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Instant analysis: Temple 72, Maryland Eastern Shore 49

Temple won its season opener Wednesday night in a 72-49 rout of Maryland Eastern Shore at the Liacouras Center. It was the Owls’ third straight season-opening victory in third-year head coach Aaron McKie’s tenure.

Temple committed 10 turnovers and struggled on offense in taking a slim, 26-25 lead into halftime before pulling away and closing out the game on a 36-14 run.

McKie was happy with the team’s performance and believes the slow start was to be expected.

“I thought it was just the first-game home jitters,” McKie said. “Not playing in front of fans at home. We played in front of fans on the road last year. It’s a new group of guys, young guys. Just a different environment for them. I want to chalk it up as having an out-of-body experience. I know for a fact that we are much better than what we displayed in the first half.”

Sophomore guard Khalif Battle finished with a game-high 22 points and made 9 of his 14 shots from the field while redshirt freshman Damian Dunn added 18, including a perfect 5-for-5 from the free-throw line. The Owls played four players off the bench - Jahlil White, Nick Jourdain, Zach Hicks and Tai Strickland - and outscored Maryland Eastern Shore’s bench, 21-13. Strickland finished with 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting to go with two rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes. Last season, the Wisconsin transfer only played in six games and averaged 11.7 minutes per game.

Here are a few other key moments and takeaways from Wednesday night’s game:

TURNING POINT

Wednesday’s turning point came with 13 minutes, 38 seconds left in the second half. Hicks made his second three-point attempt of the game from the left wing, giving the Owls a 39-35 lead. Hicks’ contributions off the bench gave the Owls’ offense a much- needed spark.

After the change of momentum, the Owls went on a 10-0 run and never looked back.

With 11:57 seconds left in the second half, Battle made a three-point shot, giving the Owls a 44-35 lead.

The Owls’ guards took control in the second half. With 10 minutes and 20 seconds remaining in the half, Dunn scored a layup and was fouled while entering the paint. Dunn finished the ‘and 1’ opportunity, giving the Owls a 49-37 lead.

Less than three minutes later, Hicks put the icing on the cake when he made another three-pointer that gave the Owls a 56-42 lead. The Camden Catholic product finished with nine points and gave the Owls much needed shooting.

“It’s what Zach does,” McKie said. “Again, what he lacks in athleticism, strength, speed and all those different things, he makes up for with his IQ. He will get better as time goes on. He is going to be a really good player.”

The Owls outscored the Hawks in the second half by 46-24. Last season, the Owls finished ninth out of 11 teams in the American Athletic Conference and averaged 65.4 points per game. Wednesday night’s second-half performance, albeit against a team that did not play at all last season and was playing its second game in as many nights, was a solid start.

KEY STATS

With what appears to be more length and athleticism in the rotation, Temple’s defense could be a strength this season. Hicks and Sage Tolbert finished with two steals apiece, and Dunn grabbed one as well. The Owls scored 20 points off turnovers.

In the frontcourt, junior forwards Jake Forrester and Sage Tolbert and second-year freshman Jourdain’s defensive presence made it difficult for the Hawks to finish shots inside the paint. Forrester finished with three blocks, and Tolbert and Jourdain added two. Overall, the Owls combined for eight blocks.

On a night when it took some time for its offense to come around, Temple’s defense rightfully took care of a much smaller Maryland Eastern Shore that resorted to chucking up 31 three-pointers and made just eight of them. The Hawks shot 28.3 percent from the field and 25.8 percent from the three-point line.

“Being consistent on the defensive end,” Dunn said. “Knowing that’s pretty much the staple of our team, really the one thing we rely on the most. In doubt, we are always going to defend and do our best at that.”

Temple also outrebounded UMES 42 to 32 and scored 10 second-chance points.

With every win, there are still areas of improvement. Temple turned the ball over 13 times Wednesday night coming off a season in which the Owls averaged 13.3 turnovers per game, while their opponents only averaged 10.9 turnovers per contest. The Hawks were able to score 11 points from those turnovers.

WHAT DOES THE WIN MEAN?

It’s difficult to draw any conclusions off a win over a team with a much smaller lineup that Temple was expected to beat, but there were a few encouraging signs, including Hicks’ immediate shooting impact off the bench.

And although he took minutes from promising freshman point guard Hysier Miller, who did not see the floor Wednesday night, Strickland’s performance was noteworthy. All 10 of his points came in the second half.

McKie also wasn’t afraid to use his bench and appeared comfortable using the versatile Jourdain much more in the second half while Forrester played just two second-half minutes. Jourdain swiped a game-high nine rebounds.

Temple started slow and led by one point at halftime. In the first half, the Owls shot 18 percent from the three-point line and 41 percent from the floor. In the second half, the team showed grit and knocked off the rust to score 46 points.

UP NEXT

The Owls have to be crisper at the start of their next game. The Owls play USC Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Liacouras Center. The Trojans beat California State Northridge 89-49 on Tuesday night. Even without Evan Mobley, who was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, USC is still a contender to win the PAC-12.

USC shot 56.3 percent from the field against the Matadors. They are led by Evan’s brother, Isaiah Mobley, who finished with 15 points in that game. Also, Memphis transfer Boogie Ellis scored 20 points for the Trojans. The talented duo might be a difficult matchup for an inexperienced Owls team.

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