Rice Basketball gave the American Conference’s leading team a push before falling short late in the second half to split their North Carolina road trip.
Even though Charlotte opened the scoring with a three and made their first five shots from the field, Rice basketball looked very much up for the challenge in the early portions of their contest with the 49ers on Friday night. The Owls answered that initial burst with baskets of their own, including a pair from Nick Anderson, who put Rice in front for the first time with consecutive free throws not long afterwards.
The Rice lead would be short-lived, lasting a matter of minutes, but Rice would keep the game close and pull back ahead three more times in the first half as the two sides traded leads. Another three from Charlotte, this time right before the halftime buzzer, gave the 49ers a seven-point edge, their largest of the game to that point.
MORE: Rice Football Winter Transfer Tracker
Rice opened the second half with back-to-back-to-back threes from Cam Carroll, Jalen Smith and Nick Anderson, pulling within two points. Then the shots stopped falling — Rice missed 12 of their next 13 field goals — and Charlotte ran away with things for good. A 10-0 run for the Owls in the final minutes briefly made things interesting, but Charlotte slammed the door with 10 straight points, all free throws, to win the game.
Rice Basketball falls to 9-13 with the win. The Owls are 4-7 away from Tudor Fieldhouse this season.
Final Box | Rice 80, Charlotte 70
What They’re Saying
The biggest thing for me is (Charlotte shot) 52% from the field and 47% from three. They’re possibly playing the best basketball in the league right now. So your margin for error is not great. This wasn’t a matter of not playing hard or playing together. The level that we needed to play at needed to match the level that they’re playing at, and we didn’t meet that. The message after the game was that there’s a big difference between being discouraged and being disappointed. This was a disappointing outcome, but I’m very encouraged with the way we’re improving, the way we’re playing together, and the spirit of the team. There’s a great connection between these guys that I felt a couple of weeks ago I was longing for. I feel that taking place right now. – Rice Basketball head coach Rob Lanier
Key takeaway | Not the Wrong Recipe
Objectively, the defense could still be better, but for the most part, Rice basketball comported themselves rather well in a losing effort against the now 7-2 Charlotte 49ers. Rice won the rebound battle by 10, had 29 second chance points, didn’t turn the ball over, had seven assists and didn’t really deal with much in the way of foul trouble.
Basketball games aren’t played on paper, but strip out the score and this version of the game is one that will probably make the Owls competitive on most nights, especially if they find just a bit more consistency from three. There are no moral victories, though, and at 3-6 in the standings, Rice sure could use some wins.
Up Next: vs North Texas (Wed. Feb. 4 at 7:00 pm)
