Temple took a giant step forward in punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament this afternoon in an 84-76 victory over the 21st ranked VCU Rams. A loss in the game would not have hurt the Owls resume but most likely would have assured that they have to win at least one Atlantic 10 Tournament game to still receive an at-large bid.
Picking up a nice win in the season finale now relieves much of the pressure the Owls would have faced in the A-10 Tournament and should all but guarantee an at-large bid to the Tournament. The win also moved Temple into the 3rd seed in this weeks A-10 Tournament, giving the Owls a first round bye. While Temple eventually took control in the second half, the day did not begin so smoothly for the Owls. VCU's "havoc" defense gave the Owls plenty of trouble early on and allowed the Rams to jump out to a 16 point lead at one point in the first half. The Owls settled down later in the first half and began to close the gap, entering the halftime break trailing 41-36. In the second half it was all Temple, as the Owls looked like a completely different team and at one point took a commanding 17 point lead on their way to improving their record to 23-8 for the regular season. The Owls played solid team basketball in the second half, but of course were led by their star player.
Senior guard Khalif Wyatt took control in the second half and led the Owls to a hard-fought victory. On the game Wyatt scored 30 points and went 13 for 16 from the charity stripe. The Owls also received other valiant efforts in their comeback victory. Scootie Randall scored 13 points while also grabbing 9 rebounds, and Will Cummings scored 13 points while also adding 5 assists. Contributing greatly to the second half resurgence of the Owls was senior transfer Jake "O'Buckets" O'Brien whose clutch three point shooting helped tie the game and later take and grow the lead. O'Brien scored 19 on the day while shooting 5 for 8 from 3-point range. O'Brien also contributed 3 blocks and 4 rebounds on the game in a great overall effort. The Owls now head into the A-10 Tournament firing on all cylinders and looking poised to make an NCAA Tournament run. Don't be shocked if Temple become this year's Cinderella team, as they have all the ability to do so as long as they can play good defense. So after today's win it looks like the Owls may want to polish their dancing shoes because come Selection Sunday, they should be receiving their tickets to the madness. Temple will be back in action in the A-10 Tournament on Friday at the Barclays Center.
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