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The Rice Thresher
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Owls edge Hawaii before going ice cold in loss to San Jose State by Ryan Keedy thresher staff The big crowds the men's basketball team had hoped for flocked to Autry Court for both Western Athletic Conference games last week. Rice's offense, unfortunately, only showed up for one of the games. After beating the University of Hawaii 70-64 Jan. 25, the Owls scored only 14 points in Saturday's first half on their way to dropping a 54-44 decision to San Jose State University. "Unfortunately for us, we didn't shoot the ball well against San Jose, and we dropped a game that we should have won," head coach Willis Wilson said. "It was just a night where the shots didn't fall. If you look at the stat sheet, we had more than enough shot attempts. After reviewing the video, I feel that the shots we were able to get were the shots that we wanted and they were coming from the people that we wanted to shoot the basketball. "We hold them to 54 points, and statistically, we did all the things we needed to do except shoot the ball in the hoop. Sometimes you're just going to have nights like that." Despite their shooting woes, the Owls managed to keep the game exciting against a team that was previously winless in WAC play. Relying heavily on its defense, Rice clawed its way back into the game midway through the second half before the Spartans went on an 11-0 run to put it away. "It's just about finishing the ballgame," senior guard Mike Wilks said. "We played hard enough to get ourselves back into the ballgame. We tied the game, had the game close, and we just made mental mistakes. "It's just a lack of maturity on our team. We didn't knock down the shots when we had the opportunities. We've got to learn from that and come back out focused. When we're in that situation again, you have to keep in the back of your mind, 'That's what happened when we played San Jose,' and try not to let that happen again." The blame for the 25 percent field goal shooting can be spread fairly evenly. Even senior Erik Cooper, who was coming off a game against Hawaii in which he connected on five-of-six attempts, was not able to avoid the "brick bug" and went just three-of-14. "I felt confident and the ball felt good coming off, but it just felt like there was a lid over the rim," Cooper said. "I think it just perpetuated throughout the team. Everyone started missing and it was just really frustrating because you work so hard trying to get prepared for a game, and to have the ball not fall when it counts is real frustrating." To compound the frustration, the Owls didn't see the offensive drought coming. The loss followed a solid offensive effort against Hawaii, when Rice's 64 percent shooting in the second half helped the team withstand each Rainbow Warrior rally. Consistent free throw shooting down the stretch helped Rice seal the win. With a 3-3 record in WAC play entering last night's game at the University of Texas at El Paso, now is the time for the Owls to discover some offensive consistency if they hope to contend in the upper division of the league. Southern Methodist University visits Autry Court Monday to take on the Owls for the second time this season. SMU took advantage of poor Rice shooting to claim a 72-54 win Jan. 18. "The game plan has to be to shoot the ball better," Wilson said. "If we don't shoot the ball well, we don't have a chance to win. It's something that we're capable of doing. More than likely we're going to have to change defenses a little more to try to keep people off balance and really work on playing more of a tempo game." Rice will have to find a way to stop Mustang guards Jeryl Sasser and Damon Hancock, who arguably form the most potent backcourt in the conference. Each averages more than 17 points per game. "They have really talented guards in Hancock and Sasser," Cooper said. "We have to get back in defensive transition to keep them off the boards. Hopefully we'll just shoot the ball better, and I think we'll be in good shape."
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