Temple goes cold in loss to Clemson

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Temple was in Thursday afternoon’s 75-48 loss to Clemson for around 12 minutes.

But that’s when the shots stopped falling.

In the final 7 minutes and 24 seconds of Thursday’s first frame, Temple’s offense went cold and the Owls scored just two points. That 15-2 run by Clemson enabled the Tigers to go into halftime with a commanding 38-26 lead.

While a similar deficit last Saturday did not prevent Temple from getting back into the game against No. 25 USC, this game was much different. In the opening round of the Charleston Classic, the Owls could not shoot themselves out of a significant scoring drought. Clemson came out firing on all cylinders in the second half and before Temple coach Aaron McKie could call a timeout, Clemson led 50-30 and the game was all but over.

Prior to that Clemson run, however, Temple was firmly in the contest. Junior guard Tai Strickland hit consecutive 3-pointers to give Temple a 24-23 lead. The Owls’ first-half intensity startled the Tigers, but it wasn’t enough to take a commanding lead. That one-point advantage with a little less than eight minutes remaining in the first was the last time Temple had control of the game.

After Strickland’s made baskets from deep, the Owls connected on just two shots from beyond the arc for the remainder of the game. Temple shot an abysmal 4-of-20 from 3-point range. The Owls weren’t much better from the rest of the field and made 19 of 53 shots overall.

Clemson coach Brad Brownell attributed Clemson’s success on the defensive end to holding Temple players like sophomore guard Khalif Battle and redshirt freshman guard Damian Dunn in check.

Battle and Dunn combined for just 17 points on 5-of-19 shooting. Battle, who is Temple’s table-setter, had a season-low four points.

Despite the duo’s struggles, McKie was not concerned about his team’s offensive prowess, or lack thereof on Thursday.

“Damian and Khalif are guys that we rely on to score the ball,” McKie said following the game. “Was it the ideal shots? Probably not. When we start getting ourselves in trouble, we want to try and attack and get to the free-throw line, but we’ll live what those guys do out there on the offensive side.”

Temple got to the free-throw line just a handful of times Thursday and went 6 of 9 from the charity stripe. While Strickland led the team with 16 points, three of Temple’s starters, Jake Forrester, Sage Tolbert and Jeremiah Williams, combined for 13 points.

In need of a pick me up, Temple’s secondary scorers were nowhere to be found. On the other hand, defensively, the effort was there from the Owls but the Tigers were just too much for them to handle.

“They’re a good team that did some good stuff,” McKie said.

Clemson and more specifically Nick Honor just could not miss Thursday. Honor was perfect from the field and scored 19 points to go along with three assists. It wasn’t just him, though. Clemson shot 54.5% from the field and 52.4% from beyond the arc.

“I thought we got off to a good start,” McKie said. “I thought we got those guys some separation. They had some bigs who stepped out and made shots. ... But defensively, we didn’t get off the start that we wanted to.”

“That kid Honor is a really good basketball player,” McKie added. “He can shoot the ball. He can score the ball. He saw a big basket early and we just couldn’t plug that part up.”

While Temple had few answers for Clemson defensively, it was the team’s struggles at the offensive end and prolonged scoring droughts that did them in Thursday.

The Owls will need to clean that up on Friday afternoon as they take on Boise State in the second round of the Charleston Classic at noon.