When asked about his team’s upcoming game against the University of Wisconsin-Madison after the Owls’ win against Fairleigh Dickinson University Wednesday night, coach Fran Dunphy said he was “very concerned” about the matchup with the Badgers.
The Owls did not do much to quell those concerns Saturday, as Temple lost to Wisconsin 76-60 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
The Badgers were led by a balanced offensive attack which featured five players who scored nine points or more. Wisconsin junior forward Nigel Hayes notched a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Badgers’ junior guard Bronson Koenig added 17 points and 3 assists.
Senior forward Jaylen Bond had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Owls. Freshman guards Levan Shawn Alston, Jr. and Trey Lowe were Temple’s two other double-digit scorers. The pair is averaging a combined 13.3 points per game in the team’s seven games this season.
After Alston made a jump shot with 11:22 left in the first half to put the score at 11-10 in favor of Wisconsin, the Badgers scored 19 of the next 21 points to build a 30-12 lead with 5:23 left in the half.
The Owls withered down the deficit to 37-26 at halftime and came out shooting well after the break. Temple made 4-of-5 shots from the floor to start the second half. A jump shot by sophomore Obi Enechionyia closed the gap to five points with 17:38 left in the game.
However, Enechionyia’s basket would be the last bucket for the Owls over the next 4:11 of play. The Badgers responded to the Owls’ quick start by going on a 13-0 run, making the score 52-34 with 13:27 left in the game. The Badgers kept a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Temple came into Saturday’s game ranked No. 107 out of 346 teams in field goal percentage defense at 40.4 percent and No. 299 in offensive field goal percentage, shooting 39.9 percent from the floor in its first six games.
Wisconsin shot 45.8 percent from the floor Saturday, while the Owls made 37.9 percent of their shots from the field in the loss to the Badgers.
The Badgers’ defense held senior guard Quenton DeCosey, who leads the Owls in scoring at 13.7 points per game, to three points on 1-of-6 shooting.
Owen McCue can be reached at owen.mccue@temple.edu or Twitter @Owen_McCue.
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