The undefeated season talk for #8 SMU is finally over after Temple upsets the Mustangs 89-80 in front of a thunderous crowd at the Liacouras Center. Temple has a knack for beating top 10 teams and the Owls have accomplished that feat for the seventh time in the last eight years. This could be just the win to get the Owls into the NCAA Tournament and they will have another opportunity take down another top 10 team on February 17th against Big 5 rival, #4 Villanova.
Temple had to play without Jaylen Bond in today’s game due to a back problem, but the Owls were able to overcome his absence with a couple of nice performances from Devin Coleman and Quenton DeCosey. Devin Coleman had a career-high 23 points and was perfect from the field, including 7 of 7 from beyond the arc. Coleman was the x-factor performance Temple needed today and he has provided quite a spark off the bench this year. Quenton DeCosey’s steady season continues with a 19 point performance and his play has taken a step up in conference games. Daniel Dingle had his best game of the year contributing 14 points off the bench with 6 of his points coming from three-point range. One of the biggest stories of the game was Temple’s three-point shooting, the Owls knocked down 14 three’s as opposed to SMU’s three makes from downtown.
A lot of credit has to go to Josh Brown, who was guarding Nic Moore all game and held him to only 10 points. Temple made up for being dominated in the paint by notching 10 steals and gathering 22 points off turnovers. Winning the turnover battle has been one of the emphasis all year for Temple and it paid off big against SMU.
Temple’s resume is building up nicely and they have a chance to stay towards the top of the American Conference. This is the first time Temple has beaten three ranked teams in a season since the 1999-2000 season. Temple will look to keep the momentum going on the road at East Carolina this Wednesday.
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