Without Kendric Davis, SMU can't muster offense to beat Temple, falls 64-57
SMU Basketball couldn’t keep its top spot in the American Athletic Conference, falling to Temple 64-57 Wednesday night in Philadelphia. Without star point guard Kendric Davis, SMU’s offense was stagnant almost the entire night.
“Tough loss. Tough, tough loss for us,” Jankovich said on the SMU postgame radio show. “When we were in the game against this team at our place, I knew this game was going to be unbelievably hard. They are a great defensive team, as good as anybody we’ve played. They are harder to play against than basically anyone we’ve played this year. We played hard, hard, hard. I have no fault with our effort.”
Davis, the AAC’s leading scorer, was out with an injury sustained in the East Carolina game. Freshman Zhuric Phelps started in his place and finished with 10 points, five rebounds, two blocks, two turnovers and a steal.
Michael Weathers scored a season-high 22 points and had seven rebounds for the Mustangs (18-6, 9-3). Marcus Weathers added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Michael got going downhill late in the game to keep it in reach, but it wasn’t enough.
Despite a solid defensive effort for the majority of the game, SMU wasn’t able to come away with a win. Tai Strickland had a career-high 27 points and he stacked up baskets late in the game when SMU couldn’t buy a stop.
SMU led throughout the second half, building its lead to as many as nine on two occasions, the last 33-24 with 15:33 to play. SMU answered time and again, but eventually couldn’t hold off the charge from the Owls.
“It’s kind of the tale here, we’ve been here a lot,” Jankovich said. “The game’s going to come down to 1-on-1 defense and whether you can keep in front. Give them credit, but really disappointing. We lost the game on the offensive end. I’ve never seen a stat sheet that I’ve been involved in in all the years I’ve coached.”
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SMU held Temple to just 30.9 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from three-point range, but Temple capitalizing on turnovers and offensive rebounds proved to be the difference. The Owls committed just five turnovers to SMU’s 13.
“Never have I been involved in a game where you’re on that side of it and lose a game,” Jankovich said. “We spot them six offensive rebounds, we spot them eight on turnovers. So they got 14 more shots than we did and they go to the line 24 times and we’re nine. The reason mainly is they got downhill late in the second half.”
Jahlil White had 11 points for the Owls. Nick Jourdain added 12 rebounds and three blocks. Zach Hicks had nine rebounds.
Up next is a 2 p.m. CT matchup on Sunday in Moody Coliseum, where SMU is undefeated this year, against Memphis.
