Temple University Athletics
Wednesday, January 4
Dallas, Texas
9:00 p.m.
Temple University
at
SMU
Photo by: Ken Inness
Men's Basketball Travels to SMU for Wednesday Night Tilt
1.3.17 | Men's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA - Temple's second-straight American Athletic Conference road game will take the Owls (9-6, 0-2) to SMU (12-3, 2-0) in search of their first league win on Wednesday, Jan. 4 at 9 p.m. EST (CBSSN / 1210 AM WPHT). Temple ended then-No. 8 SMU's 18-game unbeaten streak last January in the only meeting between the two teams in 2015-16.
The Owls have suffered back-to-back losses against No. 23/23 Cincinnati (56-50) and at UCF (77-53) to open conference play. Both Temple and Cincinnati shot season-low percentages from the field in that contest, and the Owls were unable to recover from their worst first half of the season at UCF that saw them hit just 4-of-29 from the field (13.8 percent).
Temple won back-to-back games at home against NJIT and Yale to finish its non-conference schedule at 9-4.
The Owls were picked to finish sixth of 11 teams in The American for the third straight season, but have consistently improved upon that pick each year, last year winning the conference's regular-season title with a record of 14-4.
Sophomore Shizz Alston, Jr. has scored in double figures in six straight games and is the Owls' leading scorer in that stretch with 13.2 points per game. Junior Obi Enechionyia's 14.7 ppg still lead the team overall, but Enechionyia has reached double figures in just one of the last five games after doing so in the first 10 to start the season.Â
SMU comes into Wednesday's contest on an eight-game win streak. The Mustangs played their first two conference games on the road but won both, 58-54 at Memphis on Dec. 27 and and 75-44 at East Carolina on New Year's Eve.
Junior forward Semi Ojeleye leads SMU with 17.6 points per game and has hit 30-of-67 from long range (44.8 percent). The Mustangs went 25-5 overall and 13-5 in The American last season but were ineligible for conference tournament or postseason play due to NCAA sanctions. SMU returned three starters from last year's team while adding Ojeleye, who sat out in 2015-16 after transferring from Duke. Â
Overall, Temple and SMU are meeting for the ninth time with the all-time series tied at 4-4. Before last year's upset, SMU took three meetings from Temple in 2014-15, winning both in the regular season and taking the Owls out of the American Athletic Conference Tournament in the semifinals.Â
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The Owls have suffered back-to-back losses against No. 23/23 Cincinnati (56-50) and at UCF (77-53) to open conference play. Both Temple and Cincinnati shot season-low percentages from the field in that contest, and the Owls were unable to recover from their worst first half of the season at UCF that saw them hit just 4-of-29 from the field (13.8 percent).
Temple won back-to-back games at home against NJIT and Yale to finish its non-conference schedule at 9-4.
The Owls were picked to finish sixth of 11 teams in The American for the third straight season, but have consistently improved upon that pick each year, last year winning the conference's regular-season title with a record of 14-4.
Sophomore Shizz Alston, Jr. has scored in double figures in six straight games and is the Owls' leading scorer in that stretch with 13.2 points per game. Junior Obi Enechionyia's 14.7 ppg still lead the team overall, but Enechionyia has reached double figures in just one of the last five games after doing so in the first 10 to start the season.Â
SMU comes into Wednesday's contest on an eight-game win streak. The Mustangs played their first two conference games on the road but won both, 58-54 at Memphis on Dec. 27 and and 75-44 at East Carolina on New Year's Eve.
Junior forward Semi Ojeleye leads SMU with 17.6 points per game and has hit 30-of-67 from long range (44.8 percent). The Mustangs went 25-5 overall and 13-5 in The American last season but were ineligible for conference tournament or postseason play due to NCAA sanctions. SMU returned three starters from last year's team while adding Ojeleye, who sat out in 2015-16 after transferring from Duke. Â
Overall, Temple and SMU are meeting for the ninth time with the all-time series tied at 4-4. Before last year's upset, SMU took three meetings from Temple in 2014-15, winning both in the regular season and taking the Owls out of the American Athletic Conference Tournament in the semifinals.Â
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Players Mentioned
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