In other bottom-of-the-bottom-pod contenders, Charlotte hit a 3 with 3 seconds left @USM to force overtime. Middle Tennessee is up 15 @UTSA late in 1H. We'd prefer that USM and MidTenn BOTH lose, of course.

26 assists on 32 made baskets. That's what Pera dreams of at night.

Great balance on offense.

We shot 28 3-balls and 24 2s. And North Texas shot even MORE 3s: 33 and just 18 2s.

Both teams shot >50% overall. Rice: 61.5% (all FGs) & 53.6% (3s); NT: 51% & 48.5%.

A shootout, indeed!

Great effort and execution. I loved us staying small it kept the two bigs for UNT out of the game and with Drew, Trey, and Martin we had the better inside presence. Draper kept them in the game but in the last series of possessions for UNT Pera put Murphy on him and took away his open looks. I’ve been hard on Mullins this year but this was his best game overall. Still not shooting well but good D and his drives kept UNT honest.

I'm scared to admit this but I just looked it up - Rice is 2-6 in the games I've been at this year and 4-0 in the ones I've missed.

Great effort by everyone today (including me for not being there I guess). As I said the other night, our schedule in February is a bit easier than the January schedule (although I wouldn't have thought this was one of the easier games). Let's continue to go with the small lineup and see how things progress (the Rockets by the way did the same last night in their win over the Mavs - they were the first NBA team apparently since 1966 not to play anyone taller than 6-6 in the game).

(02-01-2020 04:51 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  In other bottom-of-the-bottom-pod contenders, Charlotte hit a 3 with 3 seconds left @USM to force overtime. Middle Tennessee is up 15 @UTSA late in 1H. We'd prefer that USM and MidTenn BOTH lose, of course.

USM wins in overtime, 74-68.

After being down 58-65, Rice outscored UNT down the stretch 26-10.

Fun game. Sick with the flu, so perfect excuse to lie on the couch and watch the game

The passing was incredible today. They obviously have been working on it.
High velocity with many balls being held for a split second before being sent somewhere else. Very imaginative passing schemes too.

The emergence of Parrish as an attacker to the bucket has been huge. He is like a running back going to the rim.

Great coaching by Pera and staff.

(02-01-2020 05:09 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(02-01-2020 04:51 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  In other bottom-of-the-bottom-pod contenders, Charlotte hit a 3 with 3 seconds left @USM to force overtime. Middle Tennessee is up 15 @UTSA late in 1H. We'd prefer that USM and MidTenn BOTH lose, of course.

USM wins in overtime, 74-68.

Middle Tennessee didn't make a FG in the last 6 minutes, but hung on to beat UTSA, 83-80. The Roadrunners missed two wide-open 3s in the last 2 minutes, and with the scored tied, fouled on a MT 3-point shot attempt with less than 2 seconds left (and MT made all three FTs).

So we haven't gained any ground on MT or USM today, but we have on three former 4-5 conference-record teams who lost today: UTSA, Marshall and UAB or UTEP, who play each other later tonight.

The bottom of the CUSA standings will look like:

4-6: UTSA, Marshall & UAB or UTEP
3-7: USM
2-8: Rice & Middle Tennessee

(02-01-2020 06:19 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  So we haven't gained any ground on MT or USM today, but we have on three former 4-5 conference-record teams who lost today: UTSA, Marshall and UAB or UTEP, who play each other later tonight.

The bottom of the CUSA standings will look like:

4-6: UTSA, Marshall & UAB or UTEP
3-7: USM
2-8: Rice & Middle Tennessee

I fear the tie-breakers will work against the efforts to climb out of Pod 3. We’ll lose a head-to-head against UTSA, UTEP, Marshall or USM. I am not as certain about a three-way tie that includes UAB should we defeat the Blazers on the road. I think we pretty much need to win both games on the road this week to get to Pod 2.

Agree. Pod 2 is a long shot at this point and the only realistic path at this point is a 4-0 finish (5-0 including yesterday’s win).

