Rice Basketball rallied late to take a one-point lead, but was unable to complete the comeback, falling at home to Temple.
Three consecutive baskets from the visitors put Rice basketball in an early 6-0 hole on Saturday afternoon at Tudor Fieldhouse. That deficit proved to be something that would stick around for the better portion of the contest as the hosting Owls played most of the game from behind.
Andrew Akuchie, who finished with his first career double-double, spurred the first Rice rally. He gave Rice its first lead roughly five minutes into the game, adding an emphatic dunk to steal back some early momentum. But as was the case for most of the afternoon, Temple was quick to answer, ripping off a 15-2 run soon afterward only to see Rice bring the game back to even a few minutes later.
More: Rice Basketball 2024-2025 Midseason State of the Program
Down by four at the break, the second half transformed into a much more level affair. Neither side led by double digits at any point with the game still hanging in the balance when the final moments arrived. Rice led by 1 with three minutes to play but would be forced to play catch up down the stretch as Temple made its foul shots to hang on for the win.
Final Box | Temple 73, Rice 70
FINAL | Temple 73, @RiceMBB 70 pic.twitter.com/0pozzf9ver
— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) January 11, 2025
What They’re Saying
“We were guarding (Temple) pretty good in the second half, but we missed maybe 10 layups right at the rim, over the course of the game. Meanwhile, we were working our tail off to stop (Jamal) Mashburn and (Quante) Berry from three. So, we’ve got to make the layups. We had a size advantage for a big portion of the game. We only turned the ball over 10 times. We have 14 offensive rebounds, and in a three-point game, you can’t miss that many layups.” — Rice Basketball head coach Rob Lanier
Key takeaway | Small Margins
Rice basketball came painfully close from winning this basketball game but finished just a play or two short of pulling out the victory. Head coach Rob Lanier lamented the missed layups, a easily identifiable culprit in a game in which Rice did so many things well.
The Owls had more steals and more assists, shot better from the floor and delivered season best totals for field goals made and second-chance points. The only measure Temple cleared outperformed Rice in was rebounds, edging the hosting Owls by 10 in that category.
This was truly the sort of game where one different bounce or one more made basket could have easily swayed the results. Playing competitive basketball game in and game out is an encouraging step for this program. The next plateau is finding ways to consistently when more of these games than not.
Up Next: vs UTSA (Tues, Jan. 14)
