Men's Basketball Falls to Houston in American Home Opener

Saturday, January 2

Liacouras Center

12:00 p.m.

Temple University

6-6, 1-1

Houston

12-2, 2-0

Houston

Temple

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Men's Basketball Falls to Houston in American Home Opener

1.2.16 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The American Athletic Conference home opener did not go Temple's way as the Owls suffered a 77-50 loss to Houston on Saturday afternoon. Rob Gray, Jr. led a strong offensive effort for the Cougars, leading all players with 23 points and six assists.

It was a rare lopsided loss in the Liacouras Center for the Owls, and only the third 20-point loss in the building in Fran Dunphy's 10 seasons at Temple.

The Cougars shot over 54 percent for the game, and out-rebounded Temple 41-30. Houston hit almost half of its shots from long range (7-of-15, 46.7 percent), while the Owls struggled mightily from behind the arc. They made just three of 23 attempts and went 0-for-12 in the opening period.

The first half got away from the Owls in the final six minutes, as Houston built as much as a 20-point advantage before taking a 40-21 lead into the break. The Cougars shot over 55 percent from the field while Temple struggled at just 31 percent.

Temple was unable to make a single three-pointer in the opening period, going 0-for-12 while the Cougars hit 5-of-9. The battle of the boards also went to Houston with a 22-13 rebounding advantage. Quenton DeCosey was the Owls' scoring leader at the break with seven points, while Jaylen Bond had six.

Devin Coleman and Obi Enechionyia each hit three-pointers early in the second half, but 16 points was as close as Temple could get. Houston showed no let up, shooting over 60 percent for much of the period and building its lead to as many as 30 on two occasions late in the half.

All 10 players who saw action for Temple got on the scoreboard, but none reached double figures. DeCosey and Enechionyia led the Owls with nine points apiece, while Coleman finished with seven. DeCosey and Bond each pulled down a team-best six rebounds, with Bond adding a game and season-high four steals.

Temple returns to action in just three days, heading to UConn for an 8:00 p.m. contest on Tuesday, Jan. 5 (CBS Sports Network/1210 AM WPHT).

Box Score (PDF) | Press Conference