Jack Williams Archives

Rice basketball battled first place Old Dominion to the wire but fell short of the upset, dropping the Owls to 5-6 in Conference USA play.

Rice never seemed fazed or outmatched during their road game against the top team in Conference USA. The Owls and Old Dominion traded baskets throughout the first half of their game on Saturday. The lead jumped back and forth between the two teams with neither side pulling ahead by more than four points before half time.

It was Rice who took the four-point lead into the break, setting up an intriguing finish. The back and forth continued until Old Dominion emerged on top, 80-76. The Monarchs outrebounded the Owls 40-33, but the stat sheet beyond that looked fairly similar with both teams shooting about 45 percent from the field with more than 10 made three-pointers apiece.

Box

PLAYER	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
J. Williams	3-8	2-3	4-5	1	9	10	0	0	1	1	4	12
Q. Millora-Brown	3-3	0-0	0-0	1	1	2	0	0	1	0	4	6
D. Peterson	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	0
C. Mullins	6-11	0-2	2-4	2	1	3	5	1	0	0	1	14
A. Adams	3-10	3-8	2-2	0	1	1	4	0	0	4	3	11
R. Martin	4-13	3-7	2-2	1	6	7	0	0	1	0	1	13
J. Parrish	4-4	0-0	0-0	2	1	3	2	1	0	2	1	8
P. Moore	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
T. Murphy III	3-9	3-9	1-3	1	3	4	1	0	0	2	4	10

Player of the game – Jack Williams

Despite the loss, this was one of the Owls’ better games as a unit this season. Five players scored double-digit points. It was Jack Williams, though, who managed his sixth double-double of the year.

This team has done a lot of growing up over the course of the season. The freshmen have taken tremendous steps in just a few months, but it’s been Williams and guard Ako Adams who have paced this team with consistent performances night by night. Williams did it again on Saturday.

Up Next

After a brief two-game road trip, Rice will return home for a pair of games next week. First, they’ll welcome Western Kentucky on Thursday. The Hill Toppers have won four of their last five (prior to 2/2 UTEP game). Tip off is set for 8 p.m.

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Rice basketball saw their conference winning streak come to an end, falling on the road to UTSA by a final score of 95-79.

The assignment coming into this game for Rice was relatively straightforward. Guards Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace came in averaging nearly 40 points per game. They were going to score — the Owls just needed to make sure the other pieces of the Roadrunner offense were limited. Things did not go according to plan on that front.

Jackson and Wallace scored 40-flat, but Giovanni De Nicolao notched 19 points and Nick Allen put up 20 points, both season highs. Those four scored 86 of the Roadrunners 75 points, more than enough to cover a respectable shooting night from Rice,

The Owls shot 44.4 percent from the field, but only 25 percent from three. Nine different players both scored and registered at least one rebound. Outside of an off night from Jack Williams, who was coming off back-to-back double-doubles, the rest of the offense played well enough. It was defense, once again, that cost them against the Roadrunners.

UTSA topped 90 points in two other contests this season, wins over Mid-American Christian and Bethany College. Their previous scoring high in Conference USA was 75.

The Box

Player	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
J. Williams	2-9	1-3	2-2	1	6	7	0	1	2	1	3	7
Q. Millora-Brown	7-9	0-0	0-0	4	4	8	0	0	1	1	1	14
D. Peterson	1-5	0-2	2-4	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	4
C. Mullins	6-12	0-5	2-5	2	1	3	4	0	1	5	1	14
A. Adams	3-6	2-5	2-2	0	1	1	1	0	0	3	4	10
R. Martin	2-6	0-4	5-6	0	4	4	3	2	0	2	3	9
T. Harrison	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
J. Parrish	2-5	0-0	3-4	1	3	4	2	0	1	3	2	7
P. Moore	2-5	0-1	0-0	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	4
T. Murphy III	3-5	3-4	1-1	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	10

Player of the game – Trey Murphy

It wasn’t a great team shooting performance for the Owls, but freshman Trey Murphy found the net several times. He tied a career-best with three three-point shots made. His development from behind the arc is important for this offense — the more nights like this he has, the better.

Up next – UTEP

One road game down, two to go. Rice will continue their longest CUSA road trip of the season on Saturday, heading west to El Paso to take on UTEP. The Miners are 0-3 in CUSA play so far and 5-9 on the season.