UAB ends Temple's AAC tournament run in title game

Junior point guard Hysier Miller scored a career-high 32 points, but Alejandro Vasquez's 29 points, UAB's balanced scoring and the Blazers' 1-3-1 zone pressure were too much for Temple to overcome in an 85-69 loss in Sunday's American Athletic Conference tournament championship game in Fort Worth, Texas.

The 11th-seeded Owls (16-20) fell short of winning five games in as many days in trying to grab the program's first NCAA Tournament berth since 2019.

Miller and Steve Settle, who transferred to Temple prior to this season as a graduate student out of Howard, were named to the AAC all-tournament team. Settle was held to four points on 2 of 9 shooting Sunday but scored 14 points apiece in the Owls' wins over SMU and Charlotte in the second and quarterfinal rounds.

Miller's 96 points in the Owls' five games this week set the AAC tournament scoring record, and Temple's four wins in this tournament were more than the program had amassed in total since joining the league prior to the 2013-14 season.

Temple trailed by 16 points at halftime and by as many as 26 in the second half before the Owls cut UAB's lead to 12 on a three by Miller. That bucket, however, came with 3:21 let to play, and the Owls got no closer the rest of the way.

First-year head coach Adam Fisher brought his entire team with him to Sunday's postgame press conference, and you can listen to it here.

Stay tuned to OwlScoop.com for more coverage throughout the night and the upcoming week.