Early in the fourth quarter of Temple’s game against North Texas on Jan. 29, the Owls held a 10-point lead against the third-ranked team in the American Athletic Conference. Instead of holding on for an important win, Temple squandered the lead by going scoreless for the final two minutes of the game and missed the opportunity to move up in the conference standings.
The same story unfolded in the Owls’ next game against first-place UTSA on Feb. 1. Temple held an 11-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter with a perfect chance to snap its two-game losing streak. Again, Temple was plagued by long scoring droughts in the final 10 minutes and its chance to climb the conference ladder disappeared.
After racing out to a 6-1 start in conference play, the Owls have lost four of their last seven games while struggling to maintain late-game leads. With the AAC tournament kicking off on March 9, Temple will need to resolve its issues and play like it did in its dominant 73-56 win against Tulane on Feb. 15 to achieve the success it envisions.
“We know we are capable of winning those two games,” said guard Kaylah Turner. “So we just used those experiences as motivation.”
Despite the promising performance against the Green Wave, the Owls’ biggest problem has been their late-game execution — which has led to blown leads. Temple led by as many as 19 points in the first half against North Texas. However, they began to lose the lead in the second half before completely collapsing by making just one of their final 13 field goals.
The Owls led by 14 points in the second half against UTSA before having a nearly identical collapse in the fourth quarter. Temple didn’t score for the final three minutes and made just one of its final nine field goals. The Owls were haunted by poor play down the stretch in both losses that haven’t been solved.
In Temple’s win against Memphis on Feb. 5, it led by as many as 17 points before deja vu nearly began to set in. The Owls struggled in the second half, and while they managed to pull out a win, they nearly let Memphis come back. Even in its 10-point win against UAB on Feb. 11, Temple showed difficulties closing out the game by turning the ball over multiple times in the final minutes.
“I was trying to let them get out of [press defense] and I knew I had some timeouts, but I was trying to let them get out of it,” said head coach Diane Richardson following the UAB game. “And they didn’t and I had to call the timeout just to calm them down and hopefully we’ll get better at that. It’s just we’re not poised. We have to be poised in those situations.”
The Owls’ late-game issues have gone hand in hand with the offensive struggles they have experienced lately.
On the surface, the Owls’ offense, which ranks third in the AAC in scoring, seems pretty sound. However, in-game issues have cost the team wins. Throughout the season, Temple typically has had one quarter that it struggles in offensively and that theme has been especially present recently.
In the fourth quarter against North Texas and UTSA, the Owls scored just 12 and 10 points, respectively. While they didn’t lose against UAB, Temple had eight turnovers compared to five made shots in the fourth quarter. Temple didn’t blow a lead to South Florida on Feb. 8 but scored just seven points in the second quarter of its 64-57 loss.
Richardson’s “equal opportunity offense” showed its potential against Memphis when every player on the court scored, but the Owls have to keep that level of consistency to solve the long scoring droughts. The offense again showed how well it can work against Tulane when East and second-leading scorer Tarriyonna Gary combined for just nine points but four other players scored in double-figures.
Temple still has the makings to be a contender in March, as it showed against the Green Wave, and only sits a half-game ahead of Tulane for fourth place in the AAC. The issues plaguing the Owls are fixable and will have to be addressed if they want to reach the levels they believe they can get to.
“I want everyone to not be afraid to score the ball and not be afraid to shoot,” Richardson said. “It bodes well for us against the other team because they don’t know who to double team.”
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