Charleston Classic notebook: Boise State deals Temple another blowout loss

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- In the second round of the Shriners Children Charleston Classic, Temple suffered another lopsided loss, this time at the hands of Boise State. The Owls were dominated in every aspect of their 82-62 loss Friday afternoon.

The Owls, now 1-3, paid the price for coming out flat in the second half, and a 15-point halftime deficit tuned into 34 at one point. Temple was able to claw some of the way back behind the play of some of its younger players, but the team has surely shown its youth in the first two rounds of the Classic at TD Arena.

Temple has been outscored by a total of 47 points (157-110) in the first two rounds, which includes a 75-48 loss at the hands of Clemson Thursday afternoon. The Owls have now dropped three straight games and will play the loser of the Ole Miss-Elon matchup early Sunday morning.

Some news and notes from Friday's loss:

-- Tai Strickland clearly looks more comfortable. That’s been evident by his offensive performances through Temple’s first three games, but he’s also been taking the reins of being a vocal leader on the court and stepped into the role of a true point guard, even while coming off the bench.

-- Emmanuel Okpomo gives Temple a different presence down low. He’s an aggressive defender and does some average work on the offensive end. His issue though is being a bit overly aggressive. He picked up his third foul with a little more than seven minutes remaining in the first half.

-- Sage Tolbert gets down and dirty. His ball-handling on the offensive end can be a bit sloppy, but he’s clearly the “junkyard dog” Temple thought it was getting out of the former SEMO transfer. He had eight points and seven rebounds, including three on the offensive end, Friday.

-- Fellow big man Jake Forrester still struggles on the glass. He gave up back-to-back offensive rebounds to Boise State forward Mladen Armus in the first half and was immediately pulled by Aaron McKie.

-- Jahlil White is still getting comfortable on the offensive end,. Still, he’s clearly getting after it on the defensive end and gives Temple a unique defensive presence, being able to guard positions 1-4 and do so pretty effectively. He did score six points on 3 of 3 shooting Friday. He also turned the ball over three times and shot 0-for-4 from the free-throw line.

-- Despite going 0-for-5 from the floor and missing all four of his three-point attempts, freshman wing guard Zach Hicks looks like he belongs. When they’re on the court together, Strickland was making sure Hicks was in the correct position and being very vocal in communicating with the Camden Catholic High School product.

-- Too often, Temple getting itself in scoring droughts that make the lead seem more insurmountable than it actually is. The Owls dig themselves way too deep a hole and then face a large deficit heading into halftime. It’s been the story of the past three games. Boise State went into the half with some momentum after a buzzer-beater three from Broncos forward Naje Smith.

-- Coming off the court for halftime, Temple’s body language was not good. Coaches and players alike were displeased and there were clear complaints about there not being enough communication between the players on the defensive end of the court, which, of course, has led to a lot of breakdowns.

-- Temple had more turnovers (12) than it had made field goals (10) in the first half. Boise State scored 14 points off those turnovers and took a 15-point lead (43-28) into halftime.

-- Jeremiah Williams does a lot of things well defensively, but his offensive game is lacking. He went scoreless in the first half and beyond a couple of made floaters against Clemson, he hasn’t done much to impact Temple’s offensive game.

-- McKie continues to have a quick hook for Forrester. He subbed him out, in favor of Okpomo just a minute into the second half.

-- Williams does appear to be one of the more vocal players on the bench. During a media timeout, Williams could be heard telling Nick Jourdain, “We have to figure this out quickly.” During the next media timeout, Williams could be heard talking to White and said, “Even if we don’t come back in this game, we’ll figure it out. We can’t keep our heads down. We’ll be good. We’ll figure it out.”

Williams has embraced his role as a leader. Even down by 28 points, he’s talking and keeping his teammates from checking out of the game.

-- With the game out of hand, McKie has been letting his younger players try to figure it out. Second-year freshman wing guard Quincy Ademekoya, Hicks and freshman point guard Hysier Miller were all on the court together at one point. Miller plays with a high level of intensity. He had seven points and drained a 3-pointer, which got some excitement from the bench.

-- Teams have discovered that limiting what Khalif Battle and Damian Dunn can do offensively is the key to keeping Temple in check. Dunn tries his best to draw contact in the paint and while he has, he isn’t getting the same calls he was last season. He scored just six points Friday on 2 of 8 shooting in 20 minutes. Battle scored 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. He went 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. He was far from the problem but walking off the court, you could see how personally he took the loss.

-- Temple experienced another significant scoring drought Friday went without a field goal for more than five minutes in the second half until Battle drilled his second 3-pointer of the game. Things were well out of reach by that point with the Owls trailing, 73-44.