Temple needs two shooters to get back on target

With three games left in the regular season, two of Temple's top scorers have gone into a shooting funk.

For the Owls to win their remaining games and keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive, senior Jesse Morgan and junior Quenton DeCosey will need to start hitting shots again.

DeCosey is second on the team in scoring (12.1 points per game) and Morgan is right behind him (12.0). Both have hit numerous big shots this season, but they haven't done much lately.

In his last six games, DeCosey shot 14 for 52 (26.9 percent). Morgan was 21 for 66 (31.8 percent) in his last seven games.

The Owls (19-9 overall, 10-5 American Athletic Conference) will host Houston (9-17, 1-13) at 7 p.m. Thursday in an AAC game at the Liacouras Center.

"Jesse had a great day shooting the ball today," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said after the Owls practiced Wednesday. ". . . He has to be shot-ready, that is what he does. He is a jump shooter."

About DeCosey, Dunphy said, "And we need Q too. They are really good basketball players. It is money time."

It certainly is, especially after losing road games to the AAC's top two teams, SMU and Tulsa. In the Tulsa game, Morgan and DeCosey shot a combined 2 for 14.

"We can't dwell on games we shoot badly or that we lose or win," Morgan said. "We have to focus on the next game, which is Houston, and do everything we need to do to pull out a win."

DeCosey and Morgan have been a big part of the Owls' success and are second and third in three-point shooting at .360 and .353, respectively.

In a 55-39 loss Sunday at Tulsa, the winning Golden Hurricane sat back in a zone and dared the Owls to shoot. No doubt Houston, which is ninth in the 11-team AAC in scoring defense, allowing 66.9 points per game, will employ that tactic.

The Owls shot 14 for 57 from the field, 1 of 14 from beyond the arc, and 10 of 24 from the foul line Sunday. But they seem to have put the game behind them.

Leading scorer and point guard Will Cummings has a simple solution.

"Keep shooting, that is all you can do," Cummings said. "You don't want to lose your aggressiveness or confidence."