In the final minute of the first half at the Wells Fargo Center, things weren’t going Adam Fisher’s team’s way.
Temple trailed Villanova by 13 points, but there was still some hope in the air for a second-half comeback. The Owls had possession with less than 30 seconds in the half and were looking to score before halftime to shorten the gap.
The ball was kicked out to freshman guard Aiden Tobiason, but his shot went in and out. Villanova guard Wooga Poplar then took the ball and ran the other way with less than 10 seconds left. Poplar split the defenders after a defensive miscue and slammed home a dunk that took the wind out of the stadium as the clock expired.
Villanova carried that momentum from the dunk into the second half and never looked back en route to a 94-65 rout of Temple that gave the Wildcats third place in the Big 5 Classic. Stellar three-point shooting powered Villanova, as it knocked down 19 of 30 shots from beyond the arc.
“Give Villanova credit,” Fisher said after the game. “Nineteen for 30. Going into it, we wanted to take away their threes. Over 50 percent of their shots come from three. We made shots. We didn’t execute. It’s small details. There’s a lot of ‘My bads’ right now. We've got to eliminate the ‘My bads.' We've got to communicate a little more on the defensive end and play harder.”
Villanova (6-4) shot extremely well all night at an efficient 58% from the field while Temple (4-4) shot just 37% from the field and 30 percent from three-point range. The Wildcats also had four different players reach double-digits in the win, with forward Eric Dixon and Poplar combining to score 42 of the Wildcats' points.
Temple had little to no answer for Dixon, a product of Montgomery County's Abington High School. The forward finished with a game-high 24 points and scored from all areas of the floor.
“It’s impressive for sure,” Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune said about Dixon’s performance. “I’ve seen him for so long. I’ve known this kid maybe eight or nine years. so nothing he does is impressive like the individual act. I’ve just watched him do it over and over. But, when you sit back and look at the string of what he’s done, it is impressive.”
Jamal Mashburn Jr, Steve Settle III and Zion Stanford each finished with double-digits for Temple in the loss, as Mashburn finished with a team-high 20 points while Settle and Stanford had 11 each. Even that trio was unable to score effectively, however, as the three players combined to shoot 13 of 32 from the field.
The Owls once again lost the rebounding battle, this time by 37-28. Villanova finished with 15 second-chance points on 11 offensive rebounds, while Temple had just seven points on 12 offensive boards.
“The rebounding, we've got to continue to work on [it],” Fisher said. “Eleven offensive rebounds, I believe it’s the lowest we’ve given up all year, but it’s still too high.”
Villanova jumped out to an early 15-4 lead through the first seven minutes of play with 11 of those 15 points coming from Dixon. Villanova guards Poplar and Tyler Perkins then hit back-to-back three-pointers that helped extend the Wildcats' lead to 13 points. After the under-12 media timeout, Temple started to chip away at the lead thanks to some strong defense and three-pointers from Mashburn and Settle that closed the gap to six points.
It just wasn’t enough for Temple to outpace Villanova, as the Owls just looked completely outmatched on both ends. The Wildcats gained back the momentum after back-to-back threes from Perkins with under six minutes in the first half.
The Owls were without Quante Berry against Villanova after he injured his hand reaching for a ball in practice on Friday. Temple needed one of the bench guards to step up with senior guard Lynn Greer III still suspended and Berry out with an injury.
“You’re without your two primary ball handlers,” Fisher said. “So now you go into the game without either one. I thought [Berry] did a great job rebounding last game, he had 15 rebounds at the point guard position. So now you've got to quickly fill that void today.”
Tobiason was someone who stepped up. The freshman immediately made an impact on the defensive end with his on-ball defense against Villanova guard Jhamir Brickus, completely taking him out of the equation in the first half.
Tobiason played a season-high 27 minutes after having multiple good practices throughout the week leading up to the matchup against Villanova. Tobiason brought intense energy on defense, as he led all players with five steals and also finished with three points on offense.
“We’re going to play guys that are gonna play hard and compete, and he earned every minute he played tonight,” Fisher said. “Energy. Energy. Flying around, rebounds, tipping them out, guarding, steals, deflections, his activity. We get five guys to play like that on the court, we’ll be in a much better position.”
Temple will now try to bounce back against Holy Family (5-3) on Tuesday, Dec. 10, as they return to the Liacouras Center for the first time in nearly a month. The game will be televised on ESPN+ at 7 p.m.