Men's basketball splits first two games of term
In front of a wild home crowd — along with Houston Rockets superstar James Harden in attendance — the Rice University men’s basketball team closed the game on a 21-3 run to overcome a 13-point second half deficit and win 83-73 over Western Kentucky University on Thursday night at Tudor Fieldhouse. This victory snapped a five-game losing streak for the Owls.
Freshman guard Connor Cashaw and freshman forward Marquez Letcher-Ellis led the way by both scoring respective career-highs of 20 points. Cashaw also had six rebounds and Letcher-Ellis pulled down five. Freshman guard Marcus Evans added 16 points and five assists.
According to Rice Head Coach Mike Rhoades, the key was overcoming adversity in late-game situations.
"I'm just really proud of our effort," Rhoades said. “I thought our guys showed great resolve. We did a good job recovering and figuring it out. It was good to see these young guys experience this and be a part of what went down the stretch."
Entering the second half with a 35-34 lead, the Hilltoppers went on a 14-2 run to open up its largest lead of the game at 49-36. However, the Owls responded with Cashaw and Evans scoring 10 straight points over the next two minutes to cut the lead to three points. Both teams traded points until Western Kentucky scored four straight baskets to push the lead to 65-57 with nine minutes remaining in regulation. After both teams scored five more points, the Owls exploded on a 9-0 run to take the lead at 71-70 with just under three minutes left, Rice’s first lead in the half. The Owls never looked back, finishing the game strong to seal the win, 83-73.
Rice shot 50 percent (25 of 50) from the field, which included 39.1 percent (nine of 23) from three. WKU shot only 41.2 percent (28 of 68) from the floor and 31.8 percent (seven of 22) from deep.
The momentum from Thursday could not carry over to Saturday night when the Rice Owls played host to the Marshall Thundering Herd and fell 94-90 at Tudor Fieldhouse.
Evans led the Owls with a team-high 29 points, and Letcher-Ellis added a new career-high of 28 points along with six rebounds. Sophomore guard/forward Egor Koulechov scored 11 points, and junior center Andrew Drone contributed 10 points while grabbing eight boards.
Despite the loss, Rhoades said he remains optimistic about the Rice squad.
"I thought this was, maybe, the best we've played all year long,” Rhoades said. “I just think the way we played today, we raised the bar in our program. We put ourselves in position to win a game and beat a team that's first in our conference.”
Marshall started the game on a 11-3 run, but Rice responded with five straight points and kept the game close throughout the first half. Koulechov sank a 3-pointer to give Rice its first lead of the game, 34-32, with three minutes left in the half. However, the Thundering Herd regained the lead and went into halftime up 39-37.
The second half became an old-fashioned shoot-out, with both teams going back and forth between 3-pointers and quick points. With Marshall up 89-81 with only 3:17 remaining, Rice pushed for one last run to close the deficit to within four at 92-88 with 1:39 remaining. Evans scored a layup with 13 seconds left, but Marshall senior forward James Kelly broke past Rice’s defense on the inbounds to hit a layup and seal the victory.
Rice shot 47.9 percent (34 of 71) from the field but was only 26.5 percent (nine of 34) from three. Marshall scored on 55.7 percent (34 of 61) of shots from the floor and a high 50.0 percent (11 of 22) from three-point land.
According to Rhoades, this game marked a turning point for Rice basketball.
“We didn’t pull it off, and I hate losing — we hate losing,” Rhoades said. “But now we raised the bar [for the basketball program]. Now we’ll see if we can raise it again going on the road next week.”
The Rice Owls now look to bounce back on a two-game road stint starting with the conference-leading University of Alabama, Birmingham on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. and then at Middle Tennessee State University on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 5 p.m.
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