Temple vs Wichita State Prediction 1-3-25 College Basketball Picks

The Wichita State Shockers and the Temple Owls meet Friday in college basketball action from Liacouras Center. Here’s a Temple vs Wichita State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Temple vs Wichita State pick.

Wichita State Shockers Betting Preview

Wichita State opened up their year on a good run, winning their first six games. Those victories came versus Western Kentucky, Montana State, Northern Iowa, Monmouth, Saint Louis, and Minnesota. The Shockers would hit a 2-3 skid after that, taking wins over Alcorn State and East Tennessee State with losses otherwise to Florida, DePaul, and Kansas City. Since then, it’s been a pair of victories for Wichita State over Kansas State and Friends University, though.

In the Sunday game versus Friends U, the Shockers went into the break with a 45-36 edge. Wichita State kept it going in the second with a 42-36 advantage, resulting in an 87-72 victory in the end. Leading the team in scoring (by far) was Xavier Bell with 29 points, four rebounds, and five turnovers. Quincy Ballard doubled up on 17 points and 16 rebounds, while Corey Washington came off the bench to provide 16 points and seven rebounds, with three steals.

Temple Owls Betting Preview

Over on the Temple side, they similarly started well with three straight wins over Sacred Heart, Monmouth, and Drexel. The Owls would hit a 1-4 run in the next five games, though, beating UMass with losses to Boston College, Florida State, La Salle, and Villanova in that time. It’s been a 4-1 run since then, however, with a lone loss to Rhode Island. Otherwise, the Owls have dispatched Holy Family University, Hofstra, Davidson, and Buffalo for an 8-5 season record.

Matched up against Buffalo on Sunday, the Owls were in good shape at the break and sporting a 39-29 edge. Temple didn’t let up after halftime on a 52-42 stretch, leading to a 91-71 blowout win. Jamal Mashburn Jr. topped the team with 18 points, two rebounds, and one assist. Both Zion Stanford (three rebounds; three assists) and Quante Berry (three assists; four steals) scored 15 points off the bench, and Steve Settle doubled up on 13 points and 11 boards.

Why the Temple Owls will win

• Temple has won each of its last five games at Liacouras Center.
• Temple has won the first half in four of its last five games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Why the Wichita State Shockers will win

• Wichita State has won eight of its last nine night games.
• Temple has lost seven of its last eight games against the American Athletic Conference at Liacouras Center.
• Temple has lost the first half in 14 of its last 16 games against the American Athletic Conference.

Temple vs Wichita State Prediction

I may take a stab at Temple here. The Owls played a pretty solid game versus a middling Buffalo team in their last outing, getting a nice team effort in the process. Temple shot an excellent 52.6 percent from the field with a 44-30 rebounding advantage, but there’s still plenty to clean up. The Owls went just 23-of-35 (65.7 percent) from the line and had 16 turnovers for 15 Bulls points.

During this 4-1 run, the Owls have had a couple of scoring duds (62 points versus Davidson and 60 versus Hofstra—both wins) however they’ve scored 79 or more points in the other three games during that time. I’d like to see Temple get to the 70-point mark in this one if at all possible.

As for Wichita State, they didn’t have too many issues with Friends University in their last outing, but it wasn’t quite the blowout that you’d expect against an overmatched foe. The Shockers shot a nice 51.7 percent from the field with a 44-32 rebounding edge but also coughed up 18 turnovers for 20 Friends points in a sloppy overall effort. The 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) from 3-point range and 19-of-25 (76 percent) from the line helped make up the gap, though.

The Shockers have scored a combined 171 points in their last two games (both wins) and they’ve hit 72 or more in five of their last six overall (a 4-2 run). Temple is likely going to have to push hard on offense in order to cover here. I think the Owls pull it off, though. It’s going to be a close one regardless, however. This one feels like more of a coin flip than anything else (and that’s reflected in the tight line). A Temple victory seems slightly more likely to me, but you wouldn’t be crazy about taking Wichita State either. It’ll be a fun one to watch in any event.