Temple ‘underachieved’ yet again and struggled to provide Mia Davis with support

With defeat in her voice, coach Tonya Cardoza used one word to describe Temple’s 2021-22 season: underachieved.

“There’s just so many games that we let slip away,” Cardoza said. “We weren’t paying attention or we gave up offensive rebounds, so we turned the ball over. When I look back, I think we underachieved, that we could have been so much better than we were.”

Temple fell 63-55 to Southern Methodist Tuesday afternoon in the American Athletic Conference quarterfinals in Fort Worth, Texas, ending a season that saw them finish 13-15 and 8-9 in the AAC. Temple’s last postseason run was 2016-17 as they finished 24-8 and earned an NCAA bid.

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The Owls struggled to get back to that level of success this season, and had many issues in games down the stretch. That continued Tuesday as early foul trouble and sloppy turnovers sealed their loss against the Mustangs.

“I felt like if we were really connected and focused we could have had a better year,” Cardoza said. “You watch how many close games that we came short because of whatever and it just felt like we never turned the corner to not let those things happen again.”

Cardoza felt confident early in the season with the depth of her roster. She also believed Temple would take some of the scoring burden off Mia Davis, who averaged 18.8 points per game and broke the school’s all-time scoring record this year.

As a team, the Owls shot 37.8% from the field and averaged 17.8 turnovers per game. Their common mistakes — like traveling — became a problem as Temple’s opponents averaged 16.5 points per game off turnovers.

Late in the season, Temple suffered a four-game losing streak, falling to Central Florida, Houston, Tulane and SMU.

In those games, teams keyed in on Davis by double-teaming her in the post. Temple runs a high-low offense that sets up forwards Alexa Williamson or Kyra Wood to work with Davis, so they count on points inside the paint.

When opponents did put heavy coverage on Davis and blocked out the passing lanes, Temple usually had wide-open outside shots. Still, the Owls shot 24.2% from three and failed to create any offense from the perimeter.

With their flaws exposed, Temple Owls often became frustrated and forced shots and drives to the paint that resulted in offensive fouls and turnovers.

Although Davis lead the AAC in scoring, Temple rated last in scoring offense, three-point shooting and turnover margin. But with a young group, Cardoza’s positive takeaway was their potential growth.

“We started three freshmen and when you look around this league, there’s a lot of fifth-year seniors in the starting lineup,” Cardoza said. “The fact that we have three that’s very encouraging, knowing that they got a lot of game experience.”

True freshman guards Aniya Gourdine and Tiarra East became key offensive contributors in the backcourt. Cardoza utilized a deep rotation to start the year, with Gourdine and East splitting minutes with guards Emani Mayo, Jasha Clinton and Jalynn Holmes.

Gourdine and East eventually carved out their own lane at Temple, and Wood came along as a young player who earned minutes. Gourdine’s consistency made her stand apart from the field, including a career-high 17 points in a 68-62 defeat against Villanova on Nov. 27.

» READ MORE: Aaron McKie’s Temple Owls cleared an important bar this season | Mike Jensen

She then had her first start in a 68-58 loss to Northwestern on Dec. 17. In the second half of the season, Gourdine, who averaged 7.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, became more confident in her playmaking and put up two triple-doubles against East Carolina on Feb. 6 and Tulsa on Feb. 12. Her performance earned back-to-back honors as AAC freshman player of the week.

When Williamson, the team’s second-leading scorer, went down with an injury against Wichita State on Feb. 2, Wood became a large part of Temple’s defense. She ended the season second in blocks and was a consistent rebounder. Wood’s career high came against East Carolina when she finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

With Davis leaving the program, Temple loses a focal point in its offense. With a year under their belt, Cardoza will look to her young players to pick up the pieces.

“We played a lot of young guys that gained a lot of experience,” Cardoza said. “I’m hoping that being in this position, that they don’t want to be in this position anymore and that we really devote time and effort in the gym to getting better.”