Men struggle against conference competition
Playing in front of a predominantly absent student section over the winter break, there was no lack of drama in Tudor Fieldhouse for the men's basketball team. After a 2-2 showing at the 2010 Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic that earned Owls' sophomore forward Arsalan Kazemi C-USA Player of the Week honors, Rice returned to campus to take on Louisiana State University Dec. 29. Led by a 19-point, 17 rebound effort from Kazemi and clutch free throw shooting down the stretch, the Owls fought off a late LSU comeback to earn a 74-68 victory over their SEC foe.
Rice followed up its performance with a 70-61 win over Texas Christian University on Jan. 2, getting 30 points from bench players to conclude their non-conference schedule with a record of 8-6. The eight wins match the win total from all of last season for Head Coach Ben Braun's squad, who enter conference play with wins in five of their last seven games.
Action continued at Tudor Fieldhouse on Jan. 5, but the outcome was not as optimistic for Rice fans. The team dropped its C-USA opener to Tulane University, 85-81, despite 40 combined points from Kazemi and fellow sophomore, guard Tamir Jackson. The Owls then traveled to the University of Tulsa Jan. 8 and were unable to overcome a 14-point halftime deficit, losing 75-64 to the Golden Hurricane.
Off to an 0-2 start in the conference, the Owls played host Wednesday night to the University of Southern Mississippi in front of a raucous crowd of students back from break. Rice got off to a sluggish start, as Kazemi was forced to sit with foul trouble just seven minutes into the game. But the team rallied around Jackson and junior guard Connor Frizzelle, whose back-to-back three pointers capped a 12-0 run that gave the Owls a 34-25 halftime lead.
After jumping out to a 43- 30 lead at the 16-minute mark, Southern Miss began to chip away at the deficit behind the lead of Gary Flowers, the senior forward and NBA prospect who entered the game as the second leading scorer in the conference.
After Kazemi scored his first field goal of the game with seven minutes left in the game, Flowers responded for the Golden Eagles with a three pointer to cut Rice's lead to four points. The Owls surrendered the lead with under three minutes left, the first lead of the half for Southern Miss. After a free throw from Kazemi to tie the game, the Golden Eagles responded with a deep three pointer from sophomore guard LaShay Page to take the lead with 1:21 left.
After the teams exchanged baskets, the Owls inbounded the ball trailing by three with 27 seconds left. The play went to senior center Trey Stanton, who set his feet from behind the arc but had his attempt blocked. Stanton won the ensuing scramble for the loose ball and passed across the top of the key to Frizzelle, whose shot extended over the outreached arm of Flowers and hit the bottom of the net to tie the game with 18 seconds left. As Southern Miss brought the ball down court, the boisterous Rice crowd held its collective breath when Page was left open for a jumper at the buzzer. Page was off the mark, however, and the game headed to overtime deadlocked at 68.
Rice fed off the momentum of the crowd to jump out to a 77-70 lead following a three ball from Frizzelle and four consecutive free throws from Jackson. But Southern Miss fought back again behind Flowers and Page, cutting the Owls' lead to just one with a minute left.
Holding onto the ball and a slim lead, Rice's Jackson drove into the key but was stripped of the ball by senior Sai'Quon Stone. Stone took the ball on the fast break straight to the paint, where he was fouled and his floater bounced high off the rim before falling in to give Southern Miss the lead with 30 seconds left. Stone missed the following free throw and Rice took a timeout to diagram a play with 24 seconds left.
With the clock running down, Frizzelle could not get an open look in the corner and passed the ball to Jackson at the top of the key. Jackson, who finished with 19 points and shot well from behind the three-point line throughout, beat his initial defender and got into the paint but was whistled for an offensive foul with just three seconds left, much to the dismay of the stunned Rice crowd. The turnover sealed the fate of the Owls, as Southern Miss hit two free throws to seal their 81- 78 overtime victory.
"[Jackson] did some very good things tonight, but I know he would like to get that turnover back," Braun said, adding that he did not get a good look at the game-deciding foul call. "We just have to cut down on the turnovers. We're playing at a high level, but I don't want to see us play at a high level. I want to see us win at a high level."
At 0-3 in the conference and 8-9 overall, Rice heads to El Paso to take on UTEP tomorrow for a 9:05 p.m. tip-off.
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