Temple struggles and falls to Miami

On Wednesday night, the Temple Owls struggled offensively, leading to a 68-52 loss to the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks.  The Owls could never find a rhythym offensively as they scored only 22 points in the first half.

A big reason for their struggles was Temple star guard Dionte Christmas.  Christmas came into the game ninth in the nation in scoring with 24 points-per-game.  But on Wednesday night, Christmas shot only 3-of-12 from the field, including a dismal 0-of-5 in the second half.

Leading Temple in scoring was center Sergio Olmos, who finished with 12 points to go along with five rebounds.

While this is just one game, this poor offensive output could be a bad sign for the Temple Owls this season.  Christmas has been their go-to-guy all season.  He is a spectacular player and will certainly have a chance to have a career at the next level in the NBA.  However, if Temple relies too much on Christmas to carry them, then they may put themselves in a position to fail.

Temple certainly has talent on this roster with Olmos, Semaj Inge, Ryan Brooks, Lavoy Allen, among others.  Head coach Fran Dunphy needs to figure out how to get those players more involved in the offense if Christmas is having an off-night, similar to what happened Wednesday night against Miami.

Another problem for Temple last night was 15 turnovers during the contest, which includes four tournover by Inge and three each by Christmas and Brooks.  Giving away offensive possessions combined with the struggles of Christmas led to a low scoring output of 52 points.

The good news for Temple is that it is still early in the season and the Owls can learn from this game.  If Christmas is struggling, turnovers must be cut down and better shots must be taken by other Owls players on the court.

Temple has a chance to bounce back Saturday when they take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in Happy Valley.