Tuesday Notebook: Owls aim to bounce back against SMU
As Temple tries to shake off a 26-point loss it took at No. 5 Houston back on Dec. 22, the Owls have another tall task in the form of SMU waiting for them on Wednesday.
Through two games, Temple’s ability on both ends of the floor has been uneven, and second-year head coach Aaron McKie knows it. With January around the corner, the Owls have played just two games this season, and they’ve asked players like Dartmouth transfer Brendan Barry and Tai Strickland, who are supposed to be significant parts of the team’s offense, to learn on the fly.
Not to mention that Butler transfer Khalif Battle has yet to see the floor after receiving a waiver to play this season. Battle is dealing with a hamstring injury suffered in practice, and McKie has yet to make a definitive decision on his availability against SMU. The sophomore is anticipated to bring more shooting depth along the perimeter and be an added scoring threat in what is already a well-distributed offensive attack.
Still, Temple will go from one difficult conference matchup to the next, as it hosts the Mustangs at the Liacouras Center at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Right now, SMU leads the American Athletic Conference in scoring, averaging 85.2 points per game. Leading the way for the Mustangs is Kendric Davis, who is the conference’s second-leading scorer, averaging 20.4 points per game. The junior guard has earned three AAC weekly honors and was named ESPN’s National Player of the Week in early December.
As Temple dives into its matchup against SMU, McKie and his staff crunched some numbers with more than a week in between games. According to the analytics, Davis accounts for close to 80% of the Mustangs offense.
McKie doesn’t envision his team being able to stop Davis. Instead, they want to wear him down and contain him as much as possible. McKie added it’s hard to entirely shut down a player of his caliber, but it will be essential to at least make things harder for him.
It’s no secret SMU poses a similar threat to that of Houston, with a well-rounded team that can score the basketball. McKie and true freshman point guard Jeremiah Williams shared similar sentiments that in order to walk away with a win on Wednesday, it will come from matching that intensity on defense and sharing the ball offensively.
Here are OwlScoop.com’s observations and notes from McKie’s Tuesday afternoon media availability.
Senior forward De’vondre Perry on his message to the underclassmen about playing through adversity:
“Pretty much just find your own niche. Everybody’s different. Find what you do well and try to perfect it. Just go hard, no matter the situation and no matter the cards you’re dealt. Just play as hard as you can no matter what.”
Jeremiah Williams on what he learned in the loss to Houston:
"Mainly what I took from the game, offensively and defensively, is that if we want to keep up with teams like that, we have to play together as a team and get our offense flowing a lot better. So we just take bits and pieces from the game and look at it with Coach McKie or with the guys knowing that we have to come together as a team. I think [Houston] just beat us as a team.”
Aaron McKie on true freshman wing Quincy Ademokoya:
“He’s had a good week making shots, defending and rebounding. The biggest thing for him is just getting through the physicality of it. Sometimes it becomes a numbers game. You have other guys in front of him and it’s hard to get him out on the floor but he’ll get out there at some point.”
McKie on redshirt sophomore guard Tai Strickland:
“He’ll come around. He’s just starting to really get his legs under him. He had the shoulder surgery so he’s been out and really hasn’t had much practice time. I’m confident he’ll come around. Those same shots he got the last two games, he’ll make those.”
McKie on true freshman guard Jahlil White:
“He’s got a long, productive career ahead of him. I don’t want to rush him back. He’s dealt with this before. And it’s a long and painful process, especially for a kid like him who loves to be in the gym but I said, ‘you’re going to play a lot more basketball so I want you to be fully healthy and be at your best.’ And it’s a shame because he certainly could have brought a lot to the table for us with his size and his athleticism. Just his knack for getting his hands on balls and being in the right position. I want to be patient with him.”
McKie on Dartmouth grad transfer Brendan Barry:
“The tough part about it is we only had him for a couple days in practice and then we just threw him in the fire right away. He’s been out of basketball for two years. So we got a lot of new faces and a lot of guys that are really trying to get their legs under them. With them being able to practice with our guys a little bit more, I’m looking for him to be on the floor a little bit more for us as the season progresses.”