Temple begins its NCAA tournament Friday night when it takes on South Florida in the Midwest Regional.
The Owls, the five seed in the Midwest, got in the tournament with an at-large bid after winning the Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season title. USF won the play-in game against Cal Wednesday to earn the 12 seed here and they are dangerous.
The game is being played at Bridgestone Arena, which makes it technically a neutral site match.
The Owls are 24-7 so far on the season, and 17-14 ATS vs. the number. The Bulls, meanwhile, are 21-13 and 17-14 ATS. OVER/UNDER bettors have seen Temple go 18-12-1 and the Bulls go 9-22 on the totals.
View South Florida vs Temple Odds and Stats.
Power Rankings / Prediction:
The Power Rankings at Odds Shark show No. 57-rated South Florida taking on the No. 74-rated Owls in this contest. The scores prediction computer here indicates a possible 72-68 win for the Owls on Friday.
How They Match Up:
The game also pits Temple's No. 30-ranked offense, averaging 76 PPG, against a Bulls defense that ranks No. 7 at 56.8 PPG. The Owls field goal percentage has averaged 47.2% so far, more than the Bulls marksmen have achieved on the year, 44% per game.
Comparing how these foes stack up statistically, South Florida owns the country's No. 7-rated mark, allowing 58 points per game on the highway. Temple, on the other hand, rates No. 27 in scoring at home.
South Florida won its last outing, a 65-54 result against California on March 14. They covered in that game as a 3.5-point underdog. The Bulls got 15 points from Victor Rudd Jr. as South Florida ran past California 65-54 on Wednesday at Dayton Arena.
Temple was a 77-71 loser in their most recent outing at home against Massachusetts. They failed to cover the 7.5-point spread as favorites. Khalif Wyatt scored 15 points in a futile effort to lead the Owls to a win (they lost 77-71 to Massachusetts at Boardwalk Hall on Friday).
