Men see silver lining in dealing with top foe

By Yan Digilov     2/11/10 6:00pm

There is always a silver lining when you are your own worst enemy: At the very least, you know your enemy well. That seems to be the case for the men's basketball team, which dropped another big lead to the University of Alabama at Birmingham last Saturday and found itself fighting back to beat Division II Texas A&M International University Monday. The laundry list of issues that has kept Rice (8-15, 1-8 Conference USA) at the bottom of the conference standings touches every aspect of its game.

Two weeks ago, it was a stagnant offense plagued with turnovers and a porous defense that allowed Tulane University (7-15, 2-7 C-USA) to overcome a 13-point second-half lead and steal a 79-74 victory. Against UAB (19-4, 7-2 C-USA) - which is currently in second place in C-USA - poor shot selection led to a frustrated offense that stopped running back in transition, allowing the visitors to overcome a 12-point deficit to take the 76-65 win.

But at the same time, the squad has shown a repeated ability to overcome those issues. After choosing to slumber in the first half against TAMIU (9- 13), Rice shot 50 percent from the field in the second half, totaling only seven turnovers in the whole game and allowing zero fast-break points in 40 minutes to come out on top 73-66.

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Thus, for Rice, the man in the mirror seems to be continually changing face, a personality disorder that has been diagnosed but not yet treated.

"We should like the Rice team that got up 31-19 against UAB," Head Coach Ben Braun said of his squad's biggest lead against the Blazers. "We should like the Rice team that has out-rebounded every conference opponent but one."

And what's not to like in a team with two freshmen as the top scorers, a team that out-rebounded the University of Texas and one of the most respected coaches in the nation?

In the second half of play against the Dustdevils those dominant aspects of their game were on full display. Along with numerous alley-oop highlights, the most memorable play of the game - perhaps of the last three seasons of Rice basketball - came four minutes into play when freshman forward Arsalan Kazemi carried the ball coast-to-coast for a flying dunk that shook the rafters.

It was just what the team needed to snap out of a funk that made their first half look like the YMCA youth league that often plays at halftime.

"[When] you see a guy jump over someone and put a knee in his face, anyone will get excited," sophomore forward Lucas Kuipers said. "I wanted to run up and shake people in the stands. It was awesome."

Kuipers, too, had an impressive showing that night, finishing the game with 15 points. Before injuring his shooting arm last season, Kuipers emerged as a dangerous scoring threat for the Owls. But before Monday, Kuipers had not been able to put together a complete game with consistent shooting all season.

And therein lies the true essence of the team's greatest challenge: consistency.

"If we could play that way consistently, we could back teams down," Braun said. "I think we can take some teams right where their heart is. But to do that, you have to play consistently. You don't take a team's heart with one play - even the dunk. That was great, but it was one play. Come down and now make a stop."

But some parts of the team are shining through, and shining through consistently. As perhaps the most underrated player in the conference, sophomore Nate Schwarze may not have a stat line to brag about, but his performances on the court have been as crucial for the Owls as any other player's.

Braun has been bringing Schwarze in for his unrelenting defense throughout portions of the game, but the 5'11" guard has also taken on the responsibility of point guard on numerous occasions throughout the last several weeks. Playing with a calm head, Schwarze has been nearly impervious to defensive pressure, giving up only four turnovers the whole year.

Against TAMIU, Schwarze once again showed that he could deliver when his team needed him most.

With 5:37 left in the first half, he saw an opening and threw a perfect alley-oop pass to junior Trey Stanton, who slammed it down and put an end the Dustdevils' lead.

Though Schwarze has emerged as a useful weapon, or rather a useful defense mechanism, freshman point guard Tamir Jackson has been the player all year charged with leading the team from the point. But recently, Braun has elected to move Jackson to a wing position throughout portions of the game to give him better looks at the basket, putting the ball in the hands of older players like sophomore Connor Frizzelle or junior Bryan Beasley.

"[Jackson] makes so many things happen for our team," Braun said. "He may be the epitome of toughness that we sorely need. With that being said, he has got to harness some of that toughness and make better decisions on the court. You like a guy that wants to make something happen for your team, but sometimes he will overdo it."

With some key turnovers against UAB, including a crucial charging call late in the first half, Jackson has made Braun visibly upset from the sidelines and has been seen taking his own frustrations out on players in the middle of games, as well.

It is the kind of frustration that comes with knowing what is wrong but not being able to find the solution.

"We just have to stay more focused and play with a little more urgency," Jackson said. "We just got passive [against UAB]. We stopped getting back on defense in transition. We didn't stop the ball. We just took bad shots, got frustrated. .

"It wasn't their pressure giving us problems. It was us getting passive."

But the lack of consistency, inability to close out games and visible frustration may just be the symptoms of a program changing its culture, learning to win. At the end of the game against UAB, the wisest thoughts may have come from a precocious source.

Freshman forward Egheosa Edomwonyi, who has seen scant playing time all year, commented that the team seems to keep starting off like a fairytale - an underdog story about the success of a team that everyone had counted out. But as the story moves on, the clock strikes midnight, and the dream is over.

It remains to be seen if the Owls can complete the story with a happy ending - if they themselves can believe in their own success - or if the mediocrity of the past will limit their future.

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