Men's basketball falls to Baylor, to face number-nine Texas Tech

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by John Fredland

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The men's basketball team is the only thing standing between Texas Tech University and an undefeated run through the Southwest Conference regular season schedule.

The Owls (13-12 overall, 5-8 in the SWC) travel to Lubbock to play the Red Raiders tomorrow at 5:35 p.m. Texas Tech, who defeated Rice 79-57 on Feb. 3, enters the game ranked ninth in the nation on the strength of their 24-1 overall record and 13-0 SWC mark.

"We're going to have to dig in and tighten our belts," Head Coach Willis Wilson said. "Texas Tech is a heck of a basketball team. Now is the time when people want their teams to play well.

"If I know James Dickey, he's going to have his guys ready and try to send some signals to other teams in the league and on into the tournament."

In action on Wednesday night, Rice lost a 101-88 decision to Baylor University.

Spurred by hot shooting, the Bears built a 15-point halftime lead. The Owls cut it to as close as nine in the second half but could not get any closer.

"They had some clean looks, and the shots went in early," Wilson said. "That helped them build confidence. We cannot win basketball games by playing for 15 minutes. In the last 15 minutes of the game, we showed great intensity and great poise, but for the rest of the game, we were very methodical and very lackadaisical."

Seldom-used freshman point guard Chad Michael sparked the team in the second half.

"I was proud of Chad," Wilson said. "He really played hard, and he really created some things. He played with a lot of confidence. He's earned another opportunity to play in the near future and show what he can do.

"Chad gives you the dimension of a scorer and a penetrator at point guard."

Senior Tom McGhee was another bright spot for the Owls. He broke out of his shooting slump by hitting five three-pointers and finished with 31 points.

Baylor improved to 9-16 overall, 4-9 in the SWC. The victory was the first for the Bears over the Owls since January 1993.

With the Texas Tech game and the Dr Pepper SWC Classic remaining, Rice still has a chance for their sixth consecutive winning season, which would tie a team record set between 1939 and 1945.

Wilson concedes that the Owls may use their final games this season to better next season's prospects at the expense of that mark.

"It's nice to say we have the five consecutive winning seasons," Wilson said. "But if there's something we can do at this point of the year that means we'll get a loss, but we're going to have big success later on, then we're just going to have to bite the bullet and do that.

"We will get better. If there's one thing I can assure you, we will get better."

This item appeared in the Sports section of the March 1, 1996 issue.

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