Rice Basketball led for most of regulation, but couldn’t get their shots to fall late, dropping a road contest at UAB on Sunday.
Nine lead changes in the first half alone made for a rather exciting start to Sunday’s tilt between Rice basketball and UAB. Even with the back and forth, the Owls maintained a small lead for most of the game’s early goings, never trailing by more than two points yet never extending their advantage beyond more than seven.
That narrow margin left room for UAB to battle back and take a one-point lead into the break. The two sides would trade runs in the second half with neither leading by more than eight points at any point in the contest. A 10-0 burst for the Blazers brought them back from the brink, only for Rice to return the favor and go back in front by one with 4:19 to play.
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With the game hanging in the balance, a series of close plays at the basket went the way of the home team. The Blazers scored the next nine points, draining the clock until the Owls simply did not have enough time to mount an effective comeback. Rice Basketball falls to 10-14 with the loss. The Owls are 4-8 away from Tudor Fieldhouse this season.
Final Box | UAB 71, Rice 65
Key takeaway | Big Day from Bodey Howell
Setting up and knocking down three pointers has been an integral piece of the Owls’ offensive philosophy so far this season. So much so that Rice has won just two games in which they made fewer than 10 threes. That they nearly bucked the trend this time around is a testament to their bench.
The Owls hit just eight triples against UAB with most of those coming from an unexpected source: freshman guard Bodey Howell, whose three long balls were a career-best in a single game.
Howell entered Sunday with seven career triples in limited action — just 9.9 minutes per game in 17 appearances. His big day was instrumental in the Owls’ success, with credit also being due to head coach Rob Lanier to recognize his usual horses weren’t converting at the necessary clip and pivoting to someone else.
Whether it’s Howell or someone else, depth of this caliber has a funny way of surfacing in March, where lesser used role players find themselves in crucial spots time and time again. This team is still only going to go as far as its stars will take it, but having help from players like Howell along the way sure would be nice.