# 2019–20 Temple Owls men's basketball team

The 2019–20 Temple Owls men's basketball team represented Temple University during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Owls, led by first-year head coach Aaron McKie, played their home games at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia as a member of the American Athletic Conference.

## Previous season

The Owls finished the 2018–19 season 23–10, 13–5 in AAC play to finish in third place. As the 3-seed in the AAC tournament, the Owls lost to sixth-seeded Wichita State in the first round. They received a bid to the NCAA tournament as an 11th seed, where they lost to Belmont in the First Four.
The season was head coach Fran Dunphy's final season as Temple head coach. The school announced on April 13, 2018, that he would step down at the end of the 2019 season and that top assistant and former Owls star Aaron McKie would succeed him.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Shizz Alston | 10 | G | 6'4" | 180 | Senior | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Graduated |
| Ernest Aflakpui | 24 | C | 6'10" | 240 | Senior | Accra, Ghana | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous school |
| Jake Forrester | 10 | F | 6'8" | 215 | Sophomore | Harrisburg, Pennsylvania | Transferred from Indiana. Forrester was granted a waiver for immediate eligibility. Will have three years of remaining eligibility. |
| Tai Strickland | 13 | G | 6'2" | 180 | Sophomore | Tampa, Florida | Transferred from Wisconsin. Under NCAA transfer rules, Strickland will have to sit out the 2019–20 season. Will have three years of remaining eligibility. |

### 2019 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Joshua Pierre-Louis #16 PG | Plainfield, New Jersey | Roselle Catholic High School | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Mar 29, 2019 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 80 ||||||
| Damian Dunn #87 SG | Kinston, North Carolina | Meadowcreek High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) | Oct 6, 2018 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2019 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. ||||||

## Preseason

In the preseason, Temple was picked to finish seventh in the American Athletic Conference by the league coaches. Senior guard Quinton Rose was picked to the preseason First Team All-AAC while junior guard Nate Pierre-Louis was picked to the preseason Second Team All-AAC.

