PHILADELPHIA — UMass knew Temple was going to tighten its pressure on the wings in the second half.
The Minutemen spoke at length before the game and then at halftime about what to expect from the Owls defense. In the first half, they handled the suffocating man-to-man defense well and stayed calm to find the open man. In the second half, there was more panic, more unforced turnovers and more easy points coasting the other way.
UMass had stymied Temple with its own defense to take a 10-point lead at the intermission, but its offense let it down with 12 turnovers in the second half. Those miscues turned into 17 points for the Owls and keyed a pivotal early second-half rally that gave Temple the confidence to hold on for a 65-63 win at the Liacouras Center.
“I feel like it was self-inflicted because we spoke about the pressure they were going to apply on defense and how they were going to deny the ball to try to mess up our offensive flow,” UMass redshirt junior forward Jonathan Laurent said. “The first half we handled that, but the second half we got too lackadaisical and thought we won the game and let them back in it.”
UMass (6-5) extended its halftime advantage to a game-high 13 when Samba Diallo hit a 3-pointer on the team’s second possession of the second half. After that shot fell, though, Temple went on a 12-0 run over the next 4:19 with half of those points coming off turnovers. That run was built upon Temple (8-2) becoming more physical on defense, especially when it came to denying Luwane Pipkins from receiving the ball.
Most of the takeaways Temple had in the second half came when the Minutemen were trying to force the ball into their junior leader’s hands. The Owls snared several cross-court passes in which Pipkins was the intended receiver and intercepted a few other dribble handoffs designed to get Pipkins the ball at the top of the key. UMass coach Matt McCall said his team tried to force the ball too often to Pipkins instead of trying to run the offense to free up Pipkins in other ways.
“We got to find ways to move the floor more when teams are going to deny and be physical with him like that,” McCall said. “It was almost like we panicked, but there are other good players on the floor. There’s other good players on the floor and we need to find a way to get into offense and move the floor and then get it back to him once the floor is moved and we relieve some pressure.”
Pipkins was limited to 12 points on 3-of-15 shooting and he made just one of his eight attempts from behind the arc. Sophomore Carl Pierre was just 1 of 7 from long range as UMass was 5-for-24 on 3-pointers. But the lack of accuracy from distance didn’t stop UMass from finding other ways to score.
In the first half, the Minutemen made 51.7 percent of their shots by capitalizing on Temple’s pressure and finding easier shots near the rim. They were effective in using screens behind the play to free up players and took advantage of Temple paying far more attention to UMass’ outside shooters.
Laurent scored eight of his 12 points in the first half as part of a balanced scoring attack that lifted UMass to that 10-point halftime advantage. Keon Clergeot tied a season high with 12 points by slicing up the Owls defense with his drives to the basket. The redshirt sophomore had the ball in his hands more as McCall attempted to play Pipkins off the ball more and punished Temple for paying too much attention to Pipkins.
“We know those guys can play,” Laurent said. “Keon, if he has the minutes and has the shot attempts, he can go out there and score 20. But the fact he can come off the bench and still lift us up with some energy on the defensive end and score some point on the offensive end, it’s definitely beneficial to our team.”
The Minutemen faced adversity early when fifth-year senior Rashaan Holloway rolled his left ankle going for a defensive rebound less than 90 seconds into the game. He didn’t put any weight on his left leg as he was helped to the locker room and returned to the bench a few minutes later with ice wrapped around the ankle. He was in flip flops for the entire second half and left the arena on crutches after the game.
In his place, McCall rotated through freshman Sy Chatman and sophomore Khalea Turner-Morris at the center spot. Turner-Morris added an instant pop off the bench by scoring the first four points of the game for the Minutemen. But they both contributed on defense, helping to hold Temple to 33 percent shooting in the first half and just 37.7 percent for the entire game.
And despite all the miscues that allowed Temple back into the game, UMass never trailed by more than five and spent most of the final five minutes within one score of tying the game.
“We felt like we gave one away there,” McCall said. “But you have to give them a lot of credit, especially what they did there in the second half defensively. Now it’s time for us to get back and get back to work.”