By: RICH FOGEL
PHILAHOOPSTAFF
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What: Temple (1-3) vs. Georgia (1-2)
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: TD Arena, Charleston, South Carolina
TV/Radio: ESPN3/ 1210 AM WPHT
With both teams losing Thursday night in their first games of the Charleston Classic, Temple and Georgia will now square off in a consolation game Friday night on Charleston Universities campus.
Temple lost 72-58 to Clemson last night. The Owls led by as many as twelve in the first half but ended up having a poor second half again, as Clemson put up 41 points in the 2nd stanza in route to the 14 point victory.
Georgia fell to a hot shooting Davidson team who lite the Bulldogs up for 94 points. Davidson nailed eight three pointers and had four players in double figures. Georgia could not slow down Davidson’s offense and ultimately never relinquished the lead after halftime.
These two teams are matched up against each other for the first time since 2010, and before that it was 1982. Temple won the game in 2010, 65-58, with freshman at the time, Scootie Randall, leading all scorers with 18. This will be the third meeting in the last 32 years, it’s safe to say these two teams are not accustomed to playing each other.
Scouting Temple
Temple comes into this Charleston Classic Consolation game at 1-3, which is their worst start since the 2007-2008 season. Everyone knew that coming into the season, Temple was needing to replace five seniors that accounted for 54.8 points per game last season.
There was optimism on North Broad that they could fill the shoes of these players with emerging players like Will Cummings, Anthony Lee, Daniel Dingle, Quenton DeCosey, and Dalton Pepper. There is still plenty of time in the season for these players to prove that can indeed produce the same production as Temple teams in years past, but it definitely has not gotten off to a good start.
In all four games thus far this season, Temple has led at halftime. They seem to play their best when it is a faster pace game because they are a very athletic team that can run the court. Teams have been making the adjustments at halftime, in most cases switching to a zone defense which has made Temple’s offense stagnant. They do not have the size down low to be able to win a half-court basketball game and teams have started to expose that.
They are averaging 70.5 points game which is above average, however, they are giving up 75.6 points on defense which adds up to a 1 and 3 record. They have been having trouble defending the perimeter and they have been out-rebounded in three of the four games.
The biggest bright spot for Temple has been the play of junior point guard Will Cummings. He is averaging 18.8 points a game and 4.8 assists in his first full year as starter.
Scouting Georgia
Three players for Georgia are averaging in double figures. Charles Mann is leading that group with 16.3 points a game. Right behind him are Nemanja Djurisic at 13.3 points a game and Kenny Gaines at 12 points a contest.
Georgia has been able to score the ball so far this season, as they average 75.4 points a game. Their offense has been a balanced attack and they have size down low which spikes their rebounding totals.
Last night was their worst defensive effort of the young season, giving up 94 points to Davidson who shot the lights out. Overall, they are giving up a shade above 75 points a game.
The expectations coming into the season for Georgia was that they would finish near the bottom of the pack in the SEC, but have some talented players that if start clicking together could make a run for the tournament this year.
Sound off:
With both teams playing the night prior, it is the rare back-to-back in college basketball. It is going to be interesting to see how both teams fair conditioning wise, we will see if all that off-season and preseason training pays
off tonight. It very well could come down to whatever team has more energy in the second half. Knowing that Temple does not have a deep bench, they could have some trouble with fatigue. Temple will be able to score the
ball on Georgia, but the Bulldogs size down low worries me.
How do you think it will play out?
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