Temple’s poor defense against Florida Atlantic extends losing streak to four games

Entering Sunday, Temple was on a three-game losing streak, and saw itself slipping in the American Athletic Conference, falling from fifth to seventh in the standings.

And against fifth-place Florida Atlantic, Temple was plagued by poor defense. Temple held a seven-point lead with less than four minutes remaining, but FAU (15-10, 8-4 AAC) went on a 10-point run to hand Temple (14-12, 6-7) an 83-81 loss at the Liacouras Center.

“In February we’ve hit a little adversity,” said coach Adam Fisher. “Nobody feels bad for us. We’ve got to stay together. We’ve got to get better. Our attention to detail has got to be a little bit better.”

Jamal Mashburn Jr. was out with a toe injury, the same injury that sidelined him against South Florida and Memphis last week. Mashburn sits at second in the nation in points per game, averaging 22. He is a key part of Temple’s offense down the stretch, which was missed Sunday during its late scoring drought.

“[Mashburn’s] a great player,” said forward Steve Settle III. “We’re missing his presence, his leadership, the way he can command the ball at the end of the game, and get a bucket. We’re missing all aspects of him.”

Temple had five scorers reach double digits. Settle led the team with 18 points. Quante Berry added 14, and Shane Dezonie and Elijah Gray each had 11. Babatunde Durodola added 10 points. FAU was led by Kaleb Glenn, who finished with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

Temple’s front court struggled with foul trouble. In the first half, Settle, Gray, Durodola, and Mohamad Keita each had two fouls.

The foul trouble in the frontcourt affected both ends of the floor. On the defensive end, it forced Temple to play more conservatively. On offense, Temple had to run a plethora of different sets due to the rotating personnel.

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“It’s challenging,” Fisher said. “We’ve got to move guys around. It changes a little bit of what you’re trying to do. Offensively with our bigs, it’s different personnel. So, you’ve got to run some different things.”

Temple finished with 26 fouls, and FAU got to the foul line 35 times, sinking 28 free throws.

Temple played better defensively in the first half, holding FAU to 35.7% shooting from the field and 12.5% from three-point range. However, in the second half, Temple struggled.

FAU shot a staggering 53.6% from the field in the second as Temple’s defense struggled with miscommunication, especially in the final four minutes during FAU’s 10-point run.

“We’ve got to try to eliminate some mental lapses on the defensive end,” Fisher said. “We just got to keep improving and getting better.”

The Owls will visit Charlotte (9-17, 2-11 AAC) on Wednesday (7 p.m. ESPN+).