Men’s basketball defeats ECU 62-54
The men’s basketball team split its games last week, falling to the University of Tulsa on the road Saturday before defeating East Carolina University at Autry Court Wednesday.
The Owls have four games remaining on their conference schedule before they head into the Conference USA tournament in Memphis March 8-11. On Saturday, Rice plays at the University of Texas-El Paso, which defeated the Owls by two points at Autry Court last season. The Miners defeated third-place Alabama-Bimingham last week by 28 points, handing the Blazers their biggest loss of the season.
Junior guard Morris Almond and the rest of the Owls are looking forward to the challenge.
“We know we can play with anybody in the league,” Almond said. “It’s just a matter of finishing strong. We’ve got to get that monkey off our back. We’ve had a few overtime games, a couple of overtime collapses and one [overtime win]. Even though we’re 5-5 right now, we feel we can go in the tournament and really make some noise if we get everybody clicking.”
Wednesday’s victory over the East Carolina was the Owls’ first win at home since their victory over the University of Houston in early January, and it was only their second home win in conference play. Almond once again led Rice, scoring 30 points and adding 10 rebounds to go along with two stunning blocks.
“It’s a concentrated effort,” said Almond. “With my size, it’s one thing I can bring to the table — I can get in there and get on the glass.”
Senior forward J.R. Harrison also had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds on the night. Harrison logged 32 minutes off the bench after playing 40 minutes Saturday.
“I’ve tried to rest my body,” said Harrison. “It’s been a long season, and I was feeling banged up. But I came out, and my legs were fresh and nice, so I just hit the boards.”
Rice played a sloppy first half, turning the ball over 12 times. East Carolina led 26-24 at halftime behind 11 points from forward Tyrone Beale. The Owls scored the first six points in the second half, but the Pirates remained close until the last four minutes, when Rice closed the game with a 12-4 run.
“I think we learned from other games,” Harrison said. “We’ve been playing OK on the road, pretty well at home — we’ve just been coming up short. We tried to play the whole second half without any lapses.”
Although the Owls have been a better team on the road this year versus previous seasons, they lost a close overtime game at Tulsa Saturday, falling 80-73. The loss dropped Rice to 3-2 on the road in conference play.
Almond scored 31 points in the game for the Owls and also tied for the team high in rebounds with six. Junior guard Lorenzo Williams chipped in 8 assists to go along with 11 points, and Harrison played 40 minutes off the bench.
“[J.R.] is a big, big part of what we do and who we are,” head coach Willis Wilson (Will Rice ‘82) said. “And if playing him off the bench may give us a little different perspective and little bit more of a lift, then that’s what were looking to do. We haven’t had the luxury of giving him a lot of rest this year, and bringing him off the bench is one way to have him play a few less minutes and still be just as productive.”
Rice was down by 14 points with under 15 minutes left in the second half before making a run to close within 3. After battling back, the Owls tied the game on a 10-0 run at the end of regulation and forced overtime.
However, the team could not hold the momentum — Tulsa took a six-point lead early in the overtime period.
“It seems like it’s almost the same story each game we play,” Almond said. “We feel we’ve competed, but eventually we’ve got to start turning some of those close games into wins. The comeback was nice, but we fell short.”
Rice faces the University of Central Florida Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. at Autry Court. The first 300 students at the game will receive tickets to the Rice-UH game March 1 at Hofheinz Pavillion.
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