Men's Basketball Heads South to Face USF on Saturday

Saturday, February 16

Tampa, Fla.

6:00 p.m.

Temple University

USF

Photo by: Ken Inness/ZUMA Press

Men's Basketball Heads South to Face USF on Saturday

2.15.19 | Men's Basketball

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PHILADELPHIA - Temple men's basketball will look to make it a 2-0 week and a regular season sweep of USF when the Owls (18-7, 8-4) play the Bulls (17-7, 7-5) in Tampa at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16 (ESPNU / 1210 AM WPHT).

Scouting Temple
> Temple rebounded from a tough loss at Tulsa with an 82-74 home win over SMU on Feb. 13, getting a game-high 28 points from senior Shizz Alston, Jr. and pulling away from the Mustangs late in the game.
> The SMU win was the 10th home victory for Temple, and the Owls now have nine 10-win seasons at the Liacouras Center under 13th-year head coach Fran Dunphy.
> Last week's games saw a major shift for the Owls, who had one of their best offensive performances of the season in an 81-63 defeat of UConn, followed three days later by their worst performance in a 76-58 loss at Tulsa.
> Five players reached double figures in scoring in the UConn win, with Temple shooting a season-best 62 percent in the first half and scoring a season-high 46 first-half points. Alston led the way overall with 18 points.
> In his third career start, sophomore Justyn Hamilton scored 11 first-half points on his way to a career-high 13 points in the UConn win, hitting 6-of-7 field goals.
> In the loss to Tulsa on Feb. 9, Temple shot a season-low 30.6 percent overall and scored a season-low 27 second-half points with a season-low 21.7 percent shooting in that period (5-for-23).
> Alston is shooting 92 percent (103-for-112) from the free throw line this season to lead all players in the AAC and rank fourth among all players in NCAA Division I.
> Alston and Rose average 18.5 and 16.6 points per game, respectively, to lead the team and rank third and eighth in the American Athletic Conference. Alston has scored 20 or more points 10 times this season and has earned two co-AAC Player of the Week awards.
> Sophomore Nate Pierre-Louis has scored in double figures in 19 games this season and ranks third on the team with 13.9 points per game.
> Temple ranks 13th in the nation with 8.9 steals per game. The Owls have posted double-digit steals in 11 games.

Scouting USF
> After many down years, the Bulls are a team on the rise with an overall record of 17-7. That win total far surpasses that of every season since 2011-12, which was the last time USF had a winning record.
> USF had won five straight until losing 78-65 at UCF on Feb. 13. The Bulls are 7-5 in AAC play which includes an OT loss to Temple.
> Redshirt freshman Alexis Yetna leads the team and the AAC with 9.9 rebounds per game, while redshirt junior Laquincy Rideau leads the team and AAC with 5.8 assists per game along with leading the team and AAC with 3.1 steals per game (fifth in NCAA Division I).
> Rideau (13.7 ppg), Yetna (12.5 ppg) and David Collins all average in double figures in scoring for USF, led by Collins with 15.4 ppg.

Series History vs. USF
> Temple and USF have met 12 times, with the Owls leading 10-2 in the all-time series.
> The Owls have won 10 in a row and have never lost in Tampa, going 5-0.
> In this season's earlier meeting at Temple on Jan. 12, the Owls prevailed in overtime by a score of 82-80. In the only meeting last year, the Owls won 73-55 on the road.
> In 2016-17, Temple won 83-74 on the road and 72-60 at home a month later.
> The first meeting in the series was seven years ago in the NCAA Second Round at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. The Bulls won by a score of 58-44 after trailing Temple 19-15 at halftime. USF also won the first-ever meeting as conference opponents on Jan. 9, 2014, 75-82, but has not won since.