Rice Basketball put up an early fight, but couldn’t withstand a full 40-minute fight on the road against Stanford as the Owls fall to 1-2.
There weren’t many deep shots made at Maples Pavilion on Monday evening, but Stanford found one of them to open the scoring on their home court against Rice Basketball. The Owls absorbed the first blow and fired back, retaking the lead on a foul shot from Carmelo Adkins moments later before Jaxson Thompson put the visiting team in front by two with a three of his own at the 16:33 mark of the first half.
Stanford would equalize on the ensuing possession, which would kick off a 17-4 run in favor of the Cardinal, who leapt in front by double digits. Rice would flirt with a slightly narrower margin more than once through the remainder of the half with Jacob Dar, Thompson and Adkins spurring mini rallies along the way.
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Trailing by 16 at the break, the Owls’ last push came in the opening minutes of the second half when Thompson and Dar combined to score the first five points of the period. Stanford held the line, collected themselves and responded with a rally that effectively put the game out of reach, even if Rice was able to make things interesting late with a 15-2 rally in the second half.
Ultimately, Rice just couldn’t keep up with the Cardinal offense. Stanford shot 51.6 percent from the field and made 20 of their 21 foul shots. Rice shot 41 percent from the floor but just 6-of-23 from three, not an auspicious formula to spark an upset on the road.
Final Box | Stanford 91, Rice 73
What They’re Saying
The good thing about the game is that it only counts as one loss. But I can’t put into words the level of disappointment that I have. This didn’t match the group that I go into the gym with every day. The message to the guys is, we’re starting over. There’s no more starting lineup. (Stanford) is a good team. They have a good group. But they’re not a team that should have beaten us as handily as they did. – Rice Basketball head coach Rob Lanier
Key takeaway | Playing the Game, Not the Scoreboard
Following a 45-point win over Dallas Christian in their season opener, Rice Basketball head coach Rob Lanier got on his team following the game for a somewhat sloppy second half in which the Owls played down to their opponent to some degree, failing to maintain the same level of consistency that enabled his team to build their early lead. He implored his squad to “play the game, not the scoreboard.”
The effort was there in a loss to East Texas A&M, even if the execution was lacking. On Monday, against Stanford, they struggled to finish, too. There were too many missed layups and a basket interference call. Down by 30 points, it looked as if Rice would pack it in and dribble things out.
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Instead, Rice cut their deficit in half in a matter of five minutes of court time. For a while, it looked as if nobody had told the team in blue and white they were so far out of the game that they might as well save their energy. Instead, this team played the game, not the scoreboard, just like Lanier would have liked.
It wasn’t the most effective defensive showing in Palo Alto and Rice hasn’t found the caliber of shooting stroke Lanier likely envisioned when he praised the shooters on this roster during the offseason. But they have shown a level of compete that should serve them well in the days ahead when they don’t find themselves faced with Power 4 competition.