Men's Basketball . December 1, 2017

Temple defeats South Carolina 76-60 in Under Armour Reunion

Game #1

Nov. 30, 2017

Men’s Basketball vs. Temple at The Garden

NEW YORK (AP) Quinton Rose scored a season-high 24 points to lead Temple to a 76-60 rout over South Carolina on Thursday night in the second game of the Under Armour Reunion at Madison Square Garden.

Damion Moore finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Obi Enechionyia added 15 points for Temple, which improved to 4-1 with its fourth win in its last five games.

South Carolina dropped to 5-2. The game was South Carolina’s first at Madison Square Garden since Sweet 16 and Elite Eight wins over Baylor and Florida, respectively, last March.

David Beatty led the Gamecocks with 13 points. Maik Kotsar scored 12 and Justin Minaya tallied 11.

Leading 38-27 at the start of the second half, Temple outscored the Gamecocks 16-12 in the first 8:20 to extend its lead 54-39. The Owls started the second half with two Enechionyia dunks and a jumper, a Moore jam and jumper, and eight points from Rose.

The lead grew to 60-41 after Moore’s putback and layup on consecutive possessions. Following the layup with 9:39 left, Gamecocks coach Frank Martin called time out. It did not matter as Temple pushed its lead to 23, 66-43, after Rose’s lay-in at 6:27.

BIG PICTURE

South Carolina: The Gamecocks entered the game with their bench having a plus-34 scoring differential over the course of the season. But that number is somewhat misleading. South Carolina’s bench outscored its opponents by a combined plus-35 margin in the first two games of the season, only for it to be minus-one in the next four. Against Temple, South Carolina’s bench was outscored 25-21.

Temple: The Owls’ modus operandi was simple: Get it inside. And oftentimes simple works. To wit: In Temple’s 16-point win, 38 of its 76 points were scored in the paint.

KEY STAT

The Gamecocks shot 38 percent (22-for-58) from the floor and just 29 percent (6-for-21) from behind the arc. Temple held a 38-26 edge in points in the paint and forced 17 turnovers.

NOTABLE

Freshman guard David Beatty scored a career-high 13 points in 23 minutes off the bench.
Sophomore forward Maik Kotsar scored in double-figures for the fifth time this season, finishing with 12 points. He went 2-for-2 from behind the arc, marking his first career game with multiple 3-pointers.
Freshman Justin Minaya finished with 11 points, marking his third double-figure scoring performance in the past four games.

UP NEXT

South Carolina finally returns home to Columbia to host three-straight non-conference matchups at Colonial Life Arena, beginning with Saturday’s matchup vs. UMass. Tip time is set for 2 p.m. ET, and the contest will be broadcast on SEC Network+.