TEMPLE Sports Talk  

This afternoon's game seemed to be a glimpse of what happened September 13th, only now in Basketball. It might not have been a half court shot, or some sort of buzzer beater, but it was still another heartbreaking loss for the Temple Owls against Buffalo. The final score of this one was 83-73.

Many Owls fans anticipated an easy win in New York this evening, but the Bulls showed that no opponent can be taken easily. Temple, without the services of Lavoy Allen but with returning Sergio Olmos, were unable to maintain a 14 point lead. Statistically, this can be argued as the Owls worst game of the season. Take a look at the difference between the teams' performances:

Rebounding

Temple- 20
Buffalo- 31

Fouls

Temple- 25
Buffalo- 15

It seems that this year we have only seen a trend: it comes in the form of rebounding. The Owls have so far dominated the boards, but both of the year's early losses came with a lack of rebounds. Although the team was without their leading rebounder, Lavoy Allen, they brought back a familiar face in Center Sergio Olmos (one would think that getting their big man back would only make things easier). Temple was held to less than half of their usual average, an in incredibly stunning surprise.

The Owls' other issue in this game was the defense. Buffalo was able to easily penetrate to the hoop, causing a number of problems- including foul trouble. The Bulls went to the foul line 25 times, shooting 80%. Temple was only at the line 11 times, shooting 63%. Hypothetically, if Buffalo went to the FT line 5 less times, we would have had a ball game. Unfortunately that was not the case, and the Owls surrendered their second loss of the season.

Buffalo, on the other hand, had no problem getting the job done. For Junior Guard Calvin Betts (right(, things seemed like a piece of cake. Averaging merely 10 points a game, Betts out hustled the Owls and scored 18 points.

The Owls (3-2) will now have to readjust to the missing presence of Lavoy Allen. Their next opponent is a very talented Miami (OH) team Wednesday, December 3rd.

Go Owls!

* Be sure to check out the first BlogTalkRadio Internet Broadcast tomorrow afternoon at 6:00 pm. The schedule and links to the page can be found at the top right of the site. We'll discuss the Owls first five games of the 2008 season.

It's been another long wait for the Temple Owls' basketball team, but the week has finally ended, and the team is back on the court. The Owls will be taking on the Buffalo Bulls, a familiar face from the MAC Conference. Tonight's post will give you a look at this Saturday afternoon showdown.

The Bulls (2-2) had started their 2008 campaign well with 2 straight wins, but skidded after losing two in a row. The four teams they've played this year are Youngstown State, Canisius, Evansville, and Niagara. So far, two players on this Buffalo squad have shown that they are the ones to watch for during the games.

Buffalo's two stars so far this year are Guard's Rodney Pierce and Greg Gamble. They account for exactly half of the teams' scoring, which is really what makes them so important. Here's a comparison of both teams' stats:

Points

Temple- 73 points per game
Buffalo- 62.3 points per game

Rebounds

Temple- 42.5 rebounds per game
Buffalo- 44.3 rebounds per game

Assists

Temple- 16.5 assists per game
Buffalo- 13 assists per game

The advantage in this game goes to Temple in scoring, but for the two other categories it seems even. Temple has not had rebounding as a problem except for Clemson, and tomorrow there will indeed be a plus. Center Sergio Olmos (right) might be expected to play in tomorrow's game- the 7'0" Senior was sidelined for the first four games due to an injury.

If Temple wants to win this game, they are going to have to do what they did with Dionte Christmas last week- get Olmos into the swing. With such a big body, the Owls' pace is going to have to change in order to adapt to this change. It should be interesting to see also how the rebounding factor comes into place. 

Hoot to Watch For: Buffalo does have a number of bigger guys who contribute to their success, so there are going to be a few Owls who will need to step it up. Look out for the Owls' big men to be key contributors to this game. Lavoy Allen and Sergio Olmos might be on the court together for the first time this season, so the relationship they share on the court should be interesting to see. If injury to both of them is an issue, than look for 6'11" freshman Michael Eric to come into play.

Tomorrow's game will not be televised. You can catch the game, however, on 1210 WPHT

Go Owls!

