Temple went into Richmond without the services of guard Juan Fernandez, and it turned out to really hurt them.
The Owls found themselves trailing by 18 points at halftime against a team that was shooting the lights out. Take a look at these stats:
Temple Halftime Field Goal Per.: 27%
Richmond Halftime Field Goal Per.: 77%
Unfortunately, that's not a typo for Richmond's field goal shooting percentage. They flat out shot the lights out against a Temple team that was exposed for it's sluggishness at times on defense.
In a similar position as they were against Duquesne, Temple found itself trailing 7-0 from the start. The closest this game had ever been was 15-9 with 12:00 remaining in the first half.
The storyline of this game, however, was not the struggle of Temple. It was the unbelievable and unstoppable play by the Richmond Spiders which earned them the 71-54 upset.
Kevin Anderson was a one man wrecking ball, shooting 11/17 from the field. He finished the game with 29 points. Temple had no answer for his ability to knock down the pull up jumper, or his nasty runner. Anderson was as consistent as it gets, and was the key reason why the Spiders were able to jump on top of the Owls so early on.
David Gonzalvez was crucial to this game as well. Whenever the Owls were on the brink of making a comeback, "Gonzo" (as the students on campus refer to him) was always the answer. With about 5:00 remaining and a 9 point lead, Gonzalvez hit a three pointer that seemed to seal the deal.
Ryan Butler did not miss a shot in this game for Richmond, shooting 6/6 from the overall field, and 2/2 from the foul line. He was also essential to maintaining the RU lead when it seemed the Owls were finally getting things going.
Here are Temple's top performers from tonight's game. We'll go into more depth in our following post on Temple's performance:
Ramone Moore (17 points, 1 rebound)
Lavoy Allen (17 points, 19 rebounds, 3 steals)
Luis Guzman (7 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists)
Rahlir Jefferson (5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist)
Temple's record falls to (19-5)(7-2), and they will have a full week off to prepare for Rhode Island.
Richmond improves to (18-6)(7-2), and coincidentally they will play Rhode Island Wednesday.
