Temple @ Davidson preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 15, 2018 ) Davidson 75, Temple 77

Temple rebounded from a tough loss in the first round of the Orlando Invitational with a strong performance, and the Owls look to leave the Sunshine State with two wins when they meet Davidson in the fifth-place game Sunday in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Temple led with five minutes to go before losing 76-69 to No. 8 Maryland in the opening round before holding Texas A&M to 22.4 percent shooting in a 65-42 win Friday.

“Last night we hurt ourselves a lot because we didn’t share the ball as much as we should have,” Owls first-year coach Aaron McKie told reporters after the win. “We made a conscious effort to try and come out (Friday) and make one more pass and make our teammates better. I thought we did a pretty good job.” Leading scorer Quinton Rose (14.7) scored a season-high 19 points in the victory for Temple, which is allowing 35.1 percent shooting from the field and 28.9 from behind the arc this season while forcing 15.5 turnovers per game. The Owls will be challenged by Davidson, which also rebounded from a tough first-round loss (Marquette, 73-67) and knocked off Fairfield 67-56 on Friday after closing the game on an 11-2 run. The Wildcats saw their streak of 809 straight games with a 3-pointer end Thursday, but knocked down 9-of-24 from long range against the Stags and junior guard Kellan Grady is averaging 21.8 points in his last four contests.

TV: 4 p.m. ET, ESPN2

ABOUT TEMPLE (5-1): Senior guard Alani Moore II is second on the team in scoring (12.5) and has had a strong tournament, pouring in 22 points against Maryland before finishing with 14 versus Texas A&M. Junior guard Nate Pierre-Louis (12.3 points), on the other hand, has struggled to 3-of-14 from the field in the tournament but leads the Owls in rebounding (9.2) and assists (3.3). Junior forward J.P. Moorman II has chipped in with 6.7 boards per contest while junior guard Monty Scott scored a season-high 11 points against Texas A&M.

ABOUT DAVIDSON (3-4): Grady tops the team in scoring (18.1), shares the lead in assists (2.9) and adds a club-best 1.9 steals per contest for the Wildcats, who average just 11.4 turnovers. Senior guard Jon Axel Gudmundsson, last season’s Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, has not been particularly sharp in the tournament (6-for-16 shooting) but averages 11.9 points, a team-high 5.1 boards and 2.9 assists. Sophomore guard Luke Frampton (9.8 points) is expected to miss his third straight game after taking a personal leave of absence from the team.

TIP-INS

1. Temple sophomore F Jake Forrester, who became eligible this week after transferring from Indiana, has six points and nine rebounds in Orlando.

2. Davidson junior G Carter Collins averages 10.8 points after dropping in 14 against Fairfield.

3. The Owls pulled out a 77-75 victory over the Wildcats last December in Atlantic City, N.J. to even the all-time series at 1-1.

PREDICTION: Temple 76, Davidson 66