No. 5 Maryland Men's Basketball vs Temple Prediction, Preview
Mark Turgeon and his Maryland Terrapins are the No. 5 men's college basketball team in the country. They have won all five of their games by at least 18 points. Their Thanksgiving day matchup with the Temple Owls will be their first away game of the season.
Though the praise for the Terrapins is well deserved, the Owls have been really good too. They are one of two teams in the AAC to have an undefeated record at 4-0. Head coach Aaron McKie has Temple off to one of their best starts of the season in their program's history.
The Owls are led by junior guard Nate Pierre-Louis. He leads the team averaging 15.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 3.5 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game. Not many players in basketball can say they are the leaders in all of those categories. His average of 3.5 steals is ranked third in the nation. He is arguably the most underrated player in college basketball.
Aside from him, senior guard Quinton Rose is second on the team averaging 15 points per game. He is dangerous from behind the arc, making 40 percent of his attempts. Temple has a lot of quality players that are the reason to their undefeated start.
The Terrapins are known for their toughness on the defense, which will makes this matchup the biggest challenge yet for the Owls. They are led by sophomore forward Jalen "Stix" Smith and he is a projected lottery pick in next year's NBA Draft.
Expect the Terrapins to start slow in this basketball game, as the Owls have forced 11.3 steals per game. The biggest issue with the Owls is their field goal conversion as they made only 39.1 percent of their shots, compared to the Terrapins' 46.1 percent. An upset remains a possibility but Temple's inconsistency on the offense will have Maryland dominating in the end.
