Diane Richardson says Temple’s recent play is ‘unacceptable’ as the Owls ride two-game skid
Temple entered this season with expectations to make a run in the American. Instead, the team has started slow and lacked urgency, while not playing its brand of basketball.
Temple had high expectations entering the 2025-26 season after back-to-back 20-win campaigns.
The Owls were picked to finish fourth in the American Conference preseason poll and head coach Diane Richardson believed her team had the talent to win the conference.
After the Owls’ 71-58 loss to Tulane on Tuesday, they look far from the conference contenders they were expected to be. Temple is just 1-3 in the American and sitting in 10th place. In Richardson’s eyes, her team has not been playing “Temple basketball,” and it was especially evident against the Green Wave.
“That was a piss-poor performance,” Richardson said after the loss. “It was terrible and not Temple basketball at all. It’s got to be fixed.”
Richardson’s passionate words came after the Owls shot 32.1% from the field, including 5-for-23 in three-pointers, and were out-rebounded, 39-31. Temple was outscored, 21-12, in the final quarter, and its late-game execution ultimately cost the Owls a chance at a victory.
Temple trailed 65-58 with 22 seconds remaining. Tulane guard Shiloh Kimpson was at the free-throw line for two shots. The next 22 seconds saw Temple fail to get out of its own way.
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Kimpson missed both free throws, but the Green Wave got the offensive rebound and made their next two attempts. Then, guard Tristen Taylor got a five-second call on an inbounds pass, Temple surrendered another offensive rebound from a missed free throw and then missed two free throws of its own.
The performance caused Richardson’s frustrations to fully boil over, after previous poor showings.
“No pride. No pride in going after the ball,” Richardson said. “They wanted it more than we did and the 50/50 balls killed us. They went after them and we did not. We can’t sit back and let any team come into the Liacouras Center and do what they did to us. It is unacceptable.”
Before the season, Richardson envisioned her team playing fast, getting to the basket in transition, and most importantly, playing as a team. However, that version has been absent.
The Owls have struggled with starting slow on offense, and while that wasn’t the case against Tulane, it was a major issue against Drexel in the Big 5 Classic and UTSA. Temple scored just 52 points in a seven-point loss to Drexel on Dec. 7, and Richardson mentioned her team’s lack of urgency.
Less than a month later, the same issue occurred against the Roadrunners on Jan. 3, and Richardson expressed more concern about the type of basketball her team was playing. Temple lost 50-47 and was largely uncompetitive until the fourth quarter.
“I don’t think we played hard enough,” Richardson said following Temple’s loss to UTSA. “I think we waited until the fourth quarter to play Temple basketball. We can not go through the conference like that, and that’s going to be a reality. It’s got to change.”
Over three games since Temple’s loss to UTSA, little has changed.
The Owls split road games with a win against Wichita State and a loss to Tulsa before returning home to face a similarly struggling Tulane team. Instead of bouncing back, Temple hit a new low.
Temple briefly took the lead in the third quarter before they collapsed in the final 10 minutes. The lack of urgency was clear. The Owls took their foot off the gas, while the Green Wave scored the last five points of the quarter to regain control.
Temple attempted to turn to the three-point line to recover in the fourth, which Richardson did not want to see happen. The Owls went 1-for-9 in three-pointers in the final frame.
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“I thought we took quick shots in threes and we kept saying get to the rim,” Richardson said. “But again, that selfishness came back and they just wanted to shoot threes. You can’t expect the ball to go in when you’re shooting 21% and just keep trying.”
Richardson also called out her team for a lack of accountability, as she saw them attempt to shift blame after a mistake.
“We have to play harder and each person has to step up and do what their job is and not look around for somebody else to do it,” Richardson said. “Today, we kind of sat back and looked around to see who else was going to do something, or it wasn’t my fault because she didn’t do this. That is not playing together, and we have to play together in this conference.”
The Owls’ 1-3 American record is their worst four-game start in conference play since the 2018-19 season. The road ahead is no easy task to get back on track.
Three of Temple’s next four games will be against the top three teams in the American: East Carolina, South Florida, and Rice. Richardson has not seen her team play its brand of basketball, but she said, it has to change to remain competitive.
“Again, we have to play Temple basketball: the confidence, the grit, and the resilience. The ‘I’m going to throw my body on the line to get these 50/50 balls. I’m going to box out and get rebounds,’” she added. “We need them to take that on personally and not look to someone else to do it.”