Temple (15-15, 6-11 American Athletic Conference) started its season with a 5-2 record in November, including wins against nationally ranked Florida State University and West Virginia University teams. The Owls, ranked No. 119 in the Ratings Percentage Index as of Sunday, have a 10-13 record since their hot start and are unlikely to reach the NCAA tournament for a second straight year.
For the 2017-18 season, Temple will add four recruits — 6-foot-7-inch forward J.P. Moorman, 6-foot-4-inch guard Nate Pierre-Louis, 6-foot-6-inch forward De’Vondre Perry and 6-foot-10-inch forward Justyn Hamilton — all ranked four stars by ESPN.
Roselle Catholic High School coach Dave Boff on Nate Pierre-Louis:
“I think they’re going to be getting an extremely hard worker, a guy who is going to bring it every possession of every game, and every possession of every practice. And because of that they’re going to get a guy that I think they’re really going to enjoy watching play because everybody enjoys watching kids that try to maximize their ability and I think that Nate is a guy who has done that.”
“He’s very a big, strong guard. He’s a fantastic athlete. He plays well above the rim. He shoots it pretty well and he never takes a play off, which I think is probably his greatest attribute.”
Roselle Catholic High School senior guard Nate Pierre-Louis on himself:
“I’m a point guard, so if my team needs me to pass the ball, I’m going to pass the ball. If my team needs me to score, needs my offense input, I’m going to use my input and try to play as hard as I can.”
Greensboro Day School coach Freddy Johnson on J..P. Moorman:
“J.P. in high school can play anywhere from one to five and we have him play one a lot because he sees the floor so well, and he’s really good at pushing the basketball up the court. So if I had to label a position for him, I’d call him a point-forward, is what I would call him. And defensively, he can guard one through five. He’s guarded [freshman forward Edrice “Bam” Adebayo] who is at Kentucky, [freshman forward Harry] Giles who is starting at Duke. He’s guarded point guards, I mean he can guard anybody.”
“He’ll be a good addition to the program. I’m sure coach feels the same way. He won’t be like a freshman, that’s the best way I can say it to you. He won’t be like a true freshman. He’ll be very experienced.”
Independence High School senior forward Justyn Hamilton on himself:
“I think I could say that on the defensive end I play good defense. I’m active on the glass. I contest a lot of shots and offensively, I could say my game good on the inside and good on the outside so it’s like well-rounded. But I still have areas I need to work on.”
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute senior forward De’Vondre Perry on himself:
“I have a real high motor, like I’m a real true competitor and I love to win and I know that just doing one thing is not going to help the team win. You have to do multiple things and growing up being versatile that helps a lot.”
“Me and J.P., we’ve been playing with each other for a while. We’re a lot alike, and we definitely will be able to feed off each other.”
Roselle Catholic senior guard Nate Pierre-Louis on all four recruits:
“We’re just really athletic guys who really just want to work. …We’re hoping to push the tempo and try to run and jump and have fun.”
Evan Easterling can be reached at evan.easterling@temple.edu or on Twitter @Evan_Easterling. Follow The Temple News @TheTempleNews and @TTN_Sports.
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