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Rice Basketball thunders back to avoid upset vs HCU

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Rice basketball fell behind early before thundering back, riding their defense rather than their shooting to a win over Houston Christian.

Alem Huseinovic opened the game with a jumper that drew applause from the assembled crowd at Tudor Fieldhouse, but onlooking fans wouldn’t have much to cheer from for the next several sequences up and down the court. A brief Rice basketball lead evaporated and the Owls quickly found themselves playing catch up on their own court.

Houston Christian pounced on Rice from that first shot, climbing to a 25-12 lead at the under-eight media timeout and putting some pressure on the home team to find a way to settle down and avoid a disastrous loss.

Down by 13 on a day when they shot just 25 percent from three, Rice made three of the five triples they would convert for the entire game over the course of the next six minutes. A large deficit turned into a tie game, opening the door for a second-half rally.

Rice went on a 22-8 run to start the second half, leaning on their defense rather than their shot making ability to flip the script and build a double-digit lead of their own. HCU would climb back within five, but a few clutch shots from Huseinovic, Max Fiedler and Keanu Dawes kept them at bay and allowed the Owls to secure a hard-fought home win.

Final Box | Rice 65 – HCU 56

What They’re Saying

“I’m really happy to get the win. A good word to use for this game is sloppy. Offensively, we just couldn’t get any rhythm going. That’s a credit to (Houston Christian’s) defense. But, the good news is, we would not have won that game in the past. We won with our defense. They shot 35 percent from the floor and 18 percent from three. Any chance you do that, you’re going to give yourself a chance to win. So I’m really proud of that. That’s back-to-back pretty good defensive performances by us.” – Head coach Scott Pera

Key takeaway | The defense is in there somewhere

Despite promises that this would be the season when Rice basketball found its footing on the defensive end of the court, nothing consistent or impactful truly materialized through the first seven games of the season. There were flashes here and there, but nothing nearly as impressive as the performance the Owls put on display Saturday afternoon — and they needed every little bit of it to get past HCU.

As Pera mentioned postgame, the defense was superb. Rice also forced 14 turnovers and only allowed their opponents to get to the free throw line 15 times.

Imperfect rebounding did lead to more defensive opportunities than should have been absolutely necessary, but at the end of the day, holding any team under 60 points is a solid start for this program right now. Over the past two seasons, Rice is 4-0 when holding their opponent below 60 total points.

Rice basketball probably isn’t ever going to turn into a defensive juggernaut, but they have the makings of a team that can play enough defense to get by, provided the offense holds up its end of the bargain. It has to be encouraging then that the offense was rather uninspiring by its standards on Saturday and the Owls still found a way to walk away with a win

Up Next: at Houston – Dec. 6 (Wed.)

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Travis Evee makes history as Rice Basketball blasts UT Martin

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Rice basketball rebounded from a tough road trip with a lopsided home victory over UT Martin, capped off by a record-setting shot from Travis Evee.

Returning home from a disappointing road trip, Rice basketball reentered Tudor Field house in need of a jolt. It had been a minute since the Owls started a game with superb play on both sides of the court. They did just that in their homecoming after their recent road trip, roaring out to a 34-13 first half lead against UT Martin in just over 11 minutes of action.

Rice shot the ball incredibly well and defended with gusto. UT Martin converted just five of their first 17 shots from the field. Rice went 14-for-22. Everything was coming up Owls in a game that had all the makings of a romp.

The blowout was averted late in the first half when UT Martin was gifted too many open looks from three and converted four long range shots in the final nine minutes, slashing the sizable Rice advantage to 10 points at the break.

The lead shrunk to nine points in the opening moments of the second half before the Owls exploded with a 14-0 run to blow the game wide open. And if the 23-point advantage wasn’t enough, Travie Evee delivered the exclamation point with his 253th career three, a program record.

“It’s a heck of an accomplishment. Not only is he breaking it now, he’s about to put a lot of separation between him and whoever is going to try and beat him next,” head coach Scott Pera said. “It’s really cool.”

The bounce-back win won’t fix all woes, but it did provide this team with momentum and belief they desperately needed to be restored. Perhaps what happened in Vegas will stay in Vegas after all. This rejuvenated version of Rice basketball was decidedly more effective.

“Tonight was the first time Rice basketball played like we think we’re capable of,” Pera said with a sigh of relief. “I’m proud of the guys.”

Final Box | Rice 98 – UT Martin 78

What They’re Saying

“I thought for first time all year we executed the game plan defensive to the best of our ability and it made a huge difference… we played team defense. We rebounded. We held them to 40 percent shooting. They’re a very good team. They’re going to win 20 games. They’re going to compete for their league title. I’m just really proud of our guys” – Head coach Scott Pera

Key takeaway | Keep tinkering

Through seven games, Rice basketball has yet to settle into a consistent starting five. Considering how head coach Scott Pera has operated in the past, that’s somewhat unexpected. Part of the reason for the lack of consistency in the lineups has been a lack of production in the games. If the same five had been played at a high level, there would be no need for the changeups, instead the Owls press on.

Thursday’s newest wrinkle was the insertion of Alem Husenivoc into the starting lineup for his first start this season. He delivered with a season-high 11 points on a season-high 26 minutes played.