We just need to make sure we come out on top of pod 3 to get to Frisco

Agree on moon and ese posts. The UNT win will go a long way towards breaking ties with USM and MTSU. We don’t typically play well at UAB, but I am confident on how the schedule shapes up for us this month. If we can continue to shoot like we have the last two games (although we shoot so much better at home than on the road), we can beat anyone in the league. It wouldn’t surprise me if a middle of the pack team gets hot and wins the conference tournament so why not Rice?

Rice would be better served by being in the bottom group - easier opponents would simplify the path to the top 12.

(02-02-2020 11:11 AM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  Rice would be better served by being in the bottom group - easier opponents would simplify the path to the top 12.

I think Pod 2 teams are locked into Frisco no worse than the 10 seed.

I want to see this team get into Pod 2 and get another shot at teams like UTEP and Marshall. Finishing at the top of Pod 3 would be a small step forward.

Great win. Is it a positive step or luck? Seems like we live and die by the 3.

(02-02-2020 04:57 PM)OldOwl Wrote:  Great win. Is it a positive step or luck? Seems like we live and die by the 3.

It’s both. Our M.O. is dependent on success from 3PT, which will be subject to random variability (I.e. “luck). But the way we played Saturday we made a lot of our own luck with good passing and solid overall play.

We’ve had three solid wins against good teams this year, the first two were in November so it’s nice to finally get a third. In between there were just too many close calls and bad losses.

@UAB coming up is not a must-win* but it is a must-show (IMO). We need to show ourselves that we can be competitive on the road against a mid-pack CUSA squad.

If we do win at UAB then we can start talking like this team has a chance to make a 4-0 run in Frisco. But right now, even though I think we can beat anybody in one game, I don’t really like our chances to get hot in the tourney. Too dependent on the 3 for that to be realistic.

I do like the style, though, and with a little more experience that style can work well once we’re playing stronger than our competition.

I was surprised at how effective Rice's defense in the paint worked with the smaller line-up. Doubling down on the UNT posts worked incredibly well, at least in this game. Josh Parrish is beginning to really mature on the court and make an impact on the contest. The referees also set the tone early by calling several carries and travels.

We have also seen the transformation of leadership on the team as Drew Peterson really took charge on the court, with the coach and in the time out huddle. Last year it was Robert Martin that stepped up and directed the action on the court for the most part. Now this seems to be Drew's team, which (if he continues to develop) could be a real positive development for the Owls moving into the future.

This game was what I hoped we would be seeing all season by the Owls: great ball movement and distribution, relatively few bad shots, hustle on the defensive end (even though there were still some breakdowns), and an ability to finish during the final 4 minutes of the half and end of the game. Let's hope they finish strong and make it into the conference tournament.

(02-03-2020 09:57 AM)Kayjay Wrote:  I was surprised at how effective Rice's defense in the paint worked with the smaller line-up. Doubling down on the UNT posts worked incredibly well, at least in this game. Josh Parrish is beginning to really mature on the court and make an impact on the contest. The referees also set the tone early by calling several carries and travels.

We have also seen the transformation of leadership on the team as Drew Peterson really took charge on the court, with the coach and in the time out huddle. Last year it was Robert Martin that stepped up and directed the action on the court for the most part. Now this seems to be Drew's team, which (if he continues to develop) could be a real positive development for the Owls moving into the future.

This game was what I hoped we would be seeing all season by the Owls: great ball movement and distribution, relatively few bad shots, hustle on the defensive end (even though there were still some breakdowns), and an ability to finish during the final 4 minutes of the half and end of the game. Let's hope they finish strong and make it into the conference tournament.

A large part of the success on offense was a willingness to slash to the
basket when the opportunity presented itself, not as a last second desperation.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I love us going small as it forced UNT to do the same but with our big guards Drew and Trey along with Martin and Josh’s physical presence it gave us the advantage inside. This should be our game plan moving forward. It’s the same type of lineup UH uses where the tallest person with significant PT and production is 6’8”.