City of Basketball Love

Zach Drapkin (@ZachDrapkin)
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Temple’s Obi Enechionyia had failed to break 10 points in each of his last five games heading into Wednesday night, and his first-half performance against Central Florida looked like more of the same.

After 20 minutes of play, Enechionyia had failed to register a single point in the first half, going 0-3 from the floor and turning the ball over twice.

The drought looked insurmountable.

But Enechionyia overcame it, and the second half was a completely different tale for the 6-10 forward.

He got it going right out of the break, knocking down three 3-pointers within the first five minutes of the period.

Enechionyia hit another trifecta to put the Owls up five with eight-and-a-half minutes remaining, and slammed home a dunk to reclaim the lead at 63-61 with 4:22 to go.

Then, with just under 90 seconds left on the clock, Enechionyia drilled his fifth three on the night to give Temple a one-point advantage, 69-68.

BJ Taylor came back down the court to score the deciding bucket for UCF, as the Knights took home a 71-69 victory, but there was a clear silver lining for the Owls.

Enechionyia had rediscovered his stroke.

“It felt good to finally get my shot back,” he said. “I wish it could have come with a win.”

Enechionyia finished with 17 points on 6-9 shooting in a single half, his highest points total since he tied his career high with 26 points at Saint Joseph’s in late November, and that was certainly a relief.

“It was great to watch him tonight and especially in the second half,” Owls head coach Fran Dunphy said. “If this is his getting over it, that would be great, and it would certainly help us through the last two regular season games and then in the playoffs as well.”

“We lost this one, but the bright spot (was that) Obi started making shots,” teammate Shizz Alston said. “When he’s hitting shots, he’s one of the best players in the country.”

For Temple (14-15, 5-11 American), this couldn’t come at a better time.

The Owls have a pair of matchups with Tulane and USF left in the regular season, games in which Enechionyia will have a chance to develop some momentum, and after that, it’s off to the postseason.

Now back under .500 and sitting in the bottom half of the league, Temple’s only hope of making it to the big dance will be winning the American Athletic Conference tournament, a herculean task without Enechionyia on his game.

“When he’s making shots, I think we’re unbeatable,” Alston said. “If he’s making shots and [Daniel Dingle] is playing well, I’m playing well, [Quentin Rose] is playing well, we’re a tough team to play, so I think we’re going to make a deep run and win the tournament.”

Also sure to help is that the Owls most likely won’t be facing a towering 7-6 big man like Tacko Fall in their remaining contests.

On Wednesday, Fall’s presence in the paint on both ends of the court was undeniable, as the Senegalese sophomore swatted away five Temple shots, grabbed 10 rebounds, and scored 14 points.

His rim protection limited Temple to just a single free throw attempt on the night, and while the Owls were able to knock down a decent number of shots, the jump shots stopped falling by the end of the game.

“It’s tough not being able to really play inside,” Enechionyia said. “He really doesn’t have to jump to block shots so shot fakes don’t really do much.”

The other main factor for the Knights (18-10, 9-7 American) was Taylor, who finished with a game-high 19 points, all but three of which came in the second frame, and hit a pair of well-contested shots down the stretch to snatch the win for UCF.

Alston had 15 points for Temple, and Mark Williams, whose three-point attempt rimmed out with seven seconds to go, scored 11 on the night. Quentin Rose added 11 as well.

Now it’s time for the Owls to turn it around over these final two games.

“The difference between winning and losing is very fragile and we suffered it in the couple of plays tonight,” Dunphy said. “We’ve just got to figure out how to get over the hump.”