Early woes continue for men’s basketball
The men’s basketball team has had a tough start to its season. After suffering two straight blowout losses, Rice (0-4) stayed within striking distance of its next two opponents — Richmond University and the University of Arkansas-Little Rock — before ultimately falling in close contests.
This weekend the Owls will travel to Iowa City, Iowa, to take part in the Hawkeye Challenge. They will open against the University of Eastern Illinois (1-4) today at 5:45 p.m., and the winner of that game will face host University of Iowa (5-3) on Saturday. The loser takes on the University of Louisiana-Monroe (2-4).
“It’s a ‘get-well’ tournament for all of the teams involved,” head coach Willis Wilson (Will Rice ‘82) said. “Eastern Illinois is in the same position as ours and we feel like this is a game that’s very winnable for us.”
Rice’s 59-52 loss to Arkansas-Little Rock (5-0) on Tuesday was close throughout. The two teams went back and forth for much of the game before the Trojans put the game away in the closing minutes. Following a 12-0 Arkansas-Little Rock run that pushed its lead to 41-34 midway through the second half, Rice bounced back with a 13-5 run of its own to take a 47-46 lead with seven minutes to play.
After the Trojans grabbed back the lead, the Owls took a 52-51 lead with just four minutes remaining on a three-point shot by junior guard Cory Pflieger. However, the team then went into an offensive drought, plagued by missed shots and errant passes as Arkansas-Little Rock scored the last eight points of the game to seal the win.
“We turned the ball over a couple times in key areas,” Wilson said. “We just missed some shots that, had we made, the outcome would have been a lot different.”
Pflieger and freshman guard Jasen Williams led the team with 13 points apiece, and junior forward Paulius Packevicius continued his consistent play with nine points and 10 rebounds.
To add injury to insult, the Owls will have to deal with the loss of sophomore guard Chris Hagan for the remainder of the season. Hagan, who played in each of Rice’s 32 games last season and started the first two games this year, ruptured a patella tendon in his right knee in Rice’s 61-55 loss to Richmond Nov. 20. With Hagan sidelined, Rice will look to highly touted sophomore guard Bryan Beasley to fill the void.
In four games this season Wilson has employed four different starting lineups, with Packevicius the only player to have started in every game.
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