Temple falls 84-54 to Cincinnati in AAC tournament quarterfinals

FORT WORTH, Texas — Temple struggled to stop Cincinnati’s offense in an 84-54 loss in the American Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinals Friday at Dickies Arena.

Fifth-seeded Temple trailed by double digits throughout much of the second half, struggling to get stops and close the gap on No. 4 Cincinnati. Bearcats guard Dan Skillings Jr., who graduated from Roman Catholic, made a three-pointer to give the Bearcats an 18-point lead with 7 minutes, 52 seconds remaining that would serve as an early death knell.

Temple has never won the AAC tournament and head coach Aaron McKie, who was hired in 2019, has not yet won an AAC tournament game. His program won just two of nine games to close out the 2022-23 season. McKie has one year remaining on a five-year deal.

Temple guard Damian Dunn and forward Jamille Reynolds finished 12 points each.

Three efficient scorers led Cincinnati. Landers Nolley II scored a game-high 22 points, including making 4 of 8 shots from beyond the arc. Additionally, Skillings and guard Mika Adams-Woods scored 20 points each. Adams-Woods went 5-of-7 from three-point range.

Adams-Woods, Nolley II, and Skillings each made significant plays and proved too much for the Owls to handle.

Cincinnati made 32 of 72 shots from the floor, including 11 of 28 from three-point range. The Bearcats also scored 40 points inside the paint.

On the flip side, Temple struggled to break down Cincinnati’s defense and could not find open shots. This included a second-half scoring drought that lasted over four minutes.

Dunn, who averaged 15.4 points per game, scored 34 points against Cincinnati in Temple’s last meeting with the Bearcats. This time around, Dunn struggled to make shots. And when Dunn struggles to score, so do the Owls, who don’t have a consistent second option on the roster.

Temple went 20-of-61 from the field, including 6-of-24 from three. Making shots was a problem all season for the Owls, who ranked ninth in the AAC on offense.

Temple went on an 11-0 first-half run sparked by forward Zach Hicks, who made two consecutive three-pointers. This momentum gave the Owls a 10-point lead.

Moments later, Skillings scored seven consecutive points off the bench to start a 12-2 run.

Temple answered when Dunn found forward Kur Jongkuch for an alley-oop, but Cincinnati made enough plays during that stretch to set the tone for the remainder of the game. Nolley made a three-pointer to start Cincinnati’s 9-0 run, which led to the Bearcats’ 10-point lead at halftime.

Cincinnati went on a 13-1 second-half run to extend the large lead, ending Temple’s hopes of a comeback.

Temple heads to the offseason with a lot of questions to answer, including potential roster and coaching decisions.