Temple Hoops Looking To Find Its Rhythm

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Temple Owls are enjoying a bit of a break from game action before they get back to work on Saturday with a home game against Delaware State.

The Owls are coming off a tough, Big 5 loss in overtime to St. Joseph's on Sunday, 66-65. The defeat dropped the Owls to 4-5 on the season.

"We've played some really good teams," Temple head coach Fran Dunphy tells KYW Newsradio. "That being said, we've been in position to win more games than we have. That's the disappointment piece. I do like our team, I like their work ethic, I like their competitive spirit, but we need to get better each and every day."

Listen: Fran Dunphy with KYW's Matt Leon

Temple really has played a challenging schedule so far, matching up with teams like North Carolina, Butler, Utah and Wisconsin already this season.

Defense is always a key on any Fran Dunphy coached team, and so far Temple is allowing 71.6 points per game. Opponents are shooting the ball at a 41% clip from the field.

"I think we want to be better than we are (defensively)," Dunphy says. "Our defensive numbers were good against St. Joe's the other day, but they have to be better. They weren't as good against Penn (on December 9th), in particular in the second half. So we need to play tremendous defense, not just good, we need to be great on the defensive end. We're working at that, we need more communication at it. We have to give up less offensive rebounds, although I'm not overly disappointed by that. I think the positives are that we're, again, very competitive, now we have to really take it personal when we get scored on."

When the Owls return to the court on Saturday, they will host a Delaware State team that has really struggled this season. The Hornets are 0-10 after a loss on Tuesday night to Grand Canyon.

"They are going to play a lot of guys," Dunphy says. "Almost 15 guys are getting into games. So we're going to absolutely see a lot of different things out of them on Saturday. As much as we're going to prepare for Delaware State over the next couple of days, we need to play our best basketball and do what's best for us and then hopefully we can start to really find our rhythm and find our form."

Saturday's game at the Liacouras Center will tip-off at 4:00pm.