Temple is in the midst of having a week to prepare for its games against Florida State and UMass at this weekend’s Hall of Fame Tipoff up at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Arena.
First up for Adam Fisher’s Owls is a 5 p.m. Friday game against a 3-1 Florida State team that is coming off a 13-point loss to Florida and playing Tuesday night against Hofstra. Coach Leonard Hamilton’s Seminoles were picked to finish 15th in the ACC preseason poll.
Saturday night, Temple will take on former Atlantic 10 foe UMass in another 5 p.m. game.
Over the last four days, the Owls have been practicing and watching film of last Friday’s 72-69 loss at Boston College, the team picked to finish last in the ACC this season. Temple erased a 14-point deficit but ultimately couldn’t hold on in a road game the Owls could have and should have won, as Fisher sees it.
“Disappointed in the result, because we're not here for moral victories,” Fisher told a group of reporters Tuesday morning at the team’s Pearson McGonigle Hall practice facility. “It was an ACC (team, but) it's not good enough. You got to go win that game, and that's been our message, but I think we learned a lot.”
In speaking with reporters for more than 15 minutes, Fisher talked about the return of forward Elijah Gray, the development of his three freshmen – Babatunde Durodola, Dillon Battie and Aiden Tobiason – through the first four games, and what the Owls can expect in facing a tall and athletic Florida State team that features leading scorer Jamir Watkins, a 6-foot-7 Trenton Catholic graduate who’s averaging 18.5 points and 5.3 rebounds thus far.