Battle, Owls overcome slow start to beat Delaware, 75-74

Temple went into halftime down four to Delaware Saturday night at the Liacouras Center. Slow starts to both halves almost cost the Owls the game.

But Khalif Battle scored 20 of his season-high 29 points in the second half to help Temple erase an 11-point second half deficit and squeeze out a 75-74 win that evened its overall record at 3-3 after the Owls dropped two of three games in last week’s Charleston Classic.

Temple was shooting 37.5% from the floor, including 30% from three-point range, after one half Saturday night. On the other hand, Delaware (4-3) was shooting 54.2% and 62.5%, respectively.

The Owls were getting quality looks but couldn’t get their shots to fall.

“I can’t put my finger on it,” third-year head coach Aaron McKie said about Temple’s early droughts.

Saturday night, there was no easy answer. The Blue Hens went into halftime with five more turnovers than the Owls and had zero points from their bench. Their leading scorer, Ryan Allen, was only 1 of 3 from the floor.

Temple’s bench ultimately outscored Delaware’s 18-4 for the game.

“Our strength is in numbers this year,” Battle said.

Dylan Painter, who came into Saturday’s game averaging 14 points and seven rebounds for Delaware, was 4 of 11 from the field.

Temple’s second-year freshman point guard Jeremiah Williams, who scored 11 points on 4 of 13 shooting, put some of the blame on himself in the postgame presser, saying he has to “do a better job of finding the mismatches.”

“In our offense,” Williams said, “that’s what it’s all about.”

Delaware needed less than three minutes to go on a 10-0 run that pushed it to a 17-13 lead in the first half. The Blue Hens followed that up later in the first half with a 9-0 run to go up 33-25. That scoring drought for Temple was filled with turnovers and missed opportunities in the paint.

“It’s difficult trying to beat teams from the perimeter,” McKie said.

Things were even harder with Battle, Temple’s leading scorer, shooting 2 for 5 in the half because he was being double-teamed and face-guarded at all times.

In the second half though, Battle and McKie didn’t let that ice Battle out of the game. Instead, Temple began running a lot of Zoom actions, moving Battle off the ball and setting him screens to curl off of and get to the rim.

Another thing that was fixed in the second half was the defending of Painter, a 6-foot-10 forward who started his career at Villanova before transferring to Delaware prior to the 2019-20 season. While Painter wasn’t a big threat from the floor Saturday, he was able to draw six fouls and facilitate out of the post, despite what his one assist on the box score said.

McKie attributed Painter’s passing success to miscommunication. His solution, however, was giving the physical Arashma Parks his first minutes of the season and resorting to his Swiss Army knife, second-year freshman forward Nick Jourdain.

“I thought Nick gave us a great shot in the arm,” McKie said.

Jourdain, once again, logged more minutes than starting center Jake Forrester, this time, outplaying Forrester 20:53 to 11:10.

McKie has said Jourdain’s minutes at center will be based on feel. Through the early portion of this season though, Jourdain appears to be a better option overall. He has proven to be more athletic, more versatile, more gifted offensively, and a better offensive rebounder than Forrester this season.

Jourdain’s time at center, combined with Temple’s zero second half turnovers, ultimately turned the tide for the Owls.

“That’s how we have to play,” McKie said.

Battle’s electric second half also helped.

“I work hard,” Battle said. “I’m really hard on myself. I want a lot for myself.”

Battle was aided by four Jourdain offensive rebounds in the period alone.

“It’s very refreshing,” Williams said of the win. “It’s always good to get a win, no matter who it’s against.”

Temple’s next game comes Wednesday in the Owls’ first Big Five game of the season when La Salle visits the The Liacouras Center.