Hard times continue for men's basketball

By Yan Digilov     2/18/10 6:00pm

Times continue to be tough for the men's basketball team, which suffered through a loss to the University of Southern Mississippi last Saturday. The middle of the season has been a surprising disappointment and the team has woefully sunk to repeating the same mistakes week after week."It was a familiar theme," Head Coach Ben Braun said about the 66-50 loss against Southern Miss (15-9, 5-5 Conference USA). "I was disappointed again that we had some opportunities to score on the inside, and we didn't score.

"I've said it before: It is about toughness, mental toughness. You have got to be able to come through and get to the line. We missed easy shots and missed from the line."

After finishing the first half in Hattiesburg, Miss., down by only three points, the Owls (8-17, 1-10 C-USA) followed a path they have traveled before in the second. After shooting almost 53 percent from the field in the first half, the squad's offensive production declined rapidly, and Rice averaged 32 percent in the second.

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On the other side of the ball, things went the wrong way as well. The Golden Eagles' shooting jumped up from 33 percent in the first half to nearly 48 percent in the second, and with help from a 16-6 run, the home team steadily grew a lead that kept Rice out of the game in the second half.

It was a night where nearly everything was going wrong for Rice. For instance, freshman Arsalan Kazemi, who has averaged just under a double-double for the season, finished the match with only four points and six rebounds.

"He feels he can do better," Braun said. "He was really down after the game. I don't think anyone was more down than him. But I think that is a good thing. I think it means he cares and he has a conscience. There is nothing wrong with stumbling. The first step is recognizing the stumble, and the next is doing something about it. At least he knows there is a challenge for him."

With the win, Southern Miss also became just the second conference team to out-rebound the Owls. The overwhelming 38-26 margin played a large role in their victory. Together, the Owls' low post duo of Kazemi and junior Trey Stanton put up only six points and eight rebounds, their worst effort of the year.

Still, not all was dour. Another theme of the year that continued against Southern Miss has been unexpected production from players all over the court. Sophomore Lucas Kuipers followed up his 15-point effort against Texas A&M International University last week with a 12-point effort against Southern Miss. That production was even more impressive considering his time on the court was limited by foul trouble to 22 minutes.

"He has been a really bright spot," Braun said. "He is coming with real energy and enthusiasm. That is the Lucas that we had seen last year before the injury last season, so that is encouraging."

But it still seems like no matter which player steps up to play, some other puzzle piece is lost for the Owls. As the midpoint of the season passes by, it will take a long string of victories at the end of conference play or a run in the tournament to consider the season a success by objective standards.

Still, an unimpressive record does not accurately depict the strides that the squad has taken, especially given the emergence of C-USA as one of the most competitive leagues in the country.

"Every team has gotten better," Braun said. "We have to understand that this is a competitive league. This is the toughest the league has ever been. When everyone is better you are going to have to work even harder to get wins. Playing teams close isn't going to get you wins."

Those are lessons that the Owls have been trying to learn, but the growing pains will not seem to go away for Rice. Even with an improved conference, sitting at the bottom of the conference is certainly not where the team expected to be at this point after sweeping Sacramento State University (9-17), South Alabama University (16-12) and Houston Baptist University (7-18) in the Rice Basketball Challenge to start the season.

"Our goal is to keep getting better, and hopefully get rewarded for playing better ball," Braun said. "But we have got to keep fighting and not get discouraged. We have got to finish the job."

The Owls had the chance to prove themselves once again on Wednesday at Southern Methodist University (12-13, 5-6 C-USA), but they fell to the Mustangs 67-57 in the Owls' 10th conference loss of the season. Reaction to that game, along with a preview of their match-up tomorrow against East Carolina University (8-17) at Tudor Fieldhouse can be found online at www.ricethresher.org and www.blogs.ricethresher.org/sports.

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