Temple’s Fisher: Mashburn Jr.’s commitment to Owls is a home run

By AARON BRACY

April 22, 2024

Big5Hoops.com

Adam Fisher was known as a great recruiter when hired as Temple’s coach prior to last season, and Fisher made his first big splash in recruiting on Monday by receiving a commitment from Jamal Mashburn Jr.

Mashburn is transferring to Temple from New Mexico, where he played three seasons after starting his career at Minnesota. Not only are the Owls getting a great scorer, who has amassed 1,866 college points, they are getting a player with name recognition that certainly will bring a buzz to North Broad Street.

“We identified him early that he would be a great fit for how we’re trying to play,” Fisher told Big5Hoops.com on Monday afternoon. “When you can get a high-character person and be a great player like he is, it’s a home run.”

Mashburn averaged 17.3 points and shot 41 percent in three seasons at New Mexico, where he started every game over three seasons and helped the Lobos to the NCAA tournament this past season. New Mexico has won 48 games in the last two seasons.

“He’s a winner,” Fisher said.

Temple’s coach developed a relationship with Masburn while an assistant at Miami. Also helping the Owls was assistant coach Michael Huger’s relationship with Mashburn’s father, Jamal Mashburn, dating to their schoolboy days in New York City in the early ’90’s.

Jamal Mashburn, of course, played for 12 seasons in the NBA after earning the 1993 SEC Player of the Year and All-American honors at Kentucky.

“J’s made his own name and he’s created his own legacy in college basketball from what he’s done,” Fisher said.

There’s no doubt that his game and name will help draw other players to Temple.

“Good players want to play with other good players,” Fisher said. “That’s what excites us. We talked to all of our returners about him joining our program, and they were excited.

“Now, you start talking to him to recruits. It started right after he committed today. Players respect players’ games. And you see what he has done in his career. And he’s been really consistent. And he’s won.”

And Fisher has many holes to fill. Three key Owls from last season – Hysier Miller, Jordan Riley and Jahlil White – remain in the portal. All have the option of returning. Fisher and his staff now have the first piece to the puzzle for next season, and they are pressing forward.

“We’re attacking the transfer portal aggressively,” he said. “We’re trying to piece it together and find the best fits for our program, guys who fit academically, guys who fit on the court, and we’re hoping in the next coming weeks we start seeing that puzzle coming together more.”

Though the Owls finished 16-20 overall and 5-13 in the American Athletic Conference in Fisher’s first season, with struggles to be expected after their top four scorers from 2022-23 transferred, Temple galvanized fan support with its run to the AAC conference final. That helped create an influx of donations to Temple’s NIL collective, Temple’s TUFF Fund, which surely helped to land Mashburn.

“The run was great,” Fisher said. “The run really gave us all a jolt, a jolt for Temple athletics, for Temple basketball. We’ve had some great conversations with some of our incredible donors, our supporters. Everybody wants to win. Winning does that. To play five games in five days was just an incredible week.

“The Tuff Fund is huge, it is. It’s really, really important. But I think you see the Temple community wants to win, people want to get together and that run helped bring that to life.”

With Mashburn, the Owls have a credible scorer who will help. Fisher still has a lot of work to do, but he has a starting point for success.

“Obviously, he can score,” Fisher said. “He has scored everywhere he’s ever been. I think he’s also a really good decision-maker. We want him to play more in pick-and-roll.

“He has an extremely high basketball IQ. We want him to be aggressive in scoring. And be a good decision-maker. And, defensively, help lead. And bring that NCAA tournament experience.”

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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. His byline regularly appears on Associated Press stories. Big5Hoops.com is his second website dedicated to Philadelphia college basketball. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages.