Owls Ride Momentum into Home Matchup with East Carolina

Wednesday, January 7

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:00 PM

Temple University

East Carolina

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Owls Ride Momentum into Home Matchup with East Carolina

1.6.26 | Men's Basketball

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Game Info

Wednesday, Jan. 7 - 7 p.m.
Location: The Liacouras Center – Philadelphia, Pa.
Promotion: Western Wednesday Night - Fans in attendance will have the chance to win a Temple branded cowboy hat
TV: ESPN+ | Listen: OwlSports.com/listen | Live Stats | International Stream | Tickets | Temple Game Notes

Opening Tip

After registering its sixth consecutive win in dominant fashion over UTSA, the Temple University men's basketball team hosts East Carolina on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Liacouras Center. The Owls (10-5, 2-0) look to start league play 3-0 for the first time since the 2022-23 campaign.

Temple defeated UTSA 76-57 on Saturday behind a pair of historic performances from guards Gavin Griffiths and Jordan Mason. Griffiths finished with a season-best 23 points and became the first NCAA Division I player in at least 30 seasons to record seven blocks and six 3-pointers in a game, according to ESPN. He was named the conference's player of the week and the Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Week.

Mason totaled 15 points and a career-high 12 assists for his second career double-double. He became the first Owl to record 12 assists since Mardy Collins had 25 points and 12 assists against Maryland at the Liacouras Center on Jan. 28, 2006.

The Owls used a pair of large scoring runs to defeat the Roadrunners, including an 18-4 run in the first half and a 15-6 run in the second half. Leading scorer Derrian Ford missed the contest due to an injury suffered near the end of the Charlotte game.

Temple is seeking its first seven-game winning streak since the 2014-15 season. Guided by then-head coach Fran Dunphy, the Owls defeated South Florida, UCF, Tulane, USF, Memphis, Cincinnati and East Carolina before the streak was snapped by ranked SMU, with all games coming in league play.

During the winning streak, Ford (18.2), Tobiason (15.8), Mason (14.7) and Griffiths (13.4) have all averaged double figures and are each shooting at least 45 percent from the floor. Tobiason is shooting .525/.480/.864 during the stretch. Mason is averaging 6.3 assists per game, while Griffiths is averaging 2.0 blocks. As a team, Temple is shooting 49.4 percent from the field and 41.5 percent from long range during the streak that began Dec. 9. Defensively, the Owls have held opponents to 39 percent overall and 26 percent from three-point range. Temple's average margin of victory is 17.5 points with an average score of 80.6 to 63.0.

Scouting East Carolina

The Pirates enter the contest against Temple with a 5-9 overall record and an 0-1 conference mark, and seek their first road win in four opportunities. ECU owns the toughest strength of schedule in the league, which ranks 16th nationally.

Temple transfer Jordan Riley leads the conference in scoring at 20.8 points per game. Among conference leaders, he ranks first in field goals made (98), first in field-goal attempts (228), first in minutes per game (36:10), third in steals per game (2.0) and fourth in total steals (26).

Off the glass, Giovanni Emejuru ranks among the conference and national leaders in rebounds per game (9.5), which is second in the league and 24th nationally, and in offensive rebounds (4.57), which leads the league and ranks fourth nationally. He also owns the second-most double-doubles in the conference with six.

Temple is 12-7 all time against ECU, including an 8-1 record in North Philadelphia.

Date	Home/Away/Neutral	Result
2/14/2015	East Carolina	W, 66-53
3/5/2015	at East Carolina	W, 66-53
1/9/2016	East Carolina	W, 78-60
1/27/2016	at East Carolina	L, 61-64
1/7/2017	East Carolina	W, 81-62
2/15/2017	at East Carolina	L, 64-78
3/9/2017	vs. ECU ^{[Conf. Tourn.]}	L, 69-80
2/7/2018	East Carolina	W, 90-73
1/16/2019	at East Carolina	W, 85-74
2/1/2020	East Carolina	W, 76-64
2/23/2020	at East Carolina	L, 63-67
1/8/2022	East Carolina	W, 78-75
2/2/2022	at East Carolina	W, 71-63
12/28/2022	at East Carolina	W, 59-57
1/18/2023	East Carolina	W, 73-58
1/10/2024	East Carolina	L, 63-72
1/28/2024	at East Carolina	L, 64-70 OT
1/8/2025	at East Carolina	L, 79-80
2/1/2025	East Carolina	W, 98-94 OT