Rice Basketball rallied back from a double-digit deficit against East Carolina on Saturday but came up short, falling to the Pirates at home.
Rice Basketball delivered a masterful opening stanza on Saturday afternoon against East Carolina, quickly racing out to an 8-2 lead against the visiting Pirates, who would quickly settle into the game and battle back. Following a three from Bodey Howell midway through the period, East Carolina took control, leading for the remainder of the half, albeit never by more than eight points.
Despite falling behind in the first half, Rice never let the game get out of reach, answering every ECU run with one of their own. That was true up until the Pirates rattled off a 9-0 spurt midway through the second frame, turning a close game into a 14-point advantage in favor of the visitors.
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Things nearly continued to go sideways from there but Howell hit another three — one of his five triples on the afternoon — and the Rice offense started to wake up. The Owls trimmed a 16-point deficit down to four, putting the game back in reach at the final media timeout.
A comeback wouldn’t be in the cards, though. East Carolina answered with six straight points, building their edge back to double-digits, a lead that proved insurmountable with less than 90 seconds on the clock. Rice Basketball falls to 11-15 with the victory. The Owls are 7-7 at Tudor Fieldhouse this season.
Final Box | ECU 85, Rice 75
Key takeaway | The Shots, They Don’t Stop
For much of the game, East Carolina held a field goal percentage near the 60s. They simply weren’t missing their shots, forcing Rice basketball to play catch up, a position the Owls desperately wanted to avoid. The Pirates finished shooting 54 percent from the floor, not quite 60 percent, but still more than half their attempts.
It’s not a new development — this season’s squad has leaned more offensive than defensive — but even given that reality, there needs to be some progress made for Rice to be consistently competitive. Rice entered the game 12th in the American in field goal defense in conference games, allowing opponents to shoot 45 percent from the floor. That mark got worse on Saturday.
Up Next: at Tulane (Sun. Feb. 22 at 1:00 pm)