Men's Basketball Returns to Court at SMU Monday

Monday, January 11

Dallas, TX

3:00 P.M.

Temple University

SMU

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Men's Basketball Returns to Court at SMU Monday

1.8.21 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

DALLAS - Temple, coming off a Covid-19 pause, will look to snap its two-game losing streak when it opens the New Year against its last opponent, SMU, on Monday. The Owls lost to the Mustangs, 79-71, on Dec. 30 before a positive case in their Tier 1 personnel the following day caused the postponement of two games.

SCOUTING TEMPLE
> Redshirt freshman Damian Dunn (13.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg), freshman Jeremiah Williams (10.7 ppg, 3.3 apg) and senior co-captain J.P. Moorman II (10.0 ppg) top a balanced Temple offense.
> Senior co-captain De'Vondre Perry (7.7 ppg) ranks second in the AAC in rebounding (8.7 rpg) and has pulled down 11 offensive boards.
> Junior Jake Forrester (7.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg), who grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds against SMU, rounds out the starting five while Dartmouth transfer Brendan Barry (9.7 ppg) leads the Owls reserves and tops the conference in three-pointers per game (3.0 pg) and three-point percentage (9-18, .500).

SCOUTING SMU
> SMU is on a two-game losing skid, falling to 2-2 in AAC play after dropping games to #11 Houston and Cincinnati.
> The Mustangs lead the American Athletic Conference in scoring, averaging 79.2 ppg.
> Kendric Davis, who set an AAC single-game record with 14 assists against Cincinnati, leads the conference in scoring (19.0 ppg) and assists (7.6 apg) and ranks seventh in steals (1.6 spg).
> Three other Mustangs, Feron Hunt (11.6 ppg), Emmanuel Bandoumel (11.4 ppg), and Ethan Chargois (10.4 ppg), average double figures.

SERIES HISTORY
> This will be the 16th meeting between the teams, SMU holding an 8-7 series edge.
> SMU won the first meeting this season, 79-71, at Temple on Dec. 30.
> The Owls split the 2019-20 series, falling on the road in January but defeating SMU 97-90 at home in an overtime thriller.
> The teams were slated to play in the first round of the 2020 AAC Championship before the season ended due to COVID 19.
> Temple is 1-4 at SMU with the lone win against the Mustangs in Dallas coming on Jan. 10, 2018.
> The Owls were the first team to defeat SMU in 2015-16 after an 18-0 start for the #8 Mustangs. Temple pulled off the upset at home on Jan. 24, winning 89-80. It was the only meeting between the teams that season.
> Prior to meeting as American opponents in 2013-14, the most recent meeting was in 1955-56 when the Owls beat the Mustangs 90-81 in the NCAA Final Four third-place game.
> The first meeting between the teams was in 1937-38, with Temple earning a 53-41 win at the Philadelphia Arena.