Not that long ago, Memphis was ranked and looked like it could be a force in the NCAA Tournament. However, the Tigers have struggled for a couple of weeks and have landed squarely on the Big Dance bubble. They can’t afford a loss Thursday at AAC bottom-feeder Temple, and the Tigers are solid favorites on the NCAAB odds. 2024 NCAA Basketball Betting & Expert Analysis Memphis vs Temple | MyBookie Sportsbook Week 14 NCAAB

How to Bet Memphis at Temple NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info

When: Thursday, 7 PM ET
Where: Liacouras Center, Philadelphia
TV: ESPN2
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NCAAB Lines: Memphis -3 (total 78)

Memphis vs Temple Last Meeting

This is the only scheduled meeting this season between the teams, although they could meet in the AAC Tournament. Last year, Memphis won both – including by a score of 61-59 at Temple. DeAndre Williams scored 20 points and Kendric Davis hit the game-winning jump shot with one second remaining. Both those guys are gone now. Davis scored 16 second-half points for Memphis to help set up his game-winning shot. Damian Dunn led the way for the Owls) with 23 points. He’s gone as well. Memphis has won five straight in the series and has held the Owls to 65 or fewer points three times in that span without allowing more than 77. The Tigers lead all-time 14-1.

Why Bet on Memphis Tigers?

What has happened to Penny Hardaway’s Tigers? On Jan. 14, they won 112-86 at Wichita State to improve to 15-2 overall and 4-0 in AAC play. Memphis was ranked 10th in the nation. However, the Tigers followed with a brutal four-game skid and at least snapped out of it on Saturday with a 65-63 win over Wichita State on a David Jones game-winner with 2.3 seconds left.

Wichita State held a 14-point lead with less than 10:00 minutes to go in the game, but a furious Memphis rally resulted in a heartbreaking loss. The Tigers finished on a 25-9 run. WSU committed just five turnovers and attempted eight more free throws. Wichita State’s misses at the free throw line were costly. They went 1-for-4 to finish the game. Memphis outrebounded Wichita State by 12, its largest margin of the season, including 17 offensive rebounds.

Jahvon Quinerly‘s clutch 3-pointer with 44 seconds left gave the Tigers their first lead of the day but it was a midrange pull-up jumper from Jones with 2.8 seconds remaining that sealed the victory. Jones spearheaded the comeback with 16 of his game-high 26 points during the run. He put up 11 straight points for the Tigers to bring them within two points with a minute left to play.

Following a defensive stop and a rebound from Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway drew up the perfect play to put the ball in Quinerly’s hands for the go-ahead triple, despite the fifth-year point guard going 0-for-12 from the floor until that moment. It was his only points of the day. On the ensuing possession, the Tigers were whistled for a foul on the rebound and Ronnie DeGray III sank just 1-of-2 at the stripe to tie the game at 63 and set the stage for Jones’ game-winner on the other end.

“You saw a top-10 team in the country in the last eight minutes. That’s who we were early on, and we haven’t been able to kinda regain that since Caleb (Mills) got hurt,” Hardaway said. “Obviously, we wish we would’ve come out and blown (Wichita State) out right away . . . but the last eight minutes is good enough for me.”

Jones enters Thursday as the nation’s fifth-leading scorer at 21.8 points per game. He’s led the team in scoring 18 times this season and has a league-high 13 games of 20-plus points. Jones is first in the conference in scoring, second in three-pointers made (53), fourth in steals per game (2.0) and ninth in rebounding (6.8) and free throw percentage (82.1).

Tomlin drew his second start of the season and finished in double figures with 10 points, six boards and two blocks. He played a season high 32 minutes while shooting 5-of-11 from the field. Malcolm Dandridge was huge with 11 points, a team-high seven rebounds and two blocks. He’s scored double figures in a career-best four consecutive games. Dandridge is shooting 65% from the field in AAC play (39-of-60), which ranks 2nd in the leagues. The big man is averaging 11.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and 1.2 steals against conference opponents.

Memphis’ 37.5 field goal percentage on Saturday was its second-lowest mark of the season. The win marked the first for the Tigers when shooting 37.5 percent or lower from the field since beating Houston (60-59) on Feb. 22, 2020. The Tigers are just 4-15 when shooting 37.5 percent or lower in six seasons under Hardaway.

Why Bet on Temple Owls?

Temple (8-14, 1-8 AAC) has been hit hard by injury this year and played without a couple of guys Sunday in losing a seventh straight game, 92-80 in overtime at Tulane. Things looked bleak for Temple as a 13-2 run for Tulane surged the Green Wave to a 68-59 advantage with 3:32 left. The Owls came back, closing regulation on a 17-8 run, the last on a triple by Hysier Miller with seven seconds remaining. In OT, Tulane flipped momentum back in its favor by outscoring Temple 16-4.

The charity stripe provided a major impact in the contest for the Wave as they shot 88.6 percent, 31-of-35, from the free throw line in the game including 24 consecutive makes to end the game. Tulane put the game away at the free-throw line stripe by shooting a perfect 8-for-8 in overtime. As a team, the Wave shot 54.7 percent from the field. The high shooting percentage was possible because Tulane attacked the rim against the Owls scoring 48 points in the paint.

Jahlil White had one of his best games with 21 points and 15 rebounds. It was his fourth double-double of the season and the eighth of his career. He also added four assists and three steals. Jordan Riley scored a career-high 23 in the contest with six boards. It is the first time two players scored 20+ points in the same game for the Owls since January 18, 2023 against East Carolina. Temple as a team has had six double-doubles in just 22 games so far. The Owls only recorded six such games in 2022-23 and just nine in the last two years combined.

After scoring 12 points, Steve Settle III is just 13 points away from the 1,000 mark in his career. Sunday was just the fifth time in the 128-year history of Temple men’s basketball that the Owls played consecutive overtime games. The five overtime periods TU has played this season is tied for the third most in a year, only trailing seven in 1996-97 (six overtime games).

In league play, the Owls’ scoring margin of minus-2.8 ranks 13th out of 14 teams. Their 37.8% field goal percentage is worst in the conference. They are being out-rebounded by an average of 2.3 per game — only Tulane has been worse. The Owls take care of the ball pretty well (43rd in turnover percentage) and they are forcing 13.1 per game.

Temple has had just five games this season with all of its players available and is 3-2 in those. Temple’s last victory in this series came Jan. 24, 2019 in Philly (85-76).

Memphis vs Temple Expert Prediction

Memphis 78, Temple 71

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