GAME NOTES: The Temple Owls will put a four-game win streak on the line as they play host to the UCF Knights in an American Athletic Conference battle at the Liacouras Center on Sunday.

Temple enters the game with a 10-4 record on the season, and is a perfect 7-0 at home. The Owls have won four in a row, with a 57-53 overtime victory over defending national champion UConn being the most recent, and have won six of their last seven overall.

UCF saw a two-game win streak come to an end against Tulsa in the team's latest outing with a tight 56-54 defeat at the hands of the Golden Hurricane. The Knights have dropped four of their last six games and are 7-5 entering this clash n Philadelphia.

These two new AAC rivals met for the first time on the basketball court last season. In three head-to-head matches a year ago, the Knights took two of them, including a double-overtime matchup in the AAC Tournament.

Neither UCF nor Tulsa was on point offensively in the last outing, but it was the Golden Hurricane who came away with the narrow two-point victory after holding on to a lead down the stretch. UCF shot 38.8 percent from the floor, and held Tulsa to just 2-of-15 shooting from 3-point range in the loss. Adonys Henriquez scored 17 points to pace the Knights in the loss, while Justin McBride came off the bench to tally a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.

UCF fell well short of its scoring average on Wednesday against the Golden Hurricane. The Knights enter this matchup against Temple netting 66.2 ppg on 44.7 percent shooting from the floor. But scoring defense hasn't been a strength of UCF this season, as the Knights allow 68.0 ppg to opponents coming in. Freshman sensation B.J. Taylor leads UCF in scoring on the season, contributing 13.5 ppg in 10 games on the floor. Henriquez is the only other UCF player to average a double-digit scoring total at 11.8 ppg. Brandon Goodwin (45 assists) tops the squad in passing, and Staphon Blair (4.3 rpg) adds a team-best mark in rebounding.

Temple has defeated some big-name opponents in two of its last three games, having taken down then-No. 10 Kansas (77-52) just before the Christmas break, and now UConn (57-53 OT) on New Year's Eve. The Owls will hope for a better offensive performance than 31.6 percent shooting from the floor, which is where the team finished against the Huskies. Jesse Morgan topped the Owls in scoring in the contest with 17 points, and Quenton DeCosey chipped in with 11 points, largely thanks to 9-of-14 shooting from the free-throw line.

Temple's offense hasn't been spectacular this season at 64.7 ppg, but the team has been able to get the job done with a strong effort of the defensive end of the floor, limiting opponents to 60.9 ppg this season. Morgan tops the Owls in scoring average, netting 16.3 ppg in just four games played. DeCosey, on the other hand, has participated in all 14 games for the Owls, and owns a 14.2 ppg mark, followed closely by Will Cummings and his 13.7 ppg. Cummings averages a team-best 4.1 apg, and Jaylen Bond's 7.5 rpg is the highest on the team in the category.

It seems Temple steps up to the occasion frequently, and although UCF isn't as feared a program as Kansas or UConn, the Knights are certainly no pushovers. At home, the Owls have done a stellar job of establishing a lead early and maintaining it throughout. They'll need to do the same Sunday against the Knights.