Men’s Basketball Falls to #8 Houston, 68-51

Saturday, January 23

12:00 P.M.

Temple University

3-4,2-4AAC

#8 Houston

13-1,8-1AAC

Houston

Temple

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Men’s Basketball Falls to #8 Houston, 68-51

1.23.21 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – Houston showed the nation why it is the eighth-ranked team in the country, in topping host Temple, 68-51, Saturday afternoon at the Liacouras Center. The Cougars (13-1, 8-1 AAC) completed its season sweep of the Owls (3-4, 2-4) in the CBS-televised contest.

Quintin Grimes (15 points), Marcus Sasser (15) and Justin Gorham (14) led a balanced Houston attack. Jake Forrester had 15 points and eight rebounds for Temple while Khalif Battle, playing in just his second game of the season, contributed 14 points and six assists.

Recapping the Game

First Half
> Houston jumped out quickly, taking a 15-5 lead courtesy of three-of-six long range shooting. The Owls, meanwhile, connected on only two of its first 11 field goal attempts.
> Temple later found its offensive rhythm, running off seven straight points to cut deficit to six, 19-13. Battle made a three while Forrester had a put-back and a layup off a nice assist from Battle in the run.
> The Cougars answered with a back-breaking 15-2 run over a four-minute stretch to open a 34-15 with just over three minutes in the half. Grimes and Sasser each contributed five points in the game-changing run.
> J.P. Moorman II hit a jumper in the lane ended the run with Jeremiah Williams connecting on a foul-line jumper to cut it to 34-19.
> Two free throws by Reggie Chaney and a lay-up by Damian Dunn made it 36-21 at the half.

Second Half
> The teams played even through the first 10 minutes of the second half.
> Back-to-back threes and a free throw by Justin Gorham gave the Cougars a 58-37 lead with 7:45 remaining.
> The Owls were unable to cut the deficit under 17 points the remainder of the contest.

Statistically Speaking
> Temple was held to 18-of-53 (34%) shooting from the field and a mere 25 percent (5-20) from three-point range.
> Houston, on the other hand, made 47.3 percent of its shots, including 45 percent (9-20) from long range.
> Brendan Barry, who entered the game ranked fourth nationally in three-point percentage, was held with no three-pointers for the first time all season.

Next Up
> Temple remains home to take on Tulsa Tuesday (1 pm/ESPN+/1210 AM WPHT).