Temple's defense rests in 90-75 loss to Rhode Island

A main storyline in Temple’s appearance at the Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational was how its defense vanished. The Owls came into the week holding teams to 70 points per game, but allowed 166 through two games in Florida.

Wednesday night’s fifth-place game against Rhode Island was a chance to get them back on track.

That didn’t happen.

Temple saw its two-point halftime deficit balloon as large as 21 points, and the Owls had no rebuttal. Rhode Island hit 55.2% of its shots, including 12 threes, doubling its average of six a game. Guard Jonah Hinton was the main culprit, knocking down seven three pointers for 25 points as Temple fell, 90-75, during its last night in Orlando. 

The happiest place on earth has been anything but for the Owls. They have often started slow, with UC San Diego opening up a quick 6-0 lead on Monday and eventually slamming the door on a win early. The same thing happened against Princeton Tuesday, as the Tigers snatched a 19-9 edge until Temple stole a four-point victory.

Wednesday came and went without a comeback. 

Both teams traded blows in the first half. Temple’s offense got two quick buckets from forward Babtunde Durodola and guard Aiden Tobiason for a 5-2 lead. Tobiason added another bucket,  but while Temple’s main contributors struggled, the Owls’ depth shined offensively in the first 20 minutes. Charleston transfer AJ Smith took the mantle of the offense to lead the Owls. He had back-to-back field goals during an 8-2 run that gave them an 19-16 lead eight minutes into the game.

Smith poured in14 first-half points, while forward Jamai Felt added six points, all coming from the free-throw line. The Bowling Green transfer was intent on forcing fouls to get to the line, something Rhode Island did regularly. The Rams had 10 first half fouls, leading to 13 Temple free throws. 

But Temple’s defense was still a thorn in its side for any comfortable advantage. 

After allowing an average of 83 points in the two previous games, Temple saw Rhode Island steadily working its way to that number and eventually surpassing it. The Rams answered a Temple run with eight straight points. Rhode Island also forced a nearly five-minute Temple scoring drought to grab a two-point lead.

Temple’s inability to close out defenders led to easy Rhode Island buckets. Most of them came from Hinton and guard Tyler Cochran, who had 14 and 12 points, respectively, and Rhode Island hit 50% of its first-half shots and went into halftime with a 41-39 lead.

That trend continued in the second half; and eventually the game unraveled.

Rhode Island had a 9-0 run four minutes into the second half that put it in the driver’s seat. Temple never recovered, resorting to isolation offense that has already bogged down the Owls numerous times in early losses. Temple eventually shot 41.7% from the field in the second half, but five of those made shots came with the game well out of reach. 

Smith’s touch vanished, as his only second-half field goal came seven minutes into the frame, and he finished with 18 points. Temple’s leading scorer Derrian Ford didn’t impact the game much and scored 11 points on 3-for-8 shooting from the field. Guard Masiah Gilyard also went into double figures with 11. Guard Gavin Griffiths, who averages 11.8 points per game, finished with a goose egg in his 16 minutes.

Tobiason, the Owls second leading scorer, also had a quiet 11 points on the night. Felt had eight points while hauling in eight rebounds. Rhode Island had four players reach double figures, led by Hinton with 25 and Cochran with 20.

Temple coughed up the ball 11 times while also committing 20 fouls, breaking a season high set against Princeton the game prior. 

Temple will have a chance to bounce back when it plays at Villanova Monday, with the winner landing a spot in Saturday’s Big 5 Classic Championship game at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.