Memphis @ Temple preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 13, 2018 ) Memphis 75, Temple 72

Memphis is off to a strong start in league play and seeks to improve to 5-1 in American Athletic Conference action Thursday when it travels to Temple. The Tigers dominated SMU their last time out, while the Temple is coming off a surprising home to loss to Pennsylvania.

Entering Wednesday's action, Memphis and the Owls were two of the five one-loss teams in league play, putting both squads in solid early position for a postseason berth. The Tigers have won three in a row as they return to the Liacouras Center, where Kareem Brewton Jr. hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to clinch last season's matchup. "That was last year," Brewton told reporters recently. "You don't know what's going to happen this year." Temple was just 3-of-11 from 3-point range and finished with just nine assists on 30 buckets in the loss to Penn.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network

ABOUT MEMPHIS (12-6, 4-1 American): The Tigers are led offensively by Kyvon Davenport, who averages 15.2 points on 54.7 percent shooting (41.7 from behind the arc) and 7.4 rebounds. He had shot at least 50 percent from the field in 11 of his previous 13 games before finishing 5-of-13 for 12 points versus SMU. Brewton had a team-high 20 points in that one, while Raynere Thornton contributed 11 points and 14 boards for his first double-double of the campaign.

ABOUT TEMPLE (14-4, 4-1): Shizz Alston Jr. (18.9), Quinton Rose (16.6) and Nate Pierre-Louis (14.1) combine to average nearly 50 points for the Owls, who received only seven bench points against Penn. In fact, the high-scoring trio and starting center Ernest Aflakpui combined to take 59 of the team's 69 shots, 10 of the 11 attempts from 3-point range and eight of the team's nine foul shots. Aflakpui had 21 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for his second straight double-double.

TIP-INS

1. Rose is 3-of-19 from 3-point range over the last five games and is shooting only 19.5 percent from long range overall after connecting at a 34.5 percent rate last season.

2. Brewton is 11-of-20 from outside the arc in the last four games. Entering that stretch, he was only 7-of-23 from 3-point range on the season.

3. Nobody on Temple has more than eight blocks this season.

PREDICTION: Temple 72, Memphis 70