Rose also led all with his 4 steals, the Owls altogether tallied 10 steals. They are ranked number eight in the nation for steals per game with 10.6. Shizz Alston Jr. looked a lot more comfortable in the Barclays Center in round two. He contributed 15 points, but what his biggest attributions were his assists. Alston tied his career high for assists with 10 and only had 2 turnovers. This marks his second career double-double,and he is the first player in the American Athletic Conference to earn a double-double via points and assists.

Despite only having three fewer turnovers than in their loss to VCU, the Owls looked more capable of taking care of the ball. They had 24 assists collectively to their 11 turnovers, “…we had some good scoring opportunities,” said Dunphy. In their first-round matchup they had only 8 assists and turned the ball 14 times. Temple’s relentless defense forced 15 Cal turnovers and only allotted 10 assists.

From start to finish Temple’s play showed efficiency. They shot 54% from the field and went 9-21 from behind the arc. Their consistent field shooting allowed their poor free throw shooting, 5-10, to go unscathed. The Owls had eight players contribute to the scoreboard and four players scoring at least 8 or more.

After six games in the first two weeks of play, the Owls will have a week off before their three-game road trip. The road games kick off in Missouri where Temple will tip off at 9 o’clock on Tuesday, November 27th, followed by two big five matchups at St. Joe’s and Villanova.