Rice (6-8) hosts UTSA (6-8) today at 2:00 p.m. at St. Thomas.

Rice comes in at #221 on Pomeroy, while UTSA is at #290.

Rice is favored by 8½.

Rice leads 5-3 with 15:48 remaining in the 1st half.

Rice trails 15-7 with 12:15 left in the half. UTSA, as usual with Rice opponents, cannot miss from 3 point range.

Rice's offense is putrid.

Yeah we're not functioning offensively. The sets aren't generating enough open looks and we don't have the guys to make plays. The defense is also really poor. And it's not a points thing or shooting percentage thing. We're just not disciplined. We've mostly stayed in front of drivers today. And when that's the case, your perimeter defense should be solid because you don't need to help off shooters as much. But somehow almost every UTSA shot is open or more open than contested. Really frustrating to see this late in the season.

UTSA had the lead to 10, but several baskets on drives by Evee has cut the lead to 28-24 with 5:42 left.

Nice little run! 24-28 Positive offense from us, although helped by UTSA missing some wide open shots.

And the lead is ours. Let's keep it that way. 37-35 with less than 1 to go.

Looked better in the last 10 minutes. Still too many sloppy defensive plays, though.

Pera at halftime - "Our defense is the key."
Well, we can't say he doesn't at least conceptually understand that.

The 47-42 with 15:56 to play. Dawes shooting FTs after the TO.

And he hits them both. 49-42.

(01-06-2024 04:10 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  The 47-42 with 15:56 to play. Dawes shooting FTs after the TO.

One issue to keep on eye on-- Pera is riding his starters in this one as he did all of last season. He's only subbed sparingly, and used only 4 players off the bench. Let's see if we wilt down the stretch as was our pattern last season.

Owls’ offense goes dormant while RR’s heating back up. 53-55.

About 3 1/2 minutes since the Owls scored.

(01-06-2024 04:20 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  Owls’ offense goes dormant while RR’s heating back up. 53-55.

About 3 1/2 minutes since the Owls scored.

UTSA shooting 48% from deep (11-23), while we're at 30% (6-20). That's the difference in the game.

Fiedler has played 28 of 30 minutes. Evee and Mason 27 of 30. They're going to tire if they have not done so already.

Mason finally breaks the scoring drought at about the 10 minute mark. More than 4 1/2 minutes without scoring for the Owls

Mason hits another to make it 57-55.

69-68 @ 3:33

73-70 @ 2:35
Shelby and Mason have been carrying us offensively the past 5+ minutes.

73-73 with 1:51 left

75-75 with 1:04 left. Rice ball after timeout.

75-75 with 1:04 to play. Owls ball after the TO.