Clock Strikes Midnight on the Owls

On an afternoon where Temple faced an Indiana team with two All-Americans, Khalif Wyatt played like one himself, finishing with 31 points for the second straight tournament game.  Unfortunately, two is still better than one, and with the Hoosiers up one with 15 seconds left, Victor Oladipo hit a dagger three from the top of the key to put the game away.  Temple fell by a final score of 58-52, putting an end to the Temple career for five seniors, including A-10 conference player of the year, Khalif Wyatt.

The 6’4″ guard from Norristown was unstoppable in the first half, shooting 8-14 from the field for 20 points as the Owls jumped out to a 29-26 halftime lead.  Temple played some of its best defense of the season, hounding Cody Zeller on the inside and forcing the Hoosiers into an uncharacteristic 1-7 performance from behind the arc.  When Cody Zeller collected his second foul and hit the bench with seven minutes left from the first half, the Hoosiers’ offense stalled allowed Temple to take the lead.  Unfortunately for Temple, Wyatt was the only Owl who brought his ‘A’ game on the offensive end, as his teammates combined to shoot just 4-20 in the first half.  Whereas the Owls should have built a huge lead given Wyatt’s stellar performance and Indiana’s struggles, the rest of the Owls’ shooting woes led the Hoosiers hang around.

In the end, Wyatt cooled off a bit and his teammates never picked him up.  Temple’s second leading scorer, Scootie Randall, finished the game an abysmal 0-12, the other star of the NC State game, Jake O’Brien, was 0-4, and Will Cummings missed all five his shot attempts.  Other than Wyatt, the rest of the Owls shot 0-12 from behind the arc, negating the biggest portion of the Temple attack.

The two All-Americans carried the day for the Hoosiers as Oladipo finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds.  Cody Zeller had 15 points and drew a number of fouls on Temple big men Jake O’Brien and Anthony Lee.  However, the Owls actually defended Zeller well, forcing him into 6 turnovers.  The Hoosiers got just enough down the stretch from their supporting parts, including some big shots from Will Sheehey and a game-changing Christian Watford block of Anthony Lee with two minutes left.

So ends an excellent, final season for the core of the Temple Owls roster.  Temple nearly took down one of the best teams in the country, and likely would have if not for some uncharacteristically terrible shooting from Wyatt’s teammates.  Wyatt, Randall, Hollis-Jefferson, O’Brien, and DiLeo will not be returning in the fall, but they have certainly left their mark on the Temple program.