Rice wins by 26 I think? 82-56. Pretty solid defensive effort.

Evee had 20 in the first half. Selden and Alijiki playing a lot more minutes lately. I think that’s why we are seeing better defense.
(Part of the reason at least).

6-6 on the season now. Louisiana Friday night can give us a winning (or losing) NC record.

This is the deepest Rice team in years. There is really very little dropoff, even to the 9th player.

Always pleasant to miss a game, look at the box score, and see a 5 in front of the opponent's score.

So we’re back up to #165 in KenPom.

We’ve lost to every team ranked above us by double digits. We’ve beat every team ranked below us by 9 points or more.

Louisiana game gives a chance to break that pattern.

(12-20-2023 10:47 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Evee had 20 in the first half. Selden and Alijiki playing a lot more minutes lately. I think that’s why we are seeing better defense.

Excellent news on both counts

It is nice to see Coach Pera utilizing his bench much more in 2023/24 so far compared to last year (bench depth is much more evident). I was a little surprised Evee played almost 33 minutes on Wednesday evening, given the score differential. The team is still shooting below par from beyond the arc but they are driving to the bucket much more effectively against teams they match up with in talent.

I am still waiting for a few breakout performances from Dawes. He has shown some flashes but a sustained 10 -15 minutes where he commands the ball and takes over the offense has not happened yet. You can see the talent…I think he needs some confidence with his shot (pretty flat arc so far) and perhaps some pushing by his teammates on the court.

I can’t opine on Coach P’s proclamation that the team is stepping up defensively over the past 3 to 4 games. I want to see them continue to have solid defensive results agains teams that are ranked higher than the Owls before I jump on that bandwagon. I am encouraged with the overall results of the past few games. I am looking forward to the game Friday night.

(12-21-2023 10:01 AM)Orange County Owl Wrote:  So we’re back up to #165 in KenPom.

We’ve lost to every team ranked above us by double digits. We’ve beat every team ranked below us by 9 points or more.

Louisiana game gives a chance to break that pattern.

We have our answer.

Off-topic (and I don’t think he really claims Rice in any meaningful way, unlike Trey Murphy), but Drew Peterson made his NBA debut today for the Celtics.

(12-23-2023 05:50 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Off-topic (and I don’t think he really claims Rice in any meaningful way, unlike Trey Murphy), but Drew Peterson made his NBA debut today for the Celtics.

And Quincy continuing to light it up for Xavier. Had 29 points (5-11 from deep) in today's win over Seton Hall; his third 25+ point outing of the season, tops in the Big East.