The Philly Owls Drop Their Sixth in a Row to the Texas Owls 80 – 74
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 3/1/2026 –
The Temple Owls men’s basketball team have now lost six in a row. Four of the six have been close games that could have gone either way. The other two were in the low double digits. But they continue to go against the Cherry and White. This one was an 80 – 74 loss to Rice at the Liacouras Center on Senior Day. Temple falls to 15 – 14 for the season and 7 – 9 in the conference.
“We just talked about the stone cutter, Quote: you keep hitting the stone. Keep hitting. It’s not that blow. It’s the thousands before,” said Temple Coach Adam Fisher. “But we got to find a way to win. It’s that simple.”
The game was close. In the end Rice did many of the little things that Temple did not. The Cherry and White trailed 65 – 64 with just under six minutes remaining on a three by Darrian Ford. That was as close as Temple would get. The teams essentially matched baskets until the two-minute mark. The home team got a basket from Jordan Mason to cut the gap to 73 – 71. From there Rice got one basket, and made 5 out of 6 from the free throw line. Temple managed just a traditional three-point play from Ford while missing four shots.
Those Little Things
The biggest little thing was turnovers where Temple had 10 to 8 for Rice. But in points off turnovers Rice had an 18 – 9 edge and a 7 – 3 edge in steals. Temple outshot Rice 56.5% to 48.3% in the first half. But in the second half Rice had the edge 56.6% (15 of 27) to 44.4% (12 of 27). Rice won the battle of the boards 28 – 25, and got 13 second chance points to 7. Those advantages grew just a bit in the second half.
“I think it’s a mixture of things throughout the game,” Fisher said. “Whether it’s early in the first half or early in the second half, we need to be better in some of those little things, so at the end of the game it looks like they’re magnified. But we have to be better throughout the game.”
What the Numbers Say
Ford and Aiden Tobiason a team-high 20 points apiece. Masiah Gilyard added 11 points and pulled down a game-high tying 6 rebounds. Mason handed out 4 assists. Temple made 19 of 26 free throws with Ford making 9 of 10.
For Rice Nick Anderson scored a game-best 21 points making 6 of 13 from the field and 7 of 11 from the charity stripe. He also had a team-high 6 rebounds. Jalen Smith and Trae Broadnax added 15 points each. Smith and cam Carroll dished 4 assists each.
Of the 10 players who saw the floor for Rice 9 scored. Temple played 9 and 7 scored.
Up Next
Temple stays home for a Wednesday night match with Tulane. There is added pressure for Temple to get a win. They are tied for 9th place.
Rice and ECU are a game behind. Important? Absolutely! There are only ten teams that will earn a bid to the American postseason league tournament. Temple is right on the cutline.
It is March basketball. Time is running short, and Coach Fisher has an approach to get things turned in a positive direction.
“There is no more yelling and screaming, not at this point. It can’t,” said Fisher. “You’ve got to learn from the film. We’ve got to stick together. We’ve got to come together and figure it out. This group got to take tomorrow and go from there. And then it’s the next day. It’s a single day approach.”
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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