Temple’s offense, while resilient, must produce better entering conference play

Adam Fisher has directed Temple to a 7-6 record during an up-and-down start to his first season as Owls men’s head basketball coach.

The Owls wrapped up their nonconference schedule at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, where they went 1-2, finishing in seventh place.

Here are the good, the bad, and the ugly of Temple’s season so far:

Not much has consistently gone right for the Owls this season. However, they have shown resilience.

One example came in their 106-99, triple-overtime win against La Salle. The Explorers controlled the first two overtime periods, but the Owls hit shots to extend the game when it mattered. In the third overtime period, Temple ran away to the victory.

“They’re so resilient,” Fisher said following the win. “When things don’t go our way at certain times, our guys just always come back. They’re ready.”

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On Dec. 16, the Owls found themselves down 23 points with less than three minutes remaining in the first half against Virginia Commonwealth. Temple won the second half, 47-37, but VCU’s insurmountable lead resulted in an 87-78 loss.

Rebuilding a program is going to take time, but the fight Fisher’s team has shown is not only a good sign for conference play but the foreseeable future.

Temple has flat-out been bad shooting the ball this year. The Owls sit at 343rd in the country in field goal percentage, shooting a paltry 38%. Their three-point percentage isn’t any better, converting on just 31% of attempts.

Since their best three-point shooting display of the season (38%) against Ole Miss, the Owls have shot better than 34% from deep twice.

Temple’s poor shooting followed them to Hawaii, where they shot 28-for-96 (29%) from beyond the arc over the weekend. Following their 80-56 loss to Nevada, in which they shot 32% from three, Fisher acknowledged his team has to shoot better.

“We’ll keep working and figure it out together,” Fisher said.

The team that showed up in Hawaii can’t show up during conference play, not if the Owls want to make any noise in the American.

Temple has gone on some lengthy, game-changing scoring droughts throughout the course of the season. These droughts have lasted as long as seven minutes, and have allowed other teams to swing momentum in their favor.

With less than three minutes remaining in the first half against Columbia, Shane Dezonie drilled a three that pushed Temple’s lead to six. The Owls didn’t score for another six minutes, allowing Columbia to take a lead it never relinquished.

As was the case on that night, Temple’s droughts are usually filled with bad turnovers, questionable shot selection and overall poor execution. Meanwhile, the American is home to seven teams in the top 150 in scoring offense. The Owls will need to find a way to consistently get buckets and eliminate these scoring droughts once conference play begins.

Next up, the Owls visit South Florida on Jan. 4 at 7 p.m.