Basketball tops SMU in first round of tournament
Hosting East Carolina University on Saturday, Feb. 26, it was once again the season-long Achilles' heel that dug the Owls in a hole in the first half. Rice allowed the Pirates (15-13, 7-7) to shoot 8-15 from behind the arc over the opening 20 minutes, and found themselves down by 10 points at the half.But led by the shooting of junior forward Lucas Kuipers, the Owls would battle back down the stretch in spite of the deep-range shooting of ECU. A Kuipers three-pointer with 6:16 left would bring Rice to within four, before a junior guard Connor Frizzelle jumper after a pair of free throws tied the game with just 2:48 to go. After the teams exchanged threes down the stretch, the Pirates had the ball tied at 68 with 34 seconds to go. After dribbling out the clock, ECU's Sherrod connected on a deep three-pointer with under three seconds to go to put the Pirates ahead for good.
The deep ball capped off a 14-27 shooting night from beyond the arc for ECU and dropped Rice to 12-16 on the season. Kuipers led all Owls with 18 points, while sophomore guard Tamir Jackson added 15 and sophomore forward Arsalan Kazemi contributed with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Senior Night festivities were held at Tudor Fieldhouse on the evening of March 2 when the Owls hosted the University of Tulsa. Seniors Bryan Beasley, Cory Pflieger, Trey Stanton and Suleiman Braimoh were all honored before the game and were in the starting lineup for Head Coach Ben Braun. Rice forced 11 turnovers in the first half and came back from down six to tie the game with under 13 minutes left. But down the stretch it was Golden Hurricane (17-12, 10-5) guard and C-USA leading scorer Justin Hurtt who helped Tulsa pull away from Rice. Hurtt's jumper was part of an 8-1 Tulsa run that put the Owls down seven with 9:30 to go. Rice would pull within three, but it was again Hurtt who jumpstarted an 11-3 run to keep the home team at bay. The Owls shot just 10-30 in the second half and went cold down the stretch, as Hurtt finished with 22 points en route to a 77-67 Tulsa win. Kuipers and Jackson again led the way for Rice with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
The Owls closed their regular season with a trip across town, as they took on rival University of Houston last Saturday. Kuipers connected on three three-pointers early to give Rice the quick 13-10 lead, before an 8-0 run led by Jackson and Kazemi put the Owls ahead 25-15 early. Frizzelle's three with under two seconds left in the half put Rice ahead 40-27 heading into the locker room.
The Owls continued to play strong defense in the second half, protecting the three-point line to keep the Cougars from making a run. The closest Houston would get was to within seven, but that was immediately followed by a 10-0 Rice run led by the defensive play of Frizzelle and Jackson. Rice completed the season sweep of their rival Cougars with a 72-57 win to finish the year at 13-17 and 5-11 in the conference. Kuipers again led the team with 15 points, while Jackson added 13 points to go with five assists.
For the C-USA Tournament in El Paso, Rice drew the number 10 seed and a first round matchup with number seven SMU on Wednesday, a team that defeated the Owls twice during the regular season. But led by Kazemi, the second team All-Conference selection, Rice was out to seek revenge and pull the quasi-upset with their season on the line.
Little separated the two teams in the first half, as the Owls were able to contain SMU guard Robert Nyakundi, who torched Rice with a 29-point performance earlier this season. Led by the two sophomores, the Owls were tied up with the Mustangs at 27 through the first 20 minutes of the game.
After holding the dynamic duo of Nyakundi and Dia to just 13 points in the first half, Rice put the Mustangs on the ropes by opening up the second half with an 11-0 run to take control of the game. Jackson and Kazemi made play after play, starting with a three-point play from Jackson. Following a free throw from Kazemi, Jackson would assist on a lay-up for his teammate before Kazemi forced a turnover and found the guard for an open three. Frizzelle followed with a pair of jumpers, and Rice had a 41-30 lead with 14:28 left.
But led by Dia, who capped off a stellar four-year career by garnering All-Conference first team honors, SMU would chip away at their deficit over the final minutes to counter the 11-point swing engineered by the Owls. Dia's bucket in the lane with 11:16 left brought SMU to within seven, until a Mustangs jumper made it a 44-40 game at the 9:33 mark. Jackson and Kuipers along with forward Suleiman Braimoh kept Rice up with free throws, but it was again Dia whose layup with 6:03 kept SMU within striking distance. A three-point play from Kazemi put the Owls up 55-47 with five minutes left, but Dia would score on consecutive trips before an SMU jumper off a Rice miss capped a 6-0 run to make it a two-point game. After a free throw, Dia's basket with 2:12 made it a 56-55 game, as the Mustangs threatened to take their first lead of the half.
The teams exchanged misses, and out of a timeout Bryan Beasley lobbed an entry pass to Kazemi, who again responded to the SMU run with a basket to put Rice ahead 58-55 with 53 seconds left. SMU's Collin Mangrum connected from the baseline with 33 seconds to again cut Rice's lead to one. Mangrum then intercepted a Frizzelle pass with 18 seconds left, as the Mustangs called timeout to diagram a play for the winning basket.
Out of the timeout, the Mustangs looked for Dia but were forced to take a tough shot with the clock running down. Nyakundi, who averaged 27.5 points in the two games against Rice, was forced into a tough shot from the left side of the key. His shot caught all iron, as Kazemi secured the rebound with the clock expired. Holding on for the 58-57 win, the Owls pulled the upset in the first round of the Conference-USA Tournament and avenged a pair of regular season losses to the Mustangs.
Kazemi, whose 24 points and 13 rebounds marked a league-leading 18th double double, came up big time and time again in the second half when Dia and SMU made runs at the Rice lead. He was aided by the play of Tamir Jackson, whose 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds helped fuel the second half run and secure the win for Rice. Although Dia did finish with 22 points for the game, the Owls held Nyakundi to only five points, none of which came in the second half.
Rice played the number two seed Tulsa in the quarterfinal round of the tournament yesterday evening. Visit http://www.riceowls.com for all scores and updates on the men's basketball team in the C-USA Tournament.
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