Analyzing Temple’s offense by the numbers

Temple Men’s Basketball’s offense boasts four leading scorers, but its production goes past just the stat sheet.

Mashburn is averaging a career-best 21.6 points per game while leading the Temple offensive unit. | NOEL CHACKO / THE TEMPLE NEWS

With 12 seconds remaining in regulation of Temple’s 90-89 win against Charlotte on Jan. 29, guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. was sent to the free throw line down by just two points. If Mashburn were to miss just one foul shot, Temple would have been on its way to a third straight loss, this time to one of the worst teams in the conference. 

Mashburn settled into his free throw routine and drained both attempts to send the game into overtime, where the Owls needed two extra periods to snap their two-game losing skid. The end-of-game sequence reflects the offensive burden Mashburn has carried throughout the season. Head coach Adam Fisher praised the poise Mashburn showed in that critical moment. 

“I try my best to stay composed at all times,” Mashburn said. “Not just with basketball, with life. Life is going to throw things at you. We didn’t expect this to be a double-overtime game, but it was, so we had to just roll with the punches and respond.”

Temple’s offense has gotten off to a solid start, leading the team to a 14-8 record — a much better mark than where the team was at this point last year. A look at the stat sheet shows the Owls are led by four primary scorers, but a deeper look reveals different reasons that explain why the Owls have improved this season.

Heading into the season, it wasn’t a secret Temple’s offense was going to be catered toward Mashburn’s scoring talents. He’s showcased the ability to score on all three levels throughout his career, especially in the 2022-23 season at New Mexico. With the Lobos, Mashburn led the Mountain West Conference in scoring with 19.1 points per game. 

Temple has seen the effects of Mashburn’s offensive prowess halfway through the season. The Owls rank fourth in the American Athletic Conference in offensive rating, scoring 111.3 points per 100 possessions — 97th in the country. 

Mashburn is averaging a career-best 22.1 points per game on 55.2% true shooting, which is a percentage of a player’s two-pointers, three-pointers and free throws. He’s also dishing two assists per game and shooting a career-high 44.2% from three-point range on 4.7 attempts per game. However, running an offense that’s so reliant on Mashburn also has its faults.

Mashburn has the highest usage percentage in the AAC at 29.7%. The player with the second-highest mark on the team is guard Zion Stanford at 23%. When Mashburn is off the floor, the Owls lack the offensive firepower to replicate his production. As a result, Temple’s offense stagnates as it forces shots and doesn’t adequately move the ball. 

While Mashburn is an elite scorer, he also tends to force shots — especially when the Owls aren’t shooting the ball well. Mashburn attempts 17 shots per game, which is the highest mark in the AAC. He is shooting nine more shots than Stanford, who is second on the team with eight shots per game. 

“Just continuing to play out of concepts,” Mashburn said. “[Fisher] gives us a lot of freedom to have [the offense] be player-led. We’re working on a lot more concepts, a lot of ball-screen concepts, a lot of handoff situations.”

Temple shoots 36.8% from beyond the arc, which is the second-best rate in the AAC. However, the Owls simply don’t attempt enough perimeter shots to properly space the floor. Opposing defenses have frequently exploited that by playing zone defense to disrupt Temple’s offense.

Regardless, Temple still has one of the better offensive units in the AAC. Aside from Mashburn, Temple has three other players averaging at least 11 points per game — Stanford, guard Quante Berry and forward Steve Settle III. 

“[Offensively] we can score, go up and down with anybody,” Stanford said. “Anybody on our team can go off at any point of the game, any game.”

Berry leads the team with 2.1 assists per game, but three of Temple’s four leading scorers rely on putting the ball in the basket. The Owls average just 11 assists per game, second to last in the AAC and 345 out of 364 Division I teams. For reference, Gonzaga guard Ryan Nembhard leads the NCAA with 229 assists, just 12 fewer than Temple’s entire team.

While Berry has shown success as a ball handler, most games end with him, Stanford and Mashburn attempting to carry the brunt of the offense by themselves. The three rarely establish a rhythm when they are on the court together, with Mashburn and Stanford failing to look for each other when they share the floor.

Despite its shooting struggles and need for playmaking, Temple is establishing itself as a respectable offense in the AAC. The Owls have faced numerous challenges this season and continue to soar into the win column. Temple knows its identity and its trust in each other has been the biggest culprit of the offensive success. 

“There’s so many times this group could have folded, but instead they’re resilient,” Fisher said. “They keep coming, they keep fighting, it’s a great credit to the entire locker room.”

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