The 2020–21 Temple Owls men's basketball team represented Temple University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Owls, led by second-year head coach Aaron McKie, play their home games at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia as a member of the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 5–11 and 4–10 in AAC Play, and finished in 9th place. They lost in the first round of the AAC tournament to South Florida.

Previous season The Owls finished the 2019–20 season 14–17, 6–12 in AAC play to finish in tenth place. They entered as the No. 10 seed in the AAC tournament, which was ultimately cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Offseason

Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure Alani Moore 0 G 5'10" 170 Washington, D.C. Graduated Quinton Rose 1 G 6'8" 195 Rochester, New York Graduated Monty Scott 2 G 6'5" 185 Union, New Jersey Graduated, transferred to Portland State Josh Pierre-Louis 3 G 6'3" 180 Plainfield, New Jersey Transferred to UC Santa Barbara Nate Pierre-Louis 15 G 6'4" 170 Plainfield, New Jersey Play professionally Justyn Hamilton 21 F 6'10" 190 Charlotte, North Carolina Transferred to Kent State Anto Keshgegian 32 G 6'3" 185 Media, Pennsylvania Walk-on; graduated Damion Moore 44 C 6'11" 255 Vaughn, Mississippi Graduated

Incoming transfers Name Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous school Khalif Battle G 6'5" 175 Edison, New Jersey Transferred from Butler. Battle was granted a waiver for immediate eligibility. Had three years of remaining eligibility. Sage Tolbert F 6'8" 210 Richmond, Texas Transferred from Southeast Missouri State. Under NCAA transfer rules, Tolbert had to sit out the 2020–21 season. Had two years of remaining eligibility. Brendan Barry G 6'2" 180 Fair Haven, New Jersey Transferred from Dartmouth after graduating. Had one year of eligibility beginning immediately. Colin Daly G 6'4" 185 Havertown, Pennsylvania Walk-on; transferred from West Chester.

2020 recruiting class

2021 recruiting class

Preseason AAC preseason media poll

On October 28, the American released the preseason poll and other preseason awards.

Coaches Poll 1 Houston 99 (2) 2 Memphis 90 (2) 3 SMU 80 4 Cincinnati 77 5 South Florida 61 6 Tulsa 50 7 Wichita State 44 8 UCF 37 9 East Carolina 34 10 Temple 18 11 Tulane 15

Roster

Schedule and results COVID-19 impact

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Owls' schedule was subject to change, including the cancellation or postponement of individual games, the cancellation of the entire season, or games played either with minimal fans or without fans in attendance and just essential personnel.

On November 26, Temple paused activities following positive COVID-19 tests within their program for 14 days. This resulted in the cancellation of participation in the Hall of Fame Tip Off (alongside Rhode Island and Virginia Tech) as well as games against La Salle, Villanova, and Saint Joseph's. The games at Cincinnati, scheduled for February 4, were moved to Philadelphia. The game at East Carolina, rescheduled for February 11, was moved to Philadelphia. The game vs. Cincinnati, rescheduled for February 12, was moved to Cincinnati. The game at South Florida, rescheduled to February 21, was moved to Philadelphia. The game vs. South Florida, scheduled for February 24, was moved to Tampa.

Schedule

!colspan=12 style=| Regular season

!colspan=12 style=| AAC tournament

Awards and honors American Athletic Conference honors All-AAC Awards Sportsmanship Award: J.P. Moorman II

All-AAC Third Team Khalif Battle

All-AAC Freshman Team Damian Dunn

Source

References