As the fight for seeding in the American Athletic Conference tournament intensifies, Temple traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to face UAB, hoping to avoid a sixth straight loss and find much-needed momentum.
Instead, UAB’s strong scoring abilities and Temple’s depleted roster prevented that from happening. Temple needed to play perfect to come away with an upset and it was evident right away that wouldn’t be the case. Temple’s resilience has gotten it through a variety of challenges during the season, but that couldn’t be found Sunday as its freefall in the month of February continued.
Temple (14-14, 6-9 AAC) fell to UAB (18-9, 11-3 AAC) 80-64 Sunday afternoon at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. The Owls’ losing streak has been extended to six games and they were also handed their sixth straight road loss, with their last victory away from home coming against Rice on Jan. 11.
Temple failed to hit a field goal for nearly the first three minutes before guard Zion Stanford took matters into his own hands. He scored seven of the Owls’ first 14 points, doing so by getting to the rim and scoring in the mid-range. However, UAB guard Tony Toney caught fire early on, as he scored nine points in six minutes. The senior converted on his first three attempts from beyond the arc to give the Blazers a 14-13 lead.
Temple started the game in zone coverage on defense, which enabled UAB to knock down four of its first eight attempts from downtown. Meanwhile, the Owls found success from within the arc as they scored 16 of their first 22 points in the paint. Neither team was able to gain separation in the first 10 minutes as its opposing play styles clashed.
The Blazers eventually figured out the Owls’ defense and ran off seven straight points in a minute-and-a-half span to push the lead to eight. UAB forward Christian Coleman attacked the weak spots of Temple’s zone coverage as he cashed in his first four shot attempts.
The Blazers continued to expand their lead and found an advantage from the glass. They tallied eight offensive boards in the first half which they translated into 10 points. UAB forward Yaxel Lendeborg grabbed his own rebound and found Toney, who hit his fourth three of the half to give UAB its then-largest lead of the game at 33-25 with seven minutes left in the opening half.
Temple ended the first half missing nine of its last 10 attempts from the field which allowed UAB to take a 41-32 lead into the locker room. The Owls’ offense appeared directionless with players settling for shots and little motion being implemented. Temple shot 35% from the field through 20 minutes as Stanford led the team in scoring with 11 points on 5-12 shooting from the field, but he went scoreless for the final six minutes of the half.
The Blazers picked up right where they left off and started the second half on an 8-2 run to give themselves a 49-34 advantage. Temple’s defense has been its weak spot all season but played decent enough to stifle the AAC’s top-scoring offense in the first half. That effort quickly vanished as the Owls allowed the Blazers to hit five of their first eight attempts from the field. Meanwhile, Temple scored just two points in the first four minutes of the second half.
The Owls received a small boost from their bench in forwards Elijah Gray and Dillon Battie. The duo accounted for nine of Temple’s first 11 points of the second half in an attempt to zap some life into an offense that lacked structure. Gray showcased his talents as a dynamic small-ball forward while Battie aggressively attacked the rim.
However, the Owls were unable to trim down the Blazers’ lead as UAB continued to dominate the offensive boards, posting 26 second-chance points during the contest. Such a discrepancy allowed UAB to establish a 60-45 lead with 11 minutes remaining to play as Temple continued to search for answers.
Stanford finally converted on a field goal in the second half with a putback to cut the Blazers’ lead to 65-55 with less than six minutes remaining. Stanford went just 2-8 shooting in the frame and UAB reverted back to form which prevented a comeback effort for the Owls. Turnovers, offensive rebounds and back-cuts plagued Temple down the stretch and ultimately sealed its fate.
Temple will return to The Liacouras Center to take on South Florida (13-15, 6-9 AAC) on Feb. 26 at 7 p.m.
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