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January 25, 2008 > Sports > Loss to Cougars extends cold streak for men’s basketball

Loss to Cougars extends cold streak for men’s basketball

By Kushagra Shrinath | Thresher staff

Losing is never easy, but it always stings a little more when you lose to your biggest rival. The men’s basketball team suffered such a fate with a 69-60 defeat at the hands of the University of Houston Wednesday night at the Reliant Arena. The loss is the eighth in a row for Rice (3-15, 0-5 Conference USA) and means that they will have lost their first five conference games.

The Owls will continue the search for their first league win tomorrow as they take on the University of Southern Mississippi at 4 p.m. in Hattiesburg, Miss. The Golden Eagles (9-9, 1-3 C-USA) are in the midst of a downward spiral, having lost six of their last seven games, but that does not mean the road to victory will be an easy one for the Owls.

If the Owls hope to win, they will have to contain sophomore sensation Jeremy Wise, a guard who is fifth in C-USA in scoring with an 18.2 points-per-game average and is sixth in assists with 4.2 a game. Rice won the only meeting between the two teams last season with a 70-55 victory at Autry Court.

Defense was not the Rice’s strong suit last Wednesday, but their offense, which is the worst in C-USA, finally rose to the challenge. Matching the Cougars shot for shot, the first half was a tight battle that saw nine ties and six lead changes. Neither team led by more than five and at the end of the frame Houston went into the locker room holding a slim 39-36 lead.

Rice then started the second half with a quick 7-0 run which included easy layups by senior forwards Paulius Packevicius and Patrick Britton to take a 43-39 lead. However, the Owls immediately allowed the Cougars to go on an 11-1 run of their own to take a 50-44 lead with 11:35 left to play. Rice would never get within less than three and clutch free throw shooting by the Cougars in the final two minutes, including a perfect 6-6 by Lanny Smith, sealed the win for Houston.

“We had some really good looks at the end,” head coach Willis Wilson (Will Rice ‘82) said. “Houston played aggressive defense and our shots just didn’t fall.”

Wilson said he also believes, however, that much of the pressure the Owls faced down the stretch was from themselves.

“I thought tonight we just rushed,” Wilson said. “There were times that we thought the game was getting away from us when it wasn’t.”

Despite 16 points and a career-high 20 rebounds from Packevicius, the Owls’ mistakes were once again those one would expect from a young and inexperienced team. Rice committed twenty-nine turnovers and had a difficult time moving the ball against the press. And just like its previous games, Rice played two distinct halves, shooting 48 percent from the field in the first segment of the game but dropping to just 25 percent in the second half.

The opposite trend was actually found in Rice’s previous game — in a 61-56 loss at Tulane University last Saturday in New Orleans, the Owls trailed by as much as twelve in the first half, but held a small lead in the second half before folding down the stretch. The score was knotted at 48 with 6:11 remaining before the Green Wave (13-6, 3-2 C-USA) swiped a pass from freshman Bryan Beasley and slammed an easy dunk to take a lead they would not relinquish.

Just as they struggled holding onto the ball against UH, the Owls could not seem to get a grip on the basketball when they played Tulane, turning it over 21 times.

“Our nemesis continues to be turnovers,” Wilson said. “In a game like [Wednesday], giving yourself a few possessions can make a big difference. Some of it is what we see from defenses and some of it is the decisions that we make.”

End of article

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