Temple’s Sunday game vs. UTSA will go on as planned as gambling investigation continues

The Temple men’s basketball game against UTSA will be played as planned Sunday afternoon as an ongoing investigation into unusual gambling activity around the Temple program continues.

The entire typical traveling party flew to San Antonio, and the Owls are expected to have all healthy players available for Sunday’s regular-season finale. Temple is not commenting further about the probe, which was triggered after a watchdog group, U.S. Integrity, flagged abnormal wagering activity ahead of Temple’s 100-72 home loss Thursday night vs. Alabama-Birmingham.

» READ MORE: What we know — and don’t know — about the investigation into gambling irregularities around Temple men’s basketball

The UAB game was one of a few Temple games since early February that featured atypical rapid line movement — both involving point spreads and point totals — in the hours leading up to the games. Memphis was favored by 6.5 points over Temple a little more than two hours ahead of a Feb. 8 game. In less than an hour, the line moved to Memphis -10.5 at some sportsbooks. Temple lost by seven. Before a Feb. 28 game vs. Rice, a presumed influx of money on the under helped move the game’s total from around 145 points down to 140. Rice won, 65-43.

And the following game, a five-point home loss to Tulsa on March 2, the game’s total and the first-half total dropped rapidly before tipoff, as pointed out in a Saturday story by The Athletic. Tulsa led Temple at halftime, 32-23, far below the posted first-half total of 62 to 66 points. The 72-67 final fell between the original number, 144, and the number the total fell to after money poured in.

Rapid movements like these instances are not normal, especially this late in the season and in the absence of any major roster news that would impact the game. But the occurrences do line up with a Sports Illustrated report that indicated Temple games had been under the microscope before Thursday night’s game.

U.S. Integrity has partnered with many professional sports leagues and NCAA conferences to help identify suspicious behavior and also provide education to those entities. The company would not comment further on the active investigation. The American Athletic Conference, of which Temple is a member, referred inquiries to Temple’s Friday statement, which said the school is “aware of the social media posts regarding last night’s men’s basketball game. We will review the reports thoroughly in accordance with university and NCAA policies. While we can’t comment any further at this time, we take this matter very seriously.”

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While the investigation continues, some sportsbooks are opting to not post lines for Temple’s Sunday contest vs. UTSA or any futures odds — like the upcoming AAC tournament — involving the Owls. FanDuel, Fanatics, and Caesars did not have Temple-UTSA odds posted as of Saturday night, despite offering odds on other Sunday college basketball games.

“We are not planning to offer markets on the Temple game until there is more clarity from the U.S. Integrity investigation,” a Fanatics spokesperson said.

It’s unclear what the scope of the investigation is, but the entire Temple team being on the trip to Texas and expected to participate in Sunday’s game would seem to indicate that no players have been tied to any nefarious activity yet. U.S. Integrity is expected to put a report together with its findings, and that report may not be available for a few days.

Temple (11-19, 4-13 AAC) isn’t the only men’s basketball program under the recent U.S. Integrity microscope. Sports Illustrated reported Friday that Loyola (Md.) had removed an individual from the team after the school “was made aware of an individual’s gambling violation.” The school reported the undisclosed violation to the NCAA, and the NCAA took no further action, according to the statement Loyola provided to Sports Illustrated. U.S. Integrity, Loyola said, found “no anomalies.”