A 17-point lead slipped away from Rice basketball in the second half as the Owls succumbed to a late rally from North Texas on the road.
Even though they were on the road, Rice basketball played with the comfort of a team in their own gym, asserting themselves as the aggressors from the early moments of the game. North Texas took a brief two-point lead, which wouldn’t last long as the Owls’ first five field goals all came from long range.
In front by eight by the time they finally settled for two, Rice pivoted to the inside where the trio of Jimmy Oladokum, Andrew Akuchie and Stephen Giwa keyed a 10-0 run, capped with a three from Smith. At that point, the Rice advantage had ballooned to 17 points.
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Two runs from North Texas after that would change the complexion of the game. The first came at the end of the first half when the Mean Green cut their deficit to 10 going into the break. Then, midway through the second half, a 10-0 burst got them back within two points.
Despite leading for more than 34 minutes, Rice found themselves trailing by three with 2:50 to go, victims of a 7-0 burst from North Texas. The Owls would make just one more shot for the remainder of the contest, a putback from Nick Anderson following another missed three which could have tied the game.
With the loss, Rice Basketball falls to 12-18. The Owls are 5-10 away from Tudor Fieldhouse this season.
Final Box | North Texas 62, Rice 58
Key takeaway | Running out of Room
One way or another Wednesday’s game was going to have a meaningful impact on the Owls’ postseason fate. Rice entered their bout against North Texas right on the cutline for the American Conference Tournament, which takes the top 10 teams from the standings. A win over the Mean Green would have given the Owls a crucial tiebreaker, instead things took a turn for the worse.
North Texas officially clinched their spot in the tournament with the win over Rice, leaving the Owls in a four-way battle with Temple, Memphis and East Carolina for the last two spots in Birmingham. Both Temple and Memphis are two games up on Rice in the loss column with precious few opportunities remaining. The path is still there, but it’s decidedly tougher today than it could have been had Rice been able to hang on in Denton.
Up Next: vs UTSA (Sun. Mar. 8 at 2:00 pm)