Temple will face another one of the American Conference's top scorers this week
Another week brings yet another opportunity for Temple to climb closer to first place in the American Conference men’s basketball standings.
The Owls, two days removed from their 81-73 road win at East Carolina, will travel to New Orleans to face a Tulane team Wednesday night that sits in ninth place in the league at 4-6. The Owls, meanwhile, are alone in second place at 7-3, a half-game behind South Florida and Tulsa.
Temple is one of six teams in the conference well within reach of first place.
Finishing the regular season in first or second place would be critically important next month for a Temple team that was counting on more guard depth before AJ Smith’s season-ending shoulder injury and the dismissal of CJ Hines from the program. The American’s first- and second-place regular season teams receive a double-bye to the conference tournament semifinals, meaning just two wins in Birmingham would punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament, a place Temple hasn’t been since 2019.
Sophomore guard Aiden Tobiason was named the Big 5 Player of the Week and earned an American Conference honorable mention nod after pouring in a career-high 27 points in the win at ECU, shooting 10-for-15 from the floor and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. His fellow starting backcourt mates Jordan Mason and Derrian Ford chipped in 15 and 11 points, respectively, and Masiah Gilyard scored 13 of his 15 points off the bench in the first half.
Scouting Tulane
At Tulane, Temple will match up against the league’s second-leading scorer in guard Rowan Brumbaugh, who averages 19.3 points per game. The 6-foot-4 junior came up two points shy of his season scoring average in the Green Wave’s 75-61 home loss to Wichita State Sunday, as the Shockers held the former four-star recruit to 4-of-13 shooting in 38 minutes, including just 1-for-5 from three-point range.
The Green Wave are a below-average team at both ends of the floor this season, owners of the 10th-best scoring offense in the conference at 73.3 points per game and eighth defensively, having allowed an average of 74.7 points per contest. The Green Wave also own a league-worst -8.2 rebounding margin and are dead last in the American in offensive rebounding, averaging just 7.7 per game.
Guards Curtis Williams Jr. (12.7 points per game) and Asher Woods (12.3 ppg.), Tulane’s second- and third-leading scorers this season, combined for just 13 points Sunday against Wichita State. Tyler Ringgold, Tulane’s 6-8, 225-pound sophomore forward, has scored in double figures in six of Tulane’s nine conference games this season and averages 9.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
Luke Rasmussen, a Haverford native and Hill School graduate who started his career at Lafayette, has moved into Tulane’s starting lineup and averaged 29 minutes over the Green Wave’s last three games. The 6-8 redshirt sophomore contributed eight points, five rebounds and three steals Sunday against Wichita State.
While Temple plays Tulane Wednesday before hosting North Texas (13-11, 4-7) Sunday at the Liacouras Center (2 p.m., ESPN+), first place Tulsa hosts UAB (15-9, 6-5) Wednesday before playing at Wichita State, one of three teams sitting a half-game behind Temple in the conference standings, Saturday.
