Temple’s new basketball coach will unveil free-flowing offense: ‘We’re going to play loose and locked in’

Tournament or bust. That was the goal for the Temple men’s basketball team in 2022-23. As the season progressed, that goal became more difficult to achieve.

With victories over top-25 teams (Houston and Villanova) and losses to Maryland-Eastern Shore and Wagner, it became clear that Aaron McKie’s team could beat or lose to anyone. The Owls went 16-16 and missed the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season. McKie stepped down as coach and moved into a special advisory role with Temple athletics.

One month after McKie exited, Temple hired former Penn State associate head coach Adam Fisher to be its new head coach.

The ripple effect from McKie’s exit was serious, with five key contributors transferring to new programs: guards Damian Dunn (Houston) and Khalif Battle (Arkansas), along with forwards Zach Hicks (Penn State), Nick Jourdain (Memphis), and Jamille Reynolds (Cincinnati). With a new cast, Fisher gets a chance to put his imprint on the program.

Fisher made his offensive philosophy clear from the moment he got to Temple.

“We’re going to play loose and locked in,” Fisher said at his introductory press conference. “We’re going to shoot a lot of threes. … We’re going to run for layups. … They’ve got to play with freedom and spacing.”

During his final season at Penn State, the Nittany Lions shot 38.7% from three-point range on 27.2 attempts, ranking in the top 15 in the country in both categories. Penn State also set a school and Big Ten record for most made threes last season (385).

After the departures of Battle, Dunn, and Hicks, who all averaged about 35% on three-pointers last season, the Owls weren’t left with many deep shooting options.

In turn, Fisher hit the transfer portal and brought in guard Matteo Picarelli and forwards Sam Hofman and Steve Settle to help boost Temple’s shooting ability.

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Fisher’s offense will be built around shooting the three, with many players given the green light. Naturally, players have taken a liking to Fisher’s free-flowing offense.

“I like the confidence he instills in all his players,” said forward Jahlil White. “[Fisher] always says, ‘I don’t care if there are 26 seconds on the [shot] clock or six, shoot the ball.’”

Fisher’s roster can play with or without a center on the court. Settle’s ability to be a three-level scorer at 6-foot-10 allows Fisher to create the space he wants to see.

Guards Quante Berry, Hysier Miller, and Jordan Riley can benefit from the additional spacing, given that each player struggles from deep.

“I think we’re extremely diverse,” Miller said. “It’s going to be hard to guard us because we can throw different lineups at you.”

While much has been made of Fisher’s offense, he cares just as much about the other end of the floor.

McKie’s team was an aggressive bunch, finding success against some of the best offenses in the nation. Fisher doesn’t plan on losing that identity.

“We want to be gritty,” Fisher said. “We want to be tough … be aggressive and get turnovers.”

» READ MORE: Temple will look very different this season. That’s just fine for coach Diane Richardson.

The Owls expect to be versatile on both sides of the floor. Temple brought in freshman forward Zion Stanford along with Settle and Hofman, who are lengthy players who can defend multiple positions.

The most important piece to their defense, however, may be White. Retaining White was a big step in continuing the precedent that McKie set on defense. His ability to match up with multiple positions and guard the opponent’s best player helps the Owls tremendously.

White knows this and has high expectations of himself. “I want to be [American Athletic Conference] defensive player of the year,” he says.

In the game of basketball, little details matter and Fisher preaches them.

“Coach Fish focuses a lot on the small details that in the game of basketball make a big difference,” Picarelli said.

Everything from film sessions to drills is broken down into fine details by Fisher and his staff. On the court, Fisher wants his players to compete but also have fun while they do it.

For a rebuilding program, improvement is of the utmost importance, and Fisher has established that as the goal.

“Continue to improve from right now for the rest of the season,” Fisher said. “That’s our goal: Get better than we were from the day before.”

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