Men's Basketball Set to Open Season on Monday Against Sacred Heart

Monday, November 4

Philadelphia, Pa.

5:30 P.M.

Temple University

Sacred Heart

Tickets

Men's Basketball Set to Open Season on Monday Against Sacred Heart

11.2.24 | Men's Basketball

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Game Info: Monday, November 4, 2024 - 5:30 p.m. EST
Location: Liacouras Center - Philadelphia, Pa.
TV: ESPN+ | Listen: Owlsports.com/listen | Live Stats: Owlsports.com | International Feed | Tickets

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Opening Tip
The Temple University men's basketball team prepares for season two under Adam Fisher as the Owls get set for 2024-25 after a trip to the AAC Championship game in March.

New Faces (Part I)
10 incoming players are a part of the Temple roster in 2024-25. Six transfers join four freshman on the team. Among the newcomers is Jamal Mashburn Jr. who enters the season with 1,866 career points and was a three-time All-Mountain West honoree at New Mexico. Lynn Greer III, Jameel Brown and Elijah Gray each come to the Owls with Power 5 or high major experience, coming from Saint Joseph's, Penn State and Fordham, respectively. Mohamed Keita is familiar with the AAC, playing at Tulsa last season and speding a year at St. John's before that. Christian Tomasco joins Temple from CAA school, Hofstra.

Strong Returning Core
While it may seem like the entire roster has turned over, TU returns one of the strongest cores in the conference as more than 42 percent of its minutes and 41 percent of its scoring is back from last year. Steve Settle III was named to the AAC All-Tournament Team and averaged 8.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He was 10th in the conference at 1.6 steals per contest. Zion Stanford was on the AAC All-Freshman Team and was recognized four times on the Philadelphia Big 5 Honor Roll. Shane Dezonie posted 7.9 PPG and had two double-doubles. Matteo Picarelli is the only returning player that appeared in all 36 games for Temple last season and was second on TU with 63 made three-pointers. Quante Berry, who played in 30 contests last year and Connor Gal round out the returning group.

New Faces (Part II)
It is an incredibly talented freshman class that comes into the nest for the Owls. Dillon Battie was the Texas 5A Player of the Year and was ranked as the No. 12 player in the state by 247Sports, leading Lancaster High School to a state championship. In the final, he posted 17 points and 19 rebounds. Aiden Tobiason was the Delaware State Player of the Year, the top ranked player in the state and the No. 39 shooting guard nationally. Babatunde Durodola is a consensus four-star recruit who averaged 14.8 PPG and 8.2 RPG at DME Academy while also winning a UAA Championship with Canada Elite. The trio is joined by Holden Pierre-Louis, who set a single-season record for blocks at St. Andrew's Episcopal, to form the top-ranked recruiting class in the conference according to Rivals.com.

The Big Man
Standing at 7'1", Mohamed Keita is just the sixth seven-footer to appear on the Owls roster since 1989-90 and the first since Sergio Olmos in 2008-09.

Ties To The League
A lot of schools have a son of an NBA player on their roster, but Temple is one of a select few to feature multiple NBA progenies. Jamal Mashburn Jr. is the son of Jamal Mashburn, who was the No. 4 pick in the 1993 NBA draft. Lynn Greer III is the son of Temple Hall of Famer Lynn Greer who played for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Ties To Temple
It's not just Greer who is the son of a TU alum. Dillon Battie is the son of Derrick Battie who played four seasons for the Owls. The elder Battie scored 840 points and pulled in 641 rebounds across 123 games, competed in four NCAA Tournaments and was a a freshman starter on the 1993 Elite Eight squad. Additionally, Dillon's uncle, Tony, was the No. 5 pick in the 1997 NBA draft and played 14 years in the league.

97, 98, 99...
Speaking of Mashburn, the 21-point effort he had against San Diego State in the Mountain West Championship game last season was the 99th double figure scoring game of his career. With his next 10+ point game, he will join Auburn's Johni Broome (116), North Carolina's RJ Davis (106) and Grand Canyon's Ray Harrison (101) as active Division I players with 100 or more such contests.

Scouting Report
Sacred Heart went 16-16 in its final season in the NEC before falling in the First Round of the conference tournament to the eventual conference champion, Wagner. The Pioneers were picked 13th in the MAAC preseason poll. This will be Sacred Heart's first game as a member of the MAAC, joining the conference as a full member along with Merrimack College this year.

Leading the charge for SHU is Tanner Thomas, who was selected to the Preseason All-MAAC Third Team. He averaged 10.8 points per game and led the team in three-point shooting, hitting 48.3 percent of his shots from beyond the arc. This mark helped the Pioneers top the NEC in three-point percentage, shooting 36.5% from deep.

Offense may be harder to come by for Sacred Heart this year as their top three scorers from last season all departed as they represented 48.9 percent of the Pioneers' points. Newcomers for Sacred Heart include Hofstra transfer Griffin Barrouk and Amiri Stewart, hailing from Wilmington (D-II). Stewart notably led the Wildcats in scoring, tallying 17.5 points per game.

The Pioneers showcased a strong defensive presence last season, ranking 16th in the nation with five blocks per game. They also excelled in forcing turnovers, recording 8.7 steals per game, placing them 21st. Sacred Heart's offense surged during conference play, leading the NEC with 76.4 points per game against conference opponents.

Anthony Latina is entering his 12th season as the head coach of Sacred Heart. Latina is coming off two straight top-four NEC finishes and has appeared in the NEC tournament for six consecutive seasons. He has accumulated an overall record of 141-193 during his tenure in Fairfield.

A Tourney To Remember
It was quite the run Temple went on during the 2023 AAC Tournament in March. After the Owls held on against UTSA in the First Round, a 75-60 win against SMU followed in the Second Round. In the quarterfinals, TU toppled Charlotte in a defensive grind before beating Fla. Atlantic in the semis. In the process, Temple became the first team AAC history and just the third team ever in the NCAA to play five games in five days in its conference tournament. One big key was stepping up the shooting in the postseason as TU shot 36.3 percent from beyond the arc in the tourney, compared to 31.2 percent in the regular season. In particular, Steve Settle III, Matteo Picarelli and Sam Hofman shined, combining to connect on 40 percent of their shots from deep. For his efforts both in scoring and on the defensive end, Settle was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Long Distance Dedication
It wasn't just the AAC tournament that saw Temple knock down shots from distance. The 2023-24 team connected on 296 three-pointers, just shy of the program record of 298 set by the 2001-02 squad.

On The Doorstep
Temple enters the season with 1,993 wins in program history, tied for the sixth most all-time. Only Kentucky (2,398), Kansas (2,393), North Carolina (2,372), Duke (2,300) and UCLA (2,002) have reached the 2K mark. The Owls are also 26th on the all-time list in terms of winning percentage at .633.

Starting Strong
Temple has done well in non-conference action in recent years, finishing with a winning record against non-AAC opponents for the sixth time in the last seven years where the team has played a full season.

Sweet 16
By guiding the Owls to 16 wins last season, Adam Fisher matched Harry Litwack (1952-23) and Don Casey (1973-74) for the most wins by a first year Temple head coach.

Up Next
The Cherry and White plays a neutral site game at the Jersey Jam against Monmouth on Friday, November 8. Tipoff from CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton, N.J. is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.