They play their home games in the Liacouras Center on the university's main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and are currently led by head coach Adam Fisher.

Temple is the sixth-most winningest NCAA Division I men's college basketball program of all time, with 2,000 wins.

Additionally, the Owls were retroactively recognized by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll and the Helms Athletic Foundation as the national champion for the 1937–38 season.

During the 1950s, the Temple basketball team made two NCAA Final Four appearances in (1956, 1958) under head coach Harry Litwack.

Litwack was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame after concluding a 21-year coaching career that included 373 wins.

Head Coach John Chaney, also a Hall of Famer, won a total of 741 career games (312 losses) and took Temple to the NCAA tournament 17 times in 24 seasons with the Owls.

Players Mark Macon, Juan Ignacio Sanchez, Eddie Jones, Lavoy Allen, Aaron McKie, Tim Perry and Mardy Collins are just a few who have gone on to play in the NBA.

As a member of the Big 5, the five large colleges in Philadelphia, the Owls have long-standing rivalries with Villanova, Penn, Saint Joseph's, and La Salle.