“Alem has done a terrific job of growing into a leader, being all about the right things. This was an easy decision actually, for me, because he is deserving of starting,” Pera said.

Whether Husenovic sticks in the starting five remains to be seen. Pera noted he challenges all of his guys to earn that spot and play well enough to keep it. No matter the rotation, though, Rice found something tonight that worked. With no set return date for forward Cam Sheffield, they’ll need to continue to find a way to gel with the pieces they do have on the court. Thursday was evidence the ceiling can be pretty high.

Up Next: vs Houston Christian – Dec. 2 (Sat.)

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Can Scott Pera elevate Rice Basketball? November Q&A

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With football season winding down, Rice basketball was atop your questions for this month’s Q&A, specifically current head coach Scott Pera.

It’s been a tough start for Rice basketball this season, its seventh under the leadership of head coach Scott Pera. The Owls are 1-5 and have yet to finish within 10 points of a D1 team in five tries. Granted, the schedule has been grueling, but nevertheless, frustrations are understandable. This month’s Q&A focuses on Pera’s time at South Main and what’s next for him and the program.

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Q: Is Scott Pera on the hot seat? Should he fired if he has a losing record this year?

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Rice Basketball falls to UCI in finale, goes winless in Vegas

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Rice basketball hung around through halftime, but could not last a full 40 minutes, falling to UC Irvine in their Ball Dawgs Classic finale.

For the first time this week, Rice basketball opened a game by hitting their shots. After being ice cold from the field for the first two games of the Ball Dawgs Classic, Rice came out shooting 52 percent from the field in the first half with five assists and 31 points. They outshot their opponents by 10 percentage points and went into the halftime locker room tied. That, in itself, felt like a significant step.

The challenge in the second half would be to turn 20 sold minutes of basketball into a full game. Things started off well enough, with Rice opening up a three-point lead before playing UCI within three points for the next 10 minutes of action.

Travis Evee and Anthony Selden got to the line and made their free throws. They protected the basketball as a team, turning it over just twice in the second frame. What they couldn’t do was go shot for shot with a UC Irvine team that caught fire late.

At one point Rice missed seven in a row, allowing UCI to open a small lead. Then the Owls’ opponents knocked down eight of their final twelve shots. Rice finished 5-of-14 and that was that.

Final Box | UCI 83 – Rice 68

Key takeaway |  Be better on the boards

On an afternoon in which the Owls shot the ball well, protected the ball well and played servicable defense for long stretches, their inability to crash the boards cost them dearly. UCI led 20-14 in rebounds in the first half and finished the game with a 41-27 advantage over Rice. Nine of those were offensive rebounds.

It all comes down to giving opponents extra opportunities. Whether that’s turnovers, rebounds or something else, Rice isn’t playing cohesive enough as a team right now to overcome that margin. Small errors add up and they help turn a close game into another double-digit loss.

Up Next: vs UT Martin – Nov. 30 (Thr.)

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Rice Basketball downed by New Mexico, falls to 1-4

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Rice basketball fell to 0-2 at the Ball Dawgs Classic, falling too far behind in the first half to New Mexico on another tough night from three.

It wasn’t quite a repeat performance of the night before, but it was another discouraging result for Rice Basketball which fell to 1-4 on the season following a Wednesday night loss to New Mexico at the Ball Dawgs Classic in Las Vegas, NV. A changeup in the starting lineup, swapping in Noah Shelby in place of Anthony Selden didn’t seem to produce any material results.

Rice scored the first points, courtesy of a layup from Max Fiedler, but then watched their opponent go on a 16-3 run. New Mexico had their first double-digit lead before the second media timeout. Travie Evee kept the Owls afloat, leading all scorers with 11 first-half points.

After connecting on just 3-of-12 triples in the first half, Rice found some life early on in the second frame when their long balls began to fall. Rice made their first three three-pointers after intermission, cutting a deficit that had ballooned to 15 down to eight. The defense stepped up at that point too, contributing to nine consecutive missed shots for New Mexico.

As has been the case over the past four games, though, the bright spots were limited to brief moments and not stretched over the course of a 40-minute game. A 13-3 run midway through the second half put this game out of reach for good. Rice would go on to lose by a final score of 90-56.

Final Box | New Mexico 90 – Rice 56

Key takeaway | Can’t buy a bucket

Rice basketball likes to play fast and shoot the ball. When the shots go in, that’s all well and good. When they don’t, things can get out of hand quickly. And while the Owls possess the firepower to hurtle back and overcome deficits other teams might not, it’s certainly not a tactic they’d like to rely upon.

A season ago, Rice shot 44.9 percent from the floor and 36.4 percent from three. Those are averages, mind you, not highs and lows. Excluding their opener against Saint Thomas, Rice has yet to eclipse that shooting percentage from the field, managing just 34.0 percent from the floor against New Mexico. A dismal 25 percent shooting performance from three only made the troubles worse.

They’ve got one more game in Vegas to fight through. Then it’s back home against a couple of more manageable opponents and a much-needed, albeit brief reprieve from this rigorous non-conference schedule.

Up Next: Ball Dawg’s Classic – Henderson, NV (UC Irvine – Nov. 24)

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