Temple nearly authored a Philly college hoops tale for the ages, one with many layers
“It’s been an emotional run,” coach Adam Fisher said.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Adam Fisher appeared stage left inside the interview room at Dickies Arena, not with the two players he was slated to bring with him — Hysier Miller and Steve Settle III — but with the entire team.
Temple’s improbable run to the American Athletic Conference championship game ended Sunday afternoon in an 85-69 defeat to Alabama-Birmingham. The Owls looked a step behind, outclassed, and outgassed. It was a remarkable 10 days for Temple in a variety of ways, and Fisher, the school’s first-year coach, wanted to end an eight-day trip to Texas with one final moment as a group. So a stage with four chairs held more than a dozen people.
“This is what it is at Temple,” Fisher said. “You come together. Good times, bad times.”
» READ MORE: Need a bracket? The Inquirer’s got you covered.
He may have just been talking about what had transpired on the court. UAB “jumped” Temple (16-20) early, Fisher said, and the game got away fast. But there was a lot more going on than just the end of an unlikely run that ended one win shy of an NCAA Tournament berth.
It all started on March 7, after the same UAB team wiped the Liacouras Center floor with the Owls in a 100-72 drubbing. A gambling watchdog organization, U.S. Integrity, flagged the game due to some irregularities, and a Sports Illustrated report indicated that the Owls had been on the watchdog’s radar for a little while. The Owls flew last Saturday to San Antonio for their final regular-season game at Texas-San Antonio and won on a buzzer beater to finish 5-13 in conference, in a five-way tie for last place.
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A quick exit from the AAC Tournament was expected. But Temple just kept winning. The 11th-seeded Owls dropped UTSA in their opening-round game before blowing out sixth-seeded Southern Methodist. They then got past No. 3 Charlotte before knocking off a Florida Atlantic team that was seeded second and played in last season’s Final Four.
It set up Sunday’s finale, a win surely putting Temple’s run in some pantheon of surprise performances, not only in Philly college hoops history but the city’s sports history. That’s not a statement filled with myopia or hyperbole. The Owls, who lost their four top scorers from last season to the transfer portal, were a team that had lost 10 games in a row from Jan. 10 and Feb. 15. They won two games between Dec. 10 and Feb. 18. They were at one point rated 246th of 362 NCAA Division I basketball teams, according to KenPom metrics.
It was a 10-day stretch, given the extracurriculars, that had to wear on Fisher, a Jamison, Bucks County, native.
“It’s been an emotional run where you get your butt kicked, and you get ready to go on the road, and you win at the buzzer, and then you’re preparing for games,” he said. “With these short turns you don’t get a lot of sleep. You’ve been away from your family. But being around these guys, that was awesome.”
Asked how the team blocked out the noise, Miller, who scored a career-high 32 points in Sunday’s loss, said “everybody’s just getting up and hooping and playing together.”
» READ MORE: What we know — and don’t know — about the investigation into gambling irregularities around Temple men’s basketball
Temple continues to decline comment on the subject of the gambling investigation, and the details of the probe have not yet been made public. It remains unclear if any Temple players were involved in any nefarious activities, or if any disciplinary action will come from it. Temple’s run this weekend opened the Owls up to speculation. How could they win so many games now, in March, but not earlier in the season?
Fisher had an uphill climb as it was in his first season. The Owls returned little talent, have attendance issues, and concerns about the school’s NIL support.
During a trying first season, it ending here in Fort Worth had to feel a little unbelievable, right?
“It is,” Fisher said. “It’s a great run by these guys. I think the hard part for me was … I thought we were really good. We’re a couple shots here, a stop here, and you go to overtime twice during that [10-game losing streak] and those games could go either way.”
The games this week went their way, and it was more than just a respite from the gambling stuff. ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi, a Temple alum, was part of a social media push to get donations to the TUFF Fund NIL collective. A program that needed a jolt got one over the last five days. Monday starts transfer-portal season. Will the positive vibes help Fisher keep the players he wants and attract some more talent to North Broad? That remains to be seen, especially as the other matter remains unresolved.
Asked if he felt there was a looming cloud of sorts with the gambling investigation, Fisher said: “I just control what I can control and we’re just focused on one game at a time and that’s all I’ve been worried about.”
But the Owls are out of games to play. They flew back to Philadelphia with a lot to be proud of, but it all felt like a microcosm of Temple athletics in a way. One step forward, hoping to avoid the two steps back.