Temple falters down stretch, falls to UCF
Just three days after giving up a double-digit lead against Connecticut, Temple blew yet another second-half lead as the Owls lost another nailbiter and fell to Central Florida, 71-69, on Wednesday at the Liacouras Center.
The Owls (14-15, 5-11 The American) led by 11 points at 39-28 with 18:11 left in the game and looked poised to snap a losing streak before the Knights (18-10, 9-7 The American) reeled off 11 straight points to tie the game. Following that UCF surge, the teams exchanged the lead five times over the rest of the game before the Knights took over for good with 55 seconds left in the contest. With the collapse, Temple lost its third straight contest and fell below .500 for the first time since November. The loss marked the sixth time this season Temple has lost by six or fewer points.
UCF had the lead at 70-69 with less than 20 seconds to go when sophomore forward Tacko Fall missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Temple took over possession. Following a Temple timeout, Daniel Dingle dished to an open Mark Williams, who missed a 3-pointer to win it as the Owls lost yet another close contest.
“We gave Dan the ball and told him to make a play,” sophomore guard Shawn Alston told reporters after the game. ‘He’s our leader, our fifth-year senior. He made a good play and got it to Mark, the ball just didn’t go in.”
Earlier in the game, Alston and UCF forward Nick Banyard had to be separated in the second half after UCF guard Matt Williams elbowed Alston in the face. Alston got up and vocalized his anger to Williams before Banyard intervened and both players had to be restrained. A few minutes later, Alston had to be restrained again after being pushed by Williams out of bounds while battling for a loose ball.
“It was just two guys being competitive,” Alston said. “I was guarding him close all game and he was guarding me at times. We’re just competitive guys that were trying to win.”
“It’s basketball,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy added. “You’ve got to keep playing hard but you can’t let that situation make you lose your focus…It’s going to go on in a college basketball game. Not much you can do about that.”
Junior forward Obi Enechionyia bounced back from a number of bad performances to hit five 3-pointers, all in the second half, and score 17 points. After missing all three of his first-half shots, Enechionyia finished the game having hit 6 of 12 field goal attempts.
The 7-foot-6, 290-pound Fall, who entered the game averaging 11.8 points and 9.7 rebounds per game while shooting a staggering 73.9 percent from the floor, made his presence known early in the first half. The Senegalese center blocked four shots in the opening half. While Fall led UCF with six first-half points, however, he also turned the ball over five times. By comparison, Temple turned the ball over three times as a team in the first half.
“[Fall is] so difficult to defend in there,” Dunphy said. “He knows how to play. He’s really getting to be a good basketball player in addition to his size and length.”
When Fall, who played 30 minutes in the game, was on the court, Temple was forced to essentially avoid the paint on offense. As a result, Temple attempted just one free throw attempt, a make by freshman Quinton Rose, in the game. Central Florida, meanwhile, hit 10 of its 14 free throws.
Temple will now need to win at least its final two regular season games in order to avoid its first losing season since the 2013-14 campaign. The Owls will host Tulane on Saturday before traveling to South Florida prior to the American Athletic Conference tournament. The only way Temple will be able to return to the NCAA tournament for a second straight year would be with a championship run through that tournament. Despite the improbability of such a run, the Owls have yet to give up on this season, Alston said.
“If [Obi is] making shots, Dan’s playing well, I’m playing well and [Rose is] playing well, we’re a tough team to play,” Alston said. “I think we’re going to make a deep run and win the tournament.”
Listen to postgame interviews with Dunphy, Alston and Enechionyia here.