On a cold November night, the Temple Owls headed into Lafayette looking to get back on track- that's exactly what they did. Coming off a loss to Clemson just 5 days prior, nobody knew how the team would react. The Lafayette Leopards made an attempt to keep things optimistic, but it didn't work out for them. The final score of this one was 71-55 in the Owls' favor.Coming off two consecutive victories, Lafayette looked strong and determined to take down Temple. The team needed big showings from both Andrew Brown and Jeff Kari- unfortunately, they were only able to get one. Temple's defense held Andrew Brown to a mere 3 points (13 under his average). The two leading scorers combined for merely 19 points. However, forward Jared Mintz filled in the gap with 12 of his own. The two spots that hurt the Leopards the most were the turnovers and shooting scoring.Temple, on the other hand, got the job done in merely every aspect of the game. Dionte Christmas (right) was able to bounce off a disappointing performance against Clemson with 29 points. He also received help in the scoring category from guards Ryan Brooks (10) and Semaj Inge (11). Temple's main weakness came from their shooting.Freshman Scootie Randall also contributed to the Owls' victory with 7 points.Here's a quick look at the comparison in both teams' struggles:Overall Shooting PercentageTemple- 41.4 %Lafayette- 35.8 %3-Point Shooting PercentageTemple- 21.7 %Lafayette- 31.8 %TurnoversTemple- 12Lafayette-17Overall, the category that both teams shared that might have been game changing. The overall percentages were so low, that it was as if someone put a lid on the rim.Key players from both teams come down to Dionte Christmas and Jeff Kari (right). Both these players became the anchors of their respective teams for the evening. For Dionte, it was a matter of getting back into the groove of things after the double teaming of Clemson that withheld him. Jeff Kari, though, came up big in making up for Andrew Brown's struggles.Temple needed to get back into a rebounding game after that upsetting showing against Clemson. The Owls allowed one player (Trevor Booker) to obtain 16 boards of his own. In this game, though, Dionte Christmas and Lavoy Allen picked up the pieces that let to a 9 rebound advantage. With such poor shooting, the rebounding before 2nd chance shots was a necessity. With this victory, Temple extends their record to 3-1 overall, and Lafayette goes to 2-1.The Owls will be back in action on Saturday, November 29th against Buffalo. Lafayette will be on today against Rider.Go Owls! Subscribe via RSS

Just four days after losing to a very talented Clemson team, the Temple Owls will stay in Pennsylvania for their game against the Lafayette Leopards (2-0). We'll take a gameday look at the matchups of both teams in a Keystone State battle.Temple, as mentioned before, comes off a 4 point loss to Clemson. Owls' Ryan Brooks and Lavoy Allen had made up for a double teamed Dionte Christmas. With this being the first loss of the reason, Temple will look to pick up the pieces from their two productive victories.A key factor that Temple will continuously have to fight for is rebounding. Clemson's Trevor Booker dominated with 16 boards of his own- one of many reasons that lead to this devastating loss. As freshman Michael Eric gradually earns his minutes, he will have to utilize his 6'11" size dominate the post- Lafayette would indeed be a place to get started.Now we'll take a look at a quick Player to Player Breakdown of Statistics:Leading Points:Dionte Christmas (TEMP) 22.0 ppgAndrew Brown (LAF) 23.5 ppgLeading ReboundsLavoy Allen (TEMP) 10.0 rpgRyan Willen (LAF) 6.5 rpgLeading AssistsLuis Guzman (TEMP) 5.7 apgJeff Kari (LAF) 4.0 rpgThat is a quick look at both teams' top players. Here's a quick look at Lafayette:As you notice above, the Leopards also have some talent on their sidelines. Lafayette has 3 players (listed above) that are all averaging double digit scoring. The trio accounts for more than 50% of the team's scoring- this will be a key element to stopping this squad from giving the Owls a second loss.Lafayette's last game was against Stony Brook, where they won the game 80-71. The Leopards were able to hit 54% from the field, adding up to their season 48% total."Hoot" to Watch For: Temple will have to readjust and get Dionte Christmas back into the swing of things. Against Clemson, Christmas was held way under his season average at the time (26 points). Also, TU will most likely once again be without the services of Sergio Olmos (right) due to an ongoing injury. Lavoy Allen, as he did last Sunday, will need to come into Lafayette with the same productivity. Stay tuned for the game at 8:30 tonight. Subscribe via RSS

