PHILADELPHIA, PA - Toledo dropped an 82-49 decision at No. 22 Temple on Sunday afternoon in its second-straight contest against a Top 25 opponent. With the defeat, the Rockets are now 0-2 on the young season while the Owls improved to 2-0.
"Our players need to understand that we need to do a lot of basic things well for us to have a chance to be successful," Toledo Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We're not doing that right now, and our first two games against (No. 13) Illinois and Temple have shown us that. We're not defending the way we should be and we're turning the ball over too much. I thought we executed little better in the second half, especially in terms of our shot selection. Hopefully we can build on that."
Freshman G Zack Leahy led UT offensively with 15 points with sophomore G Malcolm Griffin (11 pts.) and senior F Anthony Wright (10 pts.) also scoring in double figures. Wright was playing his first contest in a Rocket uniform after sitting out the team's two exhibitions and Wednesday's season opener at No. 13 Illinois.
Freshman C Delino Dear grabbed a team-high six rebounds to along with five points in 15 minutes of action.
All five Owl starters scored in double figures with junior C Micheal Eric setting the pace with 14 points and a game-high nine boards.
Temple registered a 54.5 field-goal percentage in addition to posting an impressive 26-to-6 turnover ratio. UT was limited to 38.6 shooting mark but converted 83.3 percent (10-of-12) of its free-throw attempts.
Leahy tallied the Rockets' first six points, and UT trailed just 7-6 at the first media timeout four minutes into the contest. However, a 12-0 spurt gave the hosts a 19-6 advantage and Toledo was never able to reduce its deficit under double digits the rest of the way. Temple held a 40-16 advantage at halftime.
Toledo returns home to host UIC on Friday, Nov. 19 in a sub-regional for the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m. after the College of Charleston squares off against Rhode Island.
