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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bill Self wished his team got to more loose balls and didn't commit as many turnovers.
But even if Kansas had made fewer mistakes, the Jayhawks head coach isn't sure it would have made any kind of difference.
Led by 19 points from Will Cummings and 18 from Quenton DeCosey, Temple stunned Kansas with a 77-52 rout Monday night that snapped the Jayhawks' eight-game winning streak.
Jesse Morgan added 17 points and keyed a dominant second-half performance from the Owls, who were swallowed up after the game by a sea of Temple fans rushing the court at the Wells Fargo Center, home of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers.
"They were so much better than us," Self said. "It wouldn't have mattered how much energy we had. They were far superior tonight."
Frank Mason III scored a game-high 20 points for Kansas (9-2), which shot 32.1 percent from the field and committed 17 turnovers.
No one else on the Jayhawks hit double figures and leading scorer Perry Ellis, a 6-foot-8 forward, was held to five points on 1-for-10 shooting.
"We had no inside presence," Self said. "Our best option would have been to throw it inside every time. But we didn't have anyone that was scoring the ball."
Temple (8-4), meanwhile, was practically scoring the ball at will. The Owls, who have won four of their last five, shot a blistering 58.3 percent from the field, including a 69.2 percent clip in the second half.
"I think we played about as well as we possibly could have," Dunphy said. "It was our night."
Plagued by turnovers and poor shot selection, the Jayhawks never led. They cut a 10-point deficit to six after halftime, but the Owls went on a 26-9 run to build a 61-38 lead midway through the second half.
The stunning spurt was capped by back-to-back 3-pointers and a three-point play from Morgan, who made his second appearance for the Owls after transferring from UMass and sitting out the first semester due to NCAA eligibility rules.
The Owls have won two straight and outscored their opponents by an average of 22.5 points since Morgan and fellow transfer Devin Coleman (Clemson) made their Temple debuts.
Coleman added five points and hit a reverse layup to put Temple ahead by 25 with 7 minutes left.
"We played tired," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "And we played like we were a half step slow or even a full step slow in my eyes."
After the game, Self said he was "very impressed" watching Temple's guards drive through the lane almost at will and make a flurry of very tough baskets. But the Kansas coach was mostly disappointed his team couldn't combat that by executing its own offense.
Kansas struggled right from the opening tip, missing nine of its first 10 shots to fall behind 12-2 about 7 minutes into the game. Things didn't get much better for the Jayhawks the rest of the first half, either.
After a few Temple played jumped on the floor to corral a loose ball, Texas transfer Jaylen Bond electrified the crowd with a one-handed slam that put the Owls ahead 22-10 with 9:46 left.
The Owls led by as many as 14 before two 3-pointers by Mason in the final minute cut Temple's lead to 35-25 at halftime.
"When you don't have guys who can break you off the bounce like Temple does, you've got to run stuff," Self said. "And when you run stuff, you've got to execute. And we didn't do that. We didn't run stuff, we didn't execute, and we were careless with the ball."
Despite their eight-game winning streak, the Jayhawks have now been hammered twice this season, having dropped a 72-40 decision to No. 1 Kentucky back in November. But Self doesn't believe those two blowout losses are too much to worry about as his team gets ready for conference play.
"We have to get back to work," the Kansas coach said. "We haven't had a terrible non-conference thus far. We're 9-2 and we've played as good of a schedule as anybody. We had two bad performances and everything else was OK."
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TIP-INS
Kansas: The Jayhawks had their three-game winning streak against Temple snapped. They still lead the overall series, 8-4. . The Jayhawks committed 13 turnovers in the first half alone, matching their season average for a single game.
Temple: For the fourth straight time they've played at the Wells Fargo Center, the Owls took the subway to the game from their North Philadelphia campus. . The Owls hit 12 free throws in the first half, while the Jayhawks didn't make any.
DEFENDING ELLIS
Self gave credit to Temple's low-post defense setting the tone, commending the Owls for "shrinking the floor" and "being so active blocking shots."
Dunphy agreed with that assessment and specifically praised Bond for taking Ellis out of the game early with smothering interior defense.
"I thought Ellis has a couple of shots at the rim that normally he'd make — it was just one of those nights for him," Dunphy said. "But, for the most part, Jaylen Bond was a terrific defender tonight. "
UP NEXT
Kansas hosts Kent State next Tuesday.
Temple hosts Delaware State on Sunday.
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