Men's Basketball Delivers Valiant Effort at SMU

Tuesday, January 16

Dallas, Texas

8:00 PM

Temple University

8-10,1-4AAC

SMU

12-5,3-1AAC

Temple

SMU

Photo by: Jeremy Criden

Men's Basketball Delivers Valiant Effort at SMU

1.16.24 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

DALLAS – In one of the most entertaining games of the season, the Temple University men's basketball team twice battled back to take the lead, but the Owls were dealt a 77-64 setback against the SMU Mustangs on Tuesday night.

BY THE NUMBERS

Jahlil White led Temple with 14 points and nine rebounds. He added two blocks and a steal.
Shane Dezonie dropped a career-high 14 in the game and matches a personal best with three assists.
The Owls got a big lift from its reserves in the contest. Matteo Picarelli tallied 10, connecting on three treys. Zion Stanford and Taj Thweatt both played important minutes in the first half with Stanford scoring four and Thweatt pulling in a trio of boards.
TU pulled down 40 rebounds, its fourth game this season with 40+ caroms. Its 19 offensive boards were the most in a non-overtime game since February 13, 2019, also against SMU.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Owls showed their grit as after being pushed into a big hole early, Temple began to dig its way out, using an 11-2 run to make it a six-point game at 17-11.
Getting a spark off the bench, the trio of Stanford, Thweatt and Picarelli combined for eight points and five rebounds in an eight-minute stretch. TU also turned up the defense, hold the Mustangs without a field goal for more than six minutes as pulled back to 26-25 with 3:30 remaining in the opening half.
Continuing the climb, a second triple in as many possessions for Hofman gave the Owls their first lead of the night at 28-26. SMU closed the half with the final four points, taking a two point edge into the break.
Opening the second stanza, the Mustangs caught fire from the floor, hitting six of their first nine shots. Temple stayed in the game by holding the edge on the glass. Just when it looked like SMU would pull away once again, an 8-2 run for the Owls, bookended by three-pointers by Picarelli pulled the contest back to 46-44 with 11:50 to go.
Once again, Temple turned defense into offense as after trading baskets, White came away with a block and scored on the other end, as the Owls went up 57-56 with 7:35 left. As was the tone of the night, the Mustangs went on a run, scoring nine of the next 11 points, taking a 65-59 edge with less than four minutes to go. TU continued to battle, but SMU put the game away at the line.

UP NEXT
Temple returns home for a pair of conference games, starting with a contest against Rice on Saturday, January 20. Tipoff versus from the Liacouras Center is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.