## Roster

* Preseason - Damian Dunn suffered a foot injury. He would appear in only one game during the season due to the injury.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular season |||||||||
| November 5, 2019 8:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Drexel City 6 | W 70–62 | 1–0 | 16 – N. Pierre-Louis | 10 – N. Pierre-Louis | 5 – Moore II | Liacouras Center (7,025) Philadelphia, PA |
| November 9, 2019* 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Morgan State | W 75–57 | 2–0 | 19 – N. Pierre-Louis | 11 – N. Pierre-Louis | 5 – N. Pierre-Louis | Liacouras Center (5,889) Philadelphia, PA |
| November 16, 2019* 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at La Salle Philadelphia Big 5 | W 70–65 | 3–0 | 21 – N. Pierre-Louis | 12 – N. Pierre-Louis | 6 – Moorman II | Tom Gola Arena (2,941) Philadelphia, PA |
| November 22, 2019* 11:00 pm, P12N | | at USC Orlando Invitational campus game | W 70–61 | 4–0 | 15 – J. Pierre-Louis | 10 – N. Pierre-Louis | 5 – Rose | Galen Center (3,625) Los Angeles, CA |
| November 28, 2019* 11:00 am, ESPN2 | | vs. No. 5 Maryland Orlando Invitational quarterfinals | L 69–76 | 4–1 | 22 – Moore II | 9 – Moorman II | 4 – Rose | HP Field House Orlando, FL |
| November 29, 2019* 2:00 pm, ESPNews | | vs. Texas A&M Orlando Invitational consolation 2nd round | W 65–42 | 5–1 | 19 – Rose | 7 – N. Pierre-Louis | 4 – Rose | HP Field House (2,014) Orlando, FL |
| December 1, 2019 4:00 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. Davidson Orlando Invitational - 5th Place Game | W 66–53 | 6–1 | 15 – N. Pierre-Louis | 11 – Rose | 9 – Rose | HP Field House Orlando, FL |
| December 7, 2019* 7:30 pm, ESPNU | | Missouri | L 54–64 | 6–2 | 16 – Rose | 9 – N. Pierre-Louis | 5 – N. Pierre-Louis | Liacouras Center (6,405) Philadelphia, PA |
| December 10, 2019* 7:00 pm, ESPNU | | Saint Joseph's Philadelphia Big 5/Rivalry | W 108–61 | 7–2 | 17 – Forrester | 6 – Forrester | 6 – Rose | Liacouras Center (6,197) Philadelphia, PA |
| December 17, 2019* 9:30 pm, ESPNU | | vs. Miami (FL) Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational | L 77–78 | 7–3 | 18 – Perry | 14 – N. Pierre-Louis | 6 – N. Pierre-Louis | Barclays Center (5,064) Brooklyn, NY |
| December 21, 2019* 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Rider | W 78–66 | 8–3 | 15 – Moore II | 8 – N. Pierre-Louis | 9 – Rose | Liacouras Center (5,131) Philadelphia, PA |
| December 31, 2019 2:00 pm, ESPNU | | at UCF | W 62–58 | 9–3 (1–0) | 16 – Rose | 11 – N. Pierre-Louis | 4 – N. Pierre-Louis | Addition Financial Arena (4,098) Orlando, FL |
| January 3, 2020 9:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Tulsa | L 44–70 | 9–4 (1–1) | 12 – Rose | 6 – Tied | 4 – Rose | Reynolds Center (3,405) Tulsa, OK |
| January 7, 2020 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | Houston | L 74–78 | 9–5 (1–2) | 21 – Rose | 7 – N. Pierre-Louis | 3 – Rose | Liacouras Center (4,366) Philadelphia, PA |
| January 11, 2020 12:00 pm, ESPNU | | Tulane | L 51–65 | 9–6 (1–3) | 12 – Rose | 11 – N. Pierre-Louis | 4 – N. Pierre-Louis | Liacouras Center (6,485) Philadelphia, PA |
| January 15, 2020 9:00 pm, ESPNU | | No. 16 Wichita State | W 65–53 | 10–6 (2–3) | 19 – Rose | 12 – N. Pierre-Louis | 3 – Rose | Liacouras Center (5,390) Philadelphia, PA |
| January 18, 2020 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | at SMU | L 52–68 | 10–7 (2–4) | 14 – Forrester | 7 – Forrester | 4 – Moore II | Moody Coliseum (4,726) Dallas, TX |
| January 22, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPNews | | Cincinnati | L 82–89 | 10–8 (2–5) | 26 – Rose | 7 – Moorman | 3 – Rose | Liacouras Center (6,463) Philadelphia, PA |
| January 25, 2020* 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Penn Philadelphia Big 5 | L 59–66 | 10–9 | 21 – Rose | 11 – Forrester | 1 – Tied | Palestra (6,524) Philadelphia, PA |
| January 29, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPNews | | at Connecticut | L 63–78 | 10–10 (2–6) | 20 – N. Pierre-Louis | 8 – Moorman II | 5 – Rose | Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (7,886) Storrs, CT |
| February 1, 2020 6:00 pm, CBSSN | | East Carolina | W 76–64 | 11–10 (3–6) | 20 – Rose | 10 – Moorman II | 5 – N. Pierre-Louis | Liacouras Center (6,877) Philadelphia, PA |
| February 5, 2020 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Memphis | L 65–79 | 11–11 (3–7) | 13 – Tied | 8 – Pierre-Louis | 6 – Rose | FedExForum (15,685) Memphis, TN |
| February 8, 2020 12:00 pm, ESPNU | | SMU | W 97–90 $^{OT}$ | 12–11 (4–7) | 25 – Rose | 7 – Mike | 10 – Davis | Liacouras Center (7,615) Philadelphia, PA |
| February 12, 2020 8:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Tulane | W 72–68 | 13–11 (5–7) | 23 – Rose | 13 – N. Pierre-Louis | 6 – Moore II | Devlin Fieldhouse (1,330) New Orleans, LA |
| February 16, 2020* 1:00 pm, ESPN | | No. 15 Villanova Philadelphia Big 5 | L 56–76 | 13–12 | 22 – Rose | 11 – N. Pierre-Louis | 3 – Rose | Liacouras Center (10,206) Philadelphia, PA |
| February 20, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | | Connecticut | W 93–89 $^{2OT}$ | 14–12 (6–7) | 25 – Scott | 14 – N. Pierre-Louis | 5 – N. Pierre-Louis | Liacouras Center (6,604) Philadelphia, PA |
| February 23, 2020 12:00 pm, ESPNU | | at East Carolina | L 63–67 | 14–13 (6–8) | 15 – Rose | 8 – Morman II | 4 – Scott | Williams Arena (3,695) Greenville, NC |
| February 27, 2020 8:00 pm, ESPN | | at Wichita State | L 69–72 | 14–14 (6–9) | 20 – Rose | 6 – N. Pierre-Louis | 2 – Tied | Charles Koch Arena (10,112) Wichita, KS |
| March 1, 2020 12:00 pm, CBSSN | | South Florida | L 58–64 | 14–15 (6–10) | 13 – Rose | 12 – N. Pierre-Louis | 7 – N. Pierre-Louis | Liacouras Center (6,656) Philadelphia, PA |
| March 4, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Tulsa | L 51–61 | 14–16 (6–11) | 15 – Rose | 12 – N. Pierre-Louis | 4 – Rose | Liacouras Center (5,068) Philadelphia, PA |
| March 7, 2020 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Cincinnati | L 63–64 | 14–17 (6–12) | 19 – Rose | 8 – Moorman II | 3 – Tied | Fifth Third Arena (12,365) Cincinnati, OH |
| AAC tournament |||||||||
| March 12, 2020 8:00 pm, ESPNU | (10) | vs. (7) SMU First Round | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled | Dickies Arena Fort Worth, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. |||||||||
    1.^ Cancelled due to the Coronavirus Pandemic

## Awards and honors
### American Athletic Conference honors
#### All-AAC Second Team

* Quinton Rose

#### Player of the Week

* Week 1: Nate Pierre-Louis
* Week 4: Quinton Rose
Source