Richmond 79, Temple 53. The Spiders scored the first 14 points in a building Temple hadn't played in for four years, on the night it turned 100. One week after a 17-0 start, the Owls had as many turnovers as made field goals.
The Palestra turned 100 on Sunday. Temple's gift to it was a 79-53 loss to Richmond, a game that was over before Temple scored. The Spiders put up the first 14 points. Temple's first point came on a Jordan Marsh free throw with 14:02 left in the first half. By then, in a mostly-empty building, everybody already knew.
This is the part that should worry Temple fans more than the score. A week ago the Owls opened the season with a 17-0 run against Central Connecticut State. On Sunday they were on the other end of the blitz. Same team, same coach, same week. One night you're the team that can't miss. The next you're the team that can't score. That is not a bad game. That is a team that does not know what it is yet.
Temple finished with 16 turnovers and 16 made field goals. The same number. Richmond shot better than 50 percent from the floor for the third straight game, and Jamie Kaiser Jr. led the Spiders with 16 points. Temple trailed 37-23 at halftime and lost the second half by 12 more. There was no run. There was no adjustment that took. There was a 14-0 hole and then a slow walk to 26 points down. By the last 10 minutes, the scanty crowd that was there was booing at every timeout.
The setting makes it worse, and Temple knew that going in. The Owls had not played at the Palestra in four years. The centennial game was supposed to be the celebration, the building's 100th birthday and Temple back in it. Richmond has not lost to Temple since January 30, 2013, and Sunday did nothing to change that. Thirteen years, and the Spiders still own the matchup.
Charleston comes to the Liacouras Center on Wednesday at 6:30 PM, 2-0, and Adam Fisher himself called them an NCAA tournament-caliber team. Then the Big 5 opener, Sunday at La Salle. The Owls are 1-1 and the next two games decide which version of this team is real: the one that opened the season 17-0, or the one that went down 14-0 in the Palestra's birthday game. Both of them are Temple right now, and that is the problem.
A centennial game in the Palestra should be a night you remember. Temple made it a night you want to forget. The building turned 100 and the Owls gave it a 26-point loss in front of a mostly-empty house. Wednesday is the flush. Sunday is the test. And if the Owls are the team from Sunday, neither game is going to be close.
Halftime was 54-31. Final was 97-93. Penn State set a program free-throw record at 43 of 49 and still watched Anigbata's three cut it to one possession with under a second left. Credit the free throws. Do not hide the second half. Pitt is next.
Burton was the purchase: 42.5 percent on 76 threes at Stephen F. Austin. He led La Salle with 15 points and four threes in the Houston opener. Volume is not a clinic. Homecoming against LIU is where the bet has to look real at home.
Last year Temple beat George Mason in overtime. This year Turner goes for 21 with five threes on the road and the Owls lose by 20. Credit her night. Do not hide the boards or the score. Navy at home is the next read.
Seventeen points, 10 rebounds, five assists, all career bests, in 39 minutes. The Lady Lions still dropped the home opener by one. Both things count.
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