Men's Basketball Drops Heartbreaker to Rice

Saturday, January 20

Philadelphia, Pa.

2:00 P.M.

Temple University

8-11,1-5AAC

Rice

7-11,1-4AAC

Rice

Temple

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Men's Basketball Drops Heartbreaker to Rice

1.20.24 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Temple University men's basketball team battled back from a double-digit halftime deficit, but dropped a heartbreaker 69-66 to the Rice Owls on Saturday afternoon.

BY THE NUMBERS

Hysier Miller led the Owls with 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-5 from distance. He also created, delivering seven assists. On the defensive end, Miller had three steals.
Jordan Riley netted 12 in the contest while pulling down eight rebounds.
Steve Settle III scored 15, all of them coming in the second half.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Trailing by double figures at the break, Temple came out with a spark in the second half, going on a 14-4 run pulling back to 45-42 in a matter of just four minutes. Miller led the charge, scoring 10 points in the span.
Continuing the climb, TU came all the way back, scoring six of the next eight points, culminating with a driving layup by Settle at the 11:43 mark. Temple eventually went up 58-53 on a triple by Settle, before Rice came back with eight points in a row. After another three-pointer by Settle tied the score at 61-61, but Rice battled through, hitting a trey of its own and did not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.
Rice started the game on fire from the field, hitting four of its first six shots, including a 3-for-3 effort from beyond the arc. Temple hung in the game, connecting from distance as well, making three of its first five shots from deep as the score was 16-13 Rice five and a half minutes in.
After the Owls from Texas made a run to open a double-digit lead, six in a row from TU pulled the score back to 28-23 with just less than seven minutes remaining before a 13-5 run by Rice saw them lead 41-28 at intermission.

UP NEXT
Temple plays its second consecutive game at home, taking on South Florida on Wednesday, January 24. Tipoff from the Liacouras Center is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The game is presented by Army ROTC.