January 23, 2021 –
The Temple Owls now have a 2 – 4 record in the American. All four losses were against the top two teams in the conference, Houston and SMU. The eyes of Texas are upon the Owls.
The Cherry and White played with effort, but needed more as they fall to the eighth ranked Houston Cougars 68 – 51 at the Liacouras Center.
“I thought we were ready to compete against these guys,” said Temple Coach Aaron McKie. “You don’t have to play a perfect game, but you can’t come out and turn the ball over, and open it up for them, and miss assignments against these guys, then not be able to make shots. That’s a tough recipe to beat a top-ten team in the nation.”
The Cougars led from start to finish going out to an early 10 point lead. The visitors made 26 of 55 shots, sinking half of their 26 second half shots. The Owls converted 34% from the floor (18 of 53). Both teams had 20 attempts from three-point land. Houston made 9 while Temple sank 5 of their attempts. The Cougars had the better numbers, the hill was too steep for the Cherry and White.
Jake Forrester had a team-high 15 points making 6 of 7 from the floor. He added a team-best 8 rebounds. Khalif Battle played in his second game for the Owls scoring 14 points and taking down 6 boards. Jeremiah Williams handed out 6 assists.
Houston (13 – 1, 8 – 1) got 15 points each from Quentin Grimes and Marcus Sasser. Grimes added 9 rebounds. Justin Gorham posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
The Owls (3 – 4, 2 – 4) host Tulsa on Wednesday.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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