Maryland basketball to face Temple in Advocare Invitational

Maryland basketball will face Temple in the opening round of the 2019 Advocare Invitational in Orlando, as first reported by Jon Rothstein and confirmed by the program Thursday afternoon.

The tournament runs from Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving Day) to Dec. 1, and the Terps and Owls will tip off at 11 a.m. ET on ESPN2 on the holiday, per the program’s press release. The winner will move on to face Texas A&M or Harvard in the semifinal. USC-Fairfield and Marquette-Davidson round out the opening-round matchups.

Rothstein reported earlier this week Maryland will host Fairfield; this is an extension of the tournament but not part of the bracket.

Maryland trails the all-time series against Temple 5-4, including three straight losses, the last of which came in January 2012 in Philadelphia. The teams almost matched up in the NCAA Tournament this spring, but the Owls fell to Belmont in the play-in game.

Temple replaced head coach Fran Dunphy with Aaron McKie this offseason, and lost leading scorer Shizz Alston Jr. and top rebounder Ernest Aflakpui to graduation. But the Owls do return forward Quinton Rose (16.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.2 steals) and Co-AAC Most Improved Player Nate Pierre-Louis.

The Maryland-Temple winner will play in the first semifinal Friday, Nov. 29, at 11:30 a.m. ET, while the loser plays a consolation game at 1:30 or 2 p.m. The tournament is off Saturday, with the final Sunday, Dec. 1, at 1 p.m. and third- and fifth-place games later in the evening.

With the invitational and Fairfield matchup filling four of the Terps’ 11 nonconference games, Mark Turgeon only has two spots left to fill. Maryland’s current nonconference slate includes a visit to Seton Hall (another team earning top-15 preseason hype); an ACC/Big Ten Challenge meeting with Notre Dame; and home games against George Mason, Rhode Island and Bryant.