Coming into this game, nobody knew what to expect. Fans from all over came to see what became a classic nail biter.In my previous post, I mentioned Lavoy Allen and the necessity of Temple's rebounding. In this game, that was the exact case, and part of the reason that the Owls lost to Clemson 76-72. This was, indeed, the Charleston Classic Championship, and both teams had set their eyes on winning it all.Take a look at this stat for a minute:Team Rebounding:Temple- 23Clemson- 39One of the keys to this game to many was this one scoring category: Rebounding. The only problem is, the Clemson Tigers are a sharp shooting team, hitting 47% of their shots yesterday afternoon. This was, indeed, an uphill battle for the Temple Owls, who at one point was losing by 15.Guards Ryan Brooks and Ramone Moore were two key reasons why the Owls were able to stay in the game. With Dionte Christmas being isolated away from the ball and out of the action, Temple was forced to rely on more of a team offense. Christmas finished the game with 14 points- 12 points under his average. On the Tigers' side of the ball, key points came from Trevor Booker (right) and sharpshooter Terrence Oglesby. Terrence "TO" Oglesby could not be stopped, shooting 4 of 8 from behind the arc, and 5 of 9 overall. Booker finished with 15 points, but his key statistic came in with Rebounding. Booker finished the game with 16 rebounds, which was 2/3 of what Temple scored.As mentioned, this victory made Clemson the Charleston Classic Tournament, where their record improves to 3-0. Temple, the runner up, moves to 2-1, getting their first loss of the season.The Owls will look to bounce back as they take on the Lafayette Leopards- preview to come soon.The game is scheduled for November 21st at 8:30 pm (Media Coverage TBD). The Tigers move on the Wofford Terriers.Go Owls! Subscribe via RSS

Just like the title says, the Owls are cruising for a championship in mid November- a Charleston Classic one, that is. The Owls will be up against a very talented Clemson Tigers team- one that was coincidentally knocked out of last year's field of 64 by Villanova. With close to 5 hours until gametime, we'll take a quick look into this Clemson team, and what the Owls are up against:The Clemson Tigers went through one of their University's finest basketball years in 2007-8, finishing with an overall record of 24-10. The team made it into the NCAA Tournament last year as the ACC Runner up, giving them a #5 seed. Coach Oliver Purnell's squad was coming into the tournament after a loss to #1 North Carolina, looking to take down a talented Villanova squad.Unfortunately, Clemson's 17 point lead early in the 2nd half was not enough to hold back the rage of the Wildcasts. Scottie Reynolds and his 21 points gave the push past the Tigers, ending their post season hopes. Coach Purnell, now in his 6th season with the Tigers, will look to take his hot squad past the Owls. Behind him is a very talented roster. This year, however, the Tigers return with only 2 starters from last season: G/F K.C Rivers (pictured right) and F Trevor Booker. Here's a quick look into the two's statistics so far:K.C Rivers:14 Points, 1 Assists, .4 ReboundsTrevor Booker: 12 Points, 2 Assists, 12.5 ReboundsBoth of these players as mentioned are returning from last year, and have had an impact already on this team. It's very early in the season, and you can also see what players in their surrounding cast are coming up big as well:Sophmore guard Terrence Oglesby has picked up some of the slack, currently leading the team in scoring. Another player to watch out for his Freshman guard Tanner Smith, who scored 11 points against Hofstra in his first action.Terrence Oglesby:14.5 Points, .5 Assists, 1.5 ReboundsTanner Smith:5.5 Points, 1 Assist, 2.5 ReboundsSo far, the two opponents against Clemson haven't been too much. Their first was a 29 point rout over Hofstra, and the other was a 12 point victory last night over TCU. The Tigers arguably have their first challenge this season, coming against a Preseason #31st Temple Owls.Temple, however, cannot say the same. After a win over ETSU, the Owls played the host team in that of Charleston, and hung onto a 5 point victory. Temple did look somewhat sluggish during Saturday afternoon's game, but will have to rest up and be ready for this talented Clemson team."Hoot" to Watch For: Temple's Lavoy Allen (pictured left) is going to have to play well in this afternoon's game. His impressive 13.5 rebounds will need to stay consistent when he battles down low with Trevor Booker. As a team, Temple out rebounds Clemson by 8.5 per game, which means a lot without 7'0" Sergio Olmos.Clemson, however, shoots for a better percentage then the Owls: their 49% to Temple's 41%.The game unfortunately will not be televised due to Eagles Post Game Live at 4:00, but can be watched online through the link below:Clemson Basketball Live StreamGo Owls! Subscribe via RSS