Men's Basketball prepares for approaching UH game
Losers of six straight, the Rice men's basketball team took a break from Conference USA play on Saturday as it hosted the University of New Orleans, a Division I Independent. After the teams exchanged baskets during the opening minutes of play, the Owls (4-14, 0-4) took control with a 21-6 run midway through the first half, capped off by a transition basket from Max Guercy. Junior Austin Ramljak's 3-pointer with 16 seconds left in the half put Rice ahead 44-27 at intermission.
New Orleans (5-12) matched the hot shooting of the Owls in the second half. The Privateers made 10 of their first 14 shots in the second half to cut their deficit to 13 with 10:10 left. But Rice's veteran backcourt combination of Julian DeBose and Tamir Jackson kept New Orleans at bay, taking over down the stretch to prevent a comeback.
After a 3 from DeBose put Rice up 19, he and Jackson converted consecutive baskets at the rim to put the game away. Jackson led Rice with 24 points, while DeBose set a career high with 20. Guercy finished with 18 points, six assists and five steals, while Seth Gearhart matched his own career high with 15, and Ramljak finished with 12.
"I was really proud of our effort, because we came out and we played hard," Head Coach Ben Braun said after his team's first win of 2013. "We really did a good job of maintaining our intensity from start to finish."
The Owls returned to conference play Wednesday night as they traveled to Orlando to take on the University of Central Florida. Guercy's 3-pointer with 44 seconds left in the first half tied the game at 32-32 heading to intermission, but the Knights (13-5, 3-1) pulled ahead by nine in the first five minutes of the second half. The Owls hung tough with UCF as Austin Ramljak's deep ball made it a 60-57 game with under six minutes remaining. But UCF closed out the game from the free-throw line, where it went 27 for 35 on the night, including 11 for 12 in the final five and a half minutes.
Rce fell to the Knights 78-67, dropping to 0-4 for the season in conference play.
The Owls travel to New Orleans tomorrow to play Tulane, before hosting rival Houston Cougars Wednesday at 7 p.m.
MILESTONE WATCH:
Senior guard Tamir Jackson's 24 points Saturday night put him at 1,418 in his career, now placing him in the top 10 in points in Rice's history. Jackson passed Robert Johnson (Lovett '99) for 10th on the all-time list and may not be done moving up just yet. Jackson started the season ranked 25th, but has moved up 15 spots with 298 points so far this year. Not including the conference tournament, the Owls have 12 games left in Jackson's senior season. Jackson has averaged 13 points a game in conference play this season. If he continues to score at this rate over the rest of the season, he will finish with 1,589 career points, good for sixth on Rice's all-time list. Jackson also currently ranks sixth all-time in career assists (351) and steals (142), with the opportunity to finish his career ranked higher on both lists.
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