What To Watch For: USF At Temple
The South Florida men’s basketball team travels to Philadelphia to take on Temple Saturday afternoon.
USF has won eight of their last nine games and reached an important program benchmark in its 66-48 win over Tulane at the Yuengling Center on Wednesday night. The victory gave the program its most victories since the 2013-14 season and extended its home winning streak to seven games.
Temple dealt No. 17/15 Houston its first loss of the season Wednesday night. It marked the 12th straight season Temple has defeated a ranked team and kept Temple undefeated (6-0) at home this season.
RunningTheBulls.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against Temple:
Quick Facts
Matchup: USF (12-3, 2-1 AAC) at Temple (12-3, 2-1 AAC)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 12
Time: 12 p.m.
Location: Philadelphia, Pa. | Liacouras Center
Watch: ESPNU (Kevin Brown, Julianna Viani)
Radio: AM 820 | GoUSFBulls.com | USF Bulls Unlimited (Jim Lighthall)
History: This will be the 12th meeting between Temple and USF. The Bulls won the first two games between the two programs and haven’t won since.
The Opponent: Temple is a historic program with over 1,900 wins. Only Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina and Duke have won more basketball games than Temple.
Temple is an experienced team that plays three guards in most of its lineups. Senior Shizz Alston (18.9 ppg), sophomore Nate Pierre-Louis (13.5 ppg) and junior Quinton Rose (16.8 ppg) account for 66 percent of the Owls scoring this season.
In three AAC games Pierre-Louis is averaging 20 points per contest, getting most of his points inside the arc, including hard drives to the basket. Pierre-Louis has also been superb at getting to the free throw line in conference play with a whopping 72 percent free throw rate. Pierre-Louis, at 6-foot-4, 170 pounds, is also Temple’s second leading rebounder at 6.3 per contest.
Rose is hard to guard. There’s just no other way to say it. He has a great first step, is dangerous in isolation and is very good at scoring in the midrange and in the paint. Rose hasn’t contributed consistently on the perimeter – shooting just 19 percent – or the free throw line 63.6 percent. Cut off Rose’s dribble drive and force him to shoot three-pointers with a hand in his face is what you want to do.
The second leading scorer in the AAC, Alston is a shot making play maker. Easily the best playmaker on Temple’s roster and you simply cannot foul him because he is making 92.2 percent of his free throw attempts. Alston will use a ball screen twice by going back and forth to get open. He can manufacture his own offense and will shoot threes from anywhere on the court.
Senior center Ernest Aflakpui is the Owls leading rebounder at 6.9 per game. He is also one of the best charge takers, in a big man that you will see in all of college basketball. The 6-foot-10, 240-pounder is a mobile big man with a big strong body and good hands. Aflakpui is strong, quick off his feet and has nice touch on his jump hook.
Temple usually has four players on the court that can bring up the ball and initiate its offense. They are a good team at attacking off the dribble which puts pressure on defenses. They play three guards, which makes them hard to press, and generally take care of the ball well. They don’t over complicate things offensively like Tulane.
Defensively Temple plays exclusively man (99.6 percent) and their press defense is very good with a 25.1 percent turnover rate. Temple is very good at contesting shots. The Owls are second in the AAC, to USF, in steals at 9.4 per game.
Prediction
USF 61 Temple 71
Similar to the UConn game, we think USF’s bigs match up very well with Temple’s bigs. However, we think Temple’s guards will tip the game in their favor. Even if Owls guard Alani Moore is unable to play Saturday. To get a win USF must win the rebound battle, convert second chance opportunities, guard Temple’s guards in the half court, make at least 72 percent of its free throws and match the Owls toughness. Tall order on the road for a young team.