Men score upset against formerly ranked UCF

By Ryan Glassman     1/27/11 6:00pm

After a 23-point loss in which the Owls scored just 43 points on the road in El Paso, Texas, Men's Basketball Head Coach Ben Braun told his players in their week off to practice hard in hopes of turning things around. "Let's just get ourselves better in practice," Braun said following the team's fourth straight loss in conference play. "Once we're better in practice, we'll get better in games."

Well, it looks like he was right.

After a subpar 0-4 start to C-USA play, Rice bounced back for a pair of last-minute wins this week over formerly ranked University of Central Florida (14-5, 1-5 C-USA) and bitter rival University of Houston (11-8, 2-2 C-USA) to reach the 10-win plateau on the season.

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Trailing by two at the half in Orlando, Fla., just 20 minutes away from an 0-5 start in conference, the Owls came out of the locker room on a 15-1 run over the first eight minutes of the half to take control of the game. Six different scorers fueled the run for Rice as the Knights went cold from behind the arc and found themselves in a 40-28 hole. But Rice found itself hanging on for dear life as UCF chipped away at the deficit behind stars Keith Clanton and Marcus Jordan. Jordan's free throws with 5:26 left tied up the game, capping a 15-3 Knights run in a seven-minute span. On the road in conference against a former top-20 team, the Owls' resilience was tested down the stretch. And much to its credit, Braun's was the much more poised squad in the final minutes after UCF battled back to tie the game.

After the teams exchanged baskets for a few possessions, a free throw from sophomore guard Tamir Jackson gave Rice a 51-47 lead with just under two minutes left. UCF countered with free throws from Jordan before a Rice foul with 28 seconds left put Jordan back at the line with his team trailing by two. The son of former NBA great Michael Jordan missed the first shot but made the second to cut Rice's lead to 51-50. The game took a turn, however, on the ensuing inbounds pass when UCF's A.J. Rompza swiped at the ball and made contact before it was passed in, resulting in a technical foul. Awarded two free throws and the ball, junior guard Connor Frizzelle hit a pair from the line to put Rice ahead by three. Jackson was fouled immediately on the following inbounds pass and added two more free throws to extend the Owls' lead to 55-50. The Knights missed their final two shots of the game, and a pair of free throws from sophomore forward Arsalan Kazemi sealed the Rice win. Exhibiting poise in the final minute from the free-throw line, the Owls earned their first conference win of the season to improve to 9-10 on the season and 1-4 in the conference.

And if the UCF game was the biggest win of the season for the Owls, their next game against crosstown rival Houston was certainly their most exciting.

In front of an absolutely boisterous student section and an overall electric crowd, Rice jumped out to an early five-point lead when Jackson found Kazemi under the hoop for a lay-up. The Cougars countered in the first half with strong perimeter shooting, going 6-9 from beyond the arc to offset eight turnovers forced by the Owls. A late three from Houston's leading scorer, Adam Brown, gave the Cougars a three-point lead going into the half, in spite of nine points from Frizzelle and an eight-point, eight-rebound half from Kazemi.

Trailing against a hot shooting team at intermission, Braun instructed his players to play more aggressively on the offensive end and utilize their superior size and length. Another quick three-pointer from Cougars guard Zamal Nixon put Rice down six early in the second, but the team crashed the offensive boards to keep the game close. On a particular sequence, the Owls corralled four consecutive offensive rebounds before senior center Trey Stanton converted a lay-up and was fouled to put Rice ahead by four. Houston responded with another deep three-pointer, beginning a 10-minute stretch in which neither team led by more than two points. With the rival fans exchanging cheers and their respective teams going basket for basket, Rice found itself in its third consecutive conference game that would be decided in the final minutes. A pair of free throws by Houston's Kirk Van Slyke with 2:25 left put Houston ahead by four before senior guard Corey Pflieger hit a wide-open three-pointer from the top of the key to pull his team within one.

"(The shot) just lifted the entire team," Braun said of his senior's clutch trey with two minutes left. "This team knows that's the kind of lift that Corey can give us."

The Owls then got the stop they needed with under 30 seconds left, but Van Slyke got his own rebound and forced a foul that sent Houston to the line up by one. Van Slyke hit both free throws and Braun took a timeout with 17 seconds left, his team down three to its bitter rival. Rice looked to get the ball in to Jackson, but Houston's defense denied the pass and forced the ball in to Pflieger. With the defense overcommitted on Jackson, Frizzelle got open with a back cut atop the key and received the pass from Pflieger with a good look at the basket for the potential game-tying shot.

"I just have full confidence in my shot. When it left my hand, I definitely knew it was going in," Frizzelle, who elevated and drained the three-pointer to tie the game with 13 seconds left, later said. The big shot, Frizzelle's second overtime-forcing three in as many home games, sent the home crowd into a frenzy and silenced what was a strong Houston contingent. Nixon, who finished with 15 points to lead Houston, got a good look at the buzzer but missed a jumper, his first missed field goal of the game. Deadlocked at 56, Rice and Houston needed an extra five minutes to decide the next chapter in their rivalry.

Carrying the momentum of the Frizzelle three-pointer, the Owls wasted no time getting on the board in the extra session. Kazemi won the tip for Rice and followed a Jackson miss with a putback dunk just six seconds into overtime. After the Cougars tied the game on a jumpshot and followed with a quick turnover, it appeared they would take the lead as a three-on-two fast break ensued. But after Houston settled for and missed a mid-range jumpshot, Frizzelle got control of the rebound and threw a strike to a wide-open Jackson downcourt. Jackson took the ball in for a lay-up and was fouled, as he got up and pounded his chest in front of the Rice faithful. Jackson converted the lay-up, and in the process, senior forward Suleiman Braimoh was fouled with the shot in the air, giving Rice two more attempts from the line. Braimoh went one of two to give Rice a rare four-point possession and the lead.

Following an offensive foul on Houston, Jackson's drive in the lane put Rice up six with two minutes to go. Frizzelle threw a skip pass the next time down to an open Pflieger on the perimeter, who knocked down the three to push Rice's lead to 69-61 with 1:39 left in the game. Houston cut the lead to six with a minute left, but an uncontested fast-break dunk by Kazemi removed all doubt regarding the result and put an exclamation point on what was an exciting and intense rivalry game. By a final score of 79-71, Rice defeated Houston at Tudor for their second last-minute conference win in as many games, getting back to .500 at 10-10 on the season.

After the game, Braun had a lot to say about how impressed he has been with the attendance and energy inside Tudor, giving a lot of credit to the student section for the home-court advantage that they have provided for the Owls.

Rice takes on Southern Methodist University (12-8, 3-3 C-USA) tomorrow at 2 p.m. in hopes of keeping its streak alive.

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