GAME NOTES: The Temple Owls hope to snap their three-game losing streak in American Athletic Conference play Thursday when they host the equally-reeling South Florida Bulls at Liacouras Center.

These teams have only met three times and split last year's home-and-home.

Temple's latest loss was its most lopsided, as Cincinnati pulled away in the second half en route to an 84-53 drubbing. The Owls squandered second-half leads to Tulsa and SMU prior to the meeting with Cincinnati, which shot a scorching 76.9 percent from the field and 7-of-10 from 3-point range over the final 20 minutes.

Jesse Morgan and Obi Enechionyia totaled 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Owls, who were outscored in the paint 34-18 and outrebounded 36-22. Starting point guard Will Cummings missed the game due to a nagging strained muscle in his lower left leg.

The recent struggles come on the heels of a six-game winning streak that had Temple thinking about an NCAA Tournament berth. Now, at 12-7 overall and 3-3 in conference play, they need to step it up.

Despite the collapse against Cincinnati, Temple is usually able to lock down on the defensive end to the tune of 62.8 ppg allowed on only 39.4 percent shooting. Its offense is mustering just 64.1 ppg, led by Quenton DeCosey's 13.4 ppg. Cummings and Morgan are both just under 13 ppg, while Jaylen Bond is putting up 8.5.

Like Temple, USF has dropped three straight, with AAC-leader Tulsa handing the Bulls a 75-58 defeat on their home floor last Saturday. Nehemias Morillo led USF with 15 points, but Tulsa cruised to its seventh straight win to stay unbeaten in conference play.

Bulls leading scorer Corey Allen Jr. (14.8 ppg) was hampered by a calf injury and finished with only two points in 23 minutes.

Chris Perry is second on the team in scoring with 11.3 ppg and first in rebounding with 7.3 rpg. The Bulls rank near the bottom of the league in both scoring offense (64.8 ppg) and scoring defense (69.1 ppg), putting them in the red for scoring margin. USF is also last in 3-point field goal percent defense (.377). The Bulls are, however, near the top of the conference in field goal percentage (.449).

A win in this one would provide some much-needed confidence for either team. The Bulls have yet to hit the 60-point mark in AAC play, and while the Owls have been just as ineffective, they should have enough to pull out a victory.