Temple Owls Basketball

The Temple Owls men’s basketball team has long punched above its weight at both conference and national levels, qualifying for the NCAA March Madness postseason basketball tournament on 33 occasions with 7 appearances in the Sweet 16 and (confusingly!) 8 appearances in the Elite 8 (a mathematical oddity due to different tournament structures in past tournaments). The team has even appeared twice in the Final Four, albeit prior to 1960. Legendary coach John Chaney, who led the Owls from 1982 to 2006, pushed hard for a larger and more modern basketball facility at Temple for many years and got his wish in 1997 with the completion of the Liacouras Center. With a capacity over 10,000, this new home arena for the Owls began to attract higher profile opponents, thus improving competition and exposure for the Temple Owls basketball teams, as Chaney had hoped. Nevertheless, the team has continued to find more success at the conference level than on the national stage, bowing out in the first or second round ever since their last run to the Elite 8 in 2001. In recent years, the Owls have struggled to even get into March Madness, with their last full appearance coming in 2016 (they did make the First Four in 2019, but were eliminated before the tournament proper). Owls fans will be hoping that there team can turn things around in 2024 and get their team back up and flying once more.

How can I get cheap tickets to Temple Owls games?

The popularity of the Temple Owls basketball team has made tickets to their home games very much in demand on campus and around Philadelphia. With Liacouras Center being at best a mid-size venue by NCAA standards, Owls games often sell out months in advance, making it very difficult to get a hold of tickets, particularly for postseason tournament games, key conference deciders, or rivalry matchups (see below). To find the cheapest tickets to Temple Owls games, search the TicketX listings on this page and use our helpful TicketX seating chart to compare prices and locations. You can buy tickets from TicketX with just one click for the lowest commission fees! 

Temple Owls Rivalries

The Temple Owls are part of the Big 5 of Philadelphia (along with Villanova, Penn, Saint Joseph's, and La Salle), an unofficial competition based on the results of the five largest colleges in the city playing one another. The competition has generated a strong rivalry with the Villanova Wildcats, with the two teams even on 27 Big 5 titles apiece. The two teams actually split the title in 2023, as they both finished on 3-1 records against Big 5 opponents. The Owls also have rivalries with the UConn Huskies, Cincinnati Bearcats, and UMass Minutemen.

Are Temple Owls basketball games exciting?

Owls fans are a passionate bunch, led by the Cherry Crusade fans section, who occupy the front rows in games clad in cherry red and white. Against local Big 5 opponents, the fans will unfurl banners that poke fun at the other team. When packed to the rafters for home games, the Liacouras Center really gets rocking; a visit to an Owls will be an experience that you will not soon forget!