Men's basketball falls to top two C-USA teams

By Michael Kidd 1/25/16 11:48pm

Over the past two seasons, “Rice Rising” has defined the recent zeitgeist surrounding the Rice men’s basketball team. The program has witnessed the onboarding of many talented, young players and the growth of an excited student fan base. Led by second-year Head Coach Mike Rhoades, Rice seeks to improve its standing among NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams. Future improvements, however, will result only from trial and error. The Owls currently hold a 6-14 record (1-6 in Conference-USA) and have now dropped three consecutive conference games.

This week, the Owls matched up against two conference competitors, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (No. 1) and Middle Tennessee State University (No. 2). On Thursday, Jan. 21, Rice traveled to Birmingham to face UAB. Last season, the Owls toppled the Blazers at Tudor Fieldhouse (82-73). Last week, however, UAB (15-3) defeated Rice with a final score of 82-70.

On Thursday night, the Owls went into Birmingham looking to upset the league-leading Blazers. With 10:55 left to play in the first half, Rice trailed just 20-19 despite allowing UAB to make their first six shots of the game. The rest of the half, however, belonged to the Blazers. UAB stretched the lead to as many as 14 and held a 42-32 advantage at halftime.

Rice, however, would not go away easily. The Owls came out strong to open the second half, rattling off 10 straight points to tie the game at 42. After Rice briefly led 47-46, the two teams traded baskets until UAB went on a 10-2 run to take a 64-54 lead late in the second half. The Blazers would not look back as their lead ballooned to 16 before the final buzzer sounded on an 82-70 victory. For Rice, junior forward Egor Koulechov and freshman forward Marquez Letcher-Ellis both registered double-doubles. A season-high five Owls scored in double-digits, with Koulechov and Evans leading the way with 14 points each. Freshman guard Connor Cashaw had 13 points, while junior center Andrew Drone and Letcher-Ellis each contributed 12.

On Saturday, Jan. 23, Rice traveled to Murfreesboro, TN to face the Blue Raiders. The Owls fell to Middle Tennessee (87-73) to lose their third consecutive game.

Early in the game, the Blue Raiders took control. Trailing 16-14, MTSU went on a 17-0 spurt over four minutes to take a 15-point lead. The Blue Raiders continued to pad their lead, stretching it to 20 going into halftime.

The Blue Raiders managed to dominate the Owls. According to Head Coach Mike Rhoades, the Owls’ shortcomings resulted from their inability to follow instruction and maintain control.

“We were allowing them to ‘big boy’ us and body us but we can’t make that excuse,” Rhoades said. “We didn’t follow the game plan in the second half and it was disappointing.”

The Owls began to come back late and cut the deficit to single digits for the first time in the second half at 65-56 with just over 10 minutes left. Despite the effort, Rice could not sustain the momentum and lost by a final score of 87-73. The Owls shot 66.7 percent from the field in the second half but could not get enough stops on defense to make a significant dent into the lead. The star of the game was Guercy, who registered 20 points for the first time this season while playing 39 of the game’s 40 minutes.

Rhoades said his team will continue to strive for the best possible results despite their struggles this season.

“We fight and these teams at the top of the league are pretty good, but we have to keep grinding and figure out [ways to win],” Rhoades said.

The Owls will return to Tudor Fieldhouse this week for a crucial three-game home stand. The Owls are 5-5 at home this season and just 1-9 on the road. Rice will look to bounce back from these consecutive losses against the University of North Texas at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 30.