Texasowl
1st String

Posts: 2,095
Joined: Apr 2020
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I Root For: Rice University
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RE: Basketball doubleheader to begin 2026-27 season
Why didnt Hanna Hilbreath not play? Is she injured. I really wanted to see how she would do. (11-03-2026 01:27 AM)ArmChairOwl Wrote: (11-03-2026 12:11 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote: (11-02-2026 11:21 PM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote: (11-02-2026 10:24 PM)Kayjay Wrote: Several observations from the game:
Jacob Dar was the best player on the court. He really looked stronger and confident. When DC made a small mini-run in the 2nd half, capitalizing on some sloppy Owl play, he scored 8 straight points on 3-quick possessions, showing leadership and court domination
Jimmy O played well overall, albeit that DC had very little interior play to challenge him. To JO's credit, he did what he was supposed to do.
The Owls were still iffy overall at the free throw line, it just hurts to watch sometimes.
After dominating in the first half, the second half was overall pretty poor defensively for the Owls, as Lanier tried a number of different combinations. The play was pretty sloppy at times. The refs were pretty loose with the calls, allowing the game to move quickly. This benefitted the Owls (and the fans!)
Jaxon Thompson is going to be fun to watch and see develop over the season. He has talent and plays under control at the point. D. Hobbs was able to spell him and the team did not lose too much on the court, but the upside of Thompson seems to be pretty sizable.
Eternity E got some strong PT and played much more under control than he did for many of his minutes last season. He hit a nice 3-pointer in the 2nd half that stood out. It was a shot he likely would not have made last season.
Inexplicably, the scoreboard with the individual player statistics was not working. You would think that Rice had all offseason to make sure the scoreboards would be working. That was more than disappointing.
I counted 7 - 9 students in the student section, not counting the band. That was a rather poor showing for opening night.
Overall there were few fans in the seats. I hope that improves substantially by Thursday.
Same issue during the women's game, as well. Amateur hour.
The women played very well and I believe 9 players got decent minutes this evening. It will be nice when we have the other post players healthy.
Women also had a rather sloppy 2nd half, though Lindsey emptied the bench with about 5 minutes left. I think we only scored 2 points from then on with a bunch of TOs. Flores, Battiston and Blackmon were the standouts. Adams played well defensively (16 boards, a couple blocks), but she threw up a bunch of bricks and had a couple uncharacteristic turnovers. Hazelton played most of the game. Look, she plays hard, BUT we're not a tournament team with her in the post. She can't play defense, she can't rebound and she has hands of stone. Sorry if that's harsh, but that's reality. We turn the ball over 50% of the time we try to get the ball into her. Yes, she can put it in the basket when she gets free down low, but the problem is getting the ball in to her. Opponents with a strong post game, or a center who drives to the basket, will take us to school.
On the men's side, aside from Dar, I was most impressed with Thompson (who can really take it to the hoop) and Vukotic (who can shoot lights out from deep). I thought both Jimmy O. and Eternity played well, particularly on defense, and Adkins made a couple hustle plays, diving on the floor to save the ball. Much less impressed with Flasar, Howell and Cochran.
Hazelton played 21 minutes (which is technically most of the game, 21 out of 40 minutes). She scored 4 points, both buckets off of caught passes. On the negative side she fouled out which is a criticism that has been noted (her 5th foul was a BS call by the bald ref who had multiple twilight zone calls), only 3 rebounds (all defense) and turned the ball over twice. Not good, but it is easy to see that Coach Edmonds is really working with her as I witnessed multiple discussions between the two. On the other hand, she had 1 block and 2 steals, indicating the reality that she can play defense, just needs a lot more consistency. And yes, she plays hard which Walt noted.
Adams played 30 minutes and is the defensive general on the court, talking constantly to her teammates, it was something to see – very impressive. She is definitely intense on defense, you can see it in her eyes which get wide and with what almost might be considered a crazy-intense look when the person she is guarding has the ball. I wouldn’t want her guarding me if I was going against this Rice team. I mean, it is like a crazy person’s eyes. I don’t know how else to describe her intensity. And yes, she did struggle offensively with the ball bouncing around the rim and out, I guess those can be called a bricks, after draining a three right at the beginning of the game. She was 1-1 with that three pointer and 1-4 on field goals, but she had an incredible 16 rebounds to go with a block and a steal.
Battiston was her usual self, all over the court and can handle the ball. She is tenacious on defense also. Flores indeed was impressive as expected, and Blackmon had an incredible game. Douglas is going to be very tough for opponents to deal with.
This team is going to be fun to watch.
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