Quick Report: No. 25 SMU 66, Temple 50

David Gough (@DG0UGH)
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Temple ran into a brick wall of a Southern Methodist defense on Thursday night at the Liacouras Center, going as ice-cold from the floor as it was outside, falling to the No. 25 Mustangs 66-50.

At First…

Both teams were slow out of the game. Southern Methodist led 6-4 at the first media timeout only making two of its first seven shots. Temple started out 1-of-4. After Semi Ojeleye hit a 3-pointer to give the Mustangs a five point lead, Temple responded with an 8-1 run to jump out to a 12-10 lead with 12:41 left in the first half. The Owls made only two more field goals in the half -- both by Quinton Rose -- as SMU went into the half with a 28-18 lead.

Turning Point…

With Temple fixing its turnover problem in the second half after giving it up 11 times in the first half, the Owls slowly closed in on the Mustangs, bringing the lead all the way down to six with under 10 minutes remaining. Semi Ojeleye responded with put SMU back up by nine. The mustangs controlled the game from there as Temple would only get within seven.

Standout Stars…

SMU’s Semi Ojeleye led both teams with 30 points in the Mustangs’ win shooting 4-of-8 from three and and making 10-of-11 from the charity stripe. The Duke transfer, who set a new career high in scoring, also contributed 10 rebounds.

Freshman Quinton Rose provided a spark for the Owls’ offense off the bench scoring 12 points. His night included a couple of dunks that gave the Liacouras Center its loudest points of the night. Sophomore Shizz Alston Jr. finished with 13 points to lead the team in scoring, though he was 4-of-14 from the floor.

Noteworthy Number(s)...

16 - Temple came into the game averaging 11.7 turnovers a game. They reached 11 in the first half alone, finishing with five in the second half. It’s the seventh game in a row with double-digit turnovers for Temple, which had as many double-digit turnover games over the season’s first 13 games.

.309: Temple finished the game 17-for-55 from the floor (30.9 percent), its third-worst performance of the year. The Owls were just 8-of-30 (26.7 percent) from 3-point range.

17: Southern Methodist, the No. 3 team in the country in rebounding margin (+11.0/game) coming into the game, out-rebounded Temple 49-32 on the night.

Up Next…

Temple (13-12, 4-8 AAC) @ Memphis (18-7, 8-4) -- Sun., Feb 12, 2 PM