Men's basketball drops pair of close contests
For the second time this season, the men's basketball team lost on a game-winning shot in the final seconds. This time it was not a layup, however, but a three-pointer in overtime from several feet beyond the arc that doomed Rice's hopes for its first Conference USA road victory. The Owls (8-16, 3-7 C-USA) have struggled mightily on the road this season in conference play, losing by an average of 22.5 points per game, with the team accumulating the majority of that deficit in the first half. Last Saturday's 91-88 road loss at the hands of East Carolina University was a different story, but, unfortunately, that makes no difference in the loss column.
Two weeks ago, Rice took advantage of the short crosstown road trip to play the University of Houston (16-7, 7-3 C-USA) to a standstill in the first half, something they managed to do again last weekend against the Pirates (13-12, 5-7 C-USA). The Owls took the lead at halftime 42-40, and although Rice was down for the majority of the second half, ECU could never expand its lead past seven-points, a margin they held for a just a few seconds.
With 11.3 seconds left in regulation, senior guard Rodney Foster nailed a three-pointer that tied the game at 80-80. After a miss by Pirate guard Brock Young with five seconds left, junior forward Lawrence Ghoram received the outlet pass from sophomore center Trey Stanton and drove the length of the court but lost his handle on the ball as the buzzer sounded.
In overtime the Owls held an 88- 84 lead with 1:45 left but were able to get off just one more shot attempt the rest of the game.
The Pirates made two foul shots, grabbed a defensive rebound and hit a jumper after draining thirty seconds off the shot clock to tie the game at 88-88 with 31 seconds left.
With the shot clock turned off, Rice got the ball back needing only to run down the clock and find the hot hand of Foster or Stanton inside for the go-ahead bucket.
Instead, just four seconds into the Owls possession, the Pirate's Sam Hinnant stripped freshman guard Connor Frizzelle of the ball on the perimeter before the Owls had a chance to set up their final offensive set.
ECU wound down the clock on the subsequent possession, and with 3.2 seconds left James Legan pulled up from the wing and hit the final basket of the game, giving the Pirates the 91-88 victory.
"I looked at some of tape of the three-pointer they hit, and he was a good couple of steps behind the arc when he hit that shot," head coach Ben Braun said. "We wanted to be in a position to get that shot and we turned it over. It was unfortunate because I felt pretty confident that the team with the last shot was going to win it, and I was right."
Foster led the Owls in scoring with 24 points and doled out six assists. The senior guard also made six of nine attempts from behind the arc, raising his average on the year to 50 percent, the highest in the conference.
"He's playing with confidence and freedom, and he doesn't feel like he needs to carry the team," Braun said.
Last season Rice ranked last in three-point efficiency but has improved by over 15 percent this year for an average of 42 percent, which is not only the best in C-USA but also higher than the team's overall field goal percentage.
Stanton added a career high 21-points, making up for the absence of senior forward Aleks Perka, who was unable to play due to an ankle injury he suffered a week ago against the University of Southern Mississippi.
This Saturday, Rice travels to Dallas to face Southern Methodist University, (7-16, 1-9 C-USA) which has only one win in conference play and is currently riding a seven-game conference losing streak.
The Owls beat the Mustangs 69-57 at Autry Court earlier in mid- January, which ended the Rice's 19- game C-USA losing streak. In that meeting, the Owls led by as much as 18 in the first half and withstood a 14-0 run that brought the Mustangs to within three points.
The Owls held the talented SMU big men, Papa Dia, Bamba Fall, and Mouhammad Faye, to 9-27 shooting on the game.
If Perka is unavailable for Saturday's game, the Mustangs will most certainly attack the Owls' overwhelmed interior defense through the three Somali forwards.
"We hope we don't give up inside scores, and we can't get killed on the boards," Braun said."They're big, so last time we got out in transition and that really helped us."
In recent games, the Mustangs have relied far more on freshman guard Paul McCoy, who scored 29 points in a three-point loss on the road against the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
After finishing second-to-last in the conference last year, the Mustangs have fallen past the Owls and into last place this season. With a win on Saturday, Rice could lock up an improved finish on last year's season and a cement a last-place finish for the Mustangs.
Wednesday night, Rice dropped their second C-USA matchup in a week to UTEP. The Owls stayed with the Miners until the game's final minutes.
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