The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 2, 2007 Page: 19 of 24
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Thresher
Page 11
THE RICE THRESHER
orts
Friday, February 2, 2007
Owls suffer third straight road loss
UH pulls out 70-63 victory without making basket in final seven minutes
by Chris Pasich
THRESH KK STAFF
The men's basketball team's
inconsistency reared its ugly head
on the road once again as the Owls
were blown out byTulane University,
75-55, in New Orleans Saturday.
Wednesday, Rice (10-10,4-3 Confer-
ence USA) rallied late against the
University of Houston, but this time
fell short, 70-63, at Hofheinz Pavilion.
The loss was the second in a row for
Rice in league play after a 4-1 start.
Each loss has been on the road.
Rice returns to Autry Court for a
two game homestand beginning on
Saturday night. The Owls first face
off against East Carolina University,
a team the Owls beat 64-47 earlier in
the year for their only conference
road victory thus far. Rice then faces
the University of Southern Missis-
sippi on Wednesday night.'ITie Owls
defeated the Golden Eagles 67-61 in
their only meeting last year. If the
Owls are to win these critical confer-
ence contests, they must find the
consistency at home that they have
struggled to attain on the road.
"It's just being consistent, bring-
ing that energy each and every
night," senior center Greg Killings
said. "It's just a couple of posses-
sions here and there that we need
to be better."
THIS WEEKEND
Men's basketball hosts
East Carolina
When: Tomorrow at 7:05
Where: Autry Court
Radio: KSEV 700 AM
The Cougars (11-9,5-2) stormed
out to a quick 6-0 lead in the first min-
ute of the game with two quick dunks
by forward Dion Dowell and a layup
from guard Oliver I^ifayette. After
Rice switched to a zone, UH began
shooting three-pointers deeper and
deeper and pulled away from Rice,
eventually taking a 17 point lead two
minutes before halftime. The Owls
closed the deficit to 13 before the
buzzer, but the slow opening put the
Owls into another hole.
At the start of the second half, the
Owls remained in their zone defense
but could not close the deficit for the
first eight minutes. Rice then went
on an 11-1 run to pull within 4 points
but could not get any closer until less
than a minute remained. The zone
did cost Rice on the boards, as the
Cougars' smaller lineup managed to
pull down as many rebounds as Rice
and outrebounded the Owls 24-18 in
the second half.
On the night. Rice shot 45 percent
from the field but only 40 percent from
the free throw line, missing 9 of their
15 attempts. UH shot a dreadful 7-33
from three-point range but made up
for it by hitting 21 free throws. Senior
guard Morris Almond, who was named
a top-30 finalist for the John R. Wooden
Award Tuesday, led the Owls with 21
points. Senior guard Rodney Foster
was the only other Owl in double
figures with 11 points.
See BASKETBALL, page 14
IN FOCUS: MEN'S BASKETBALL
Statistics
Points per game
Field goal pet.
3-point field goal pet.
Free throw pet.
Rebounds per game
Assists per game
Turnovers per game
Steals per game
Blocks per game
Rice
70.6
.441
.393
.704
35.1
13.9
15.8
7.4
3.2
Opponents
68.7
.419
.337
.641
35.8
13.8
16.0
7.8
2.9
Overall Record
C-USA Record
Home Record
Road Record
Neutral Record
10-10
4-3
7-3
1-5
2-2
Last game
Jan. 31 vs. UH
L 70-63
TAYLOR JOHNSON/THRESHER
Junior forward Patrick Britton scores one of his three field goals in Rice's 70-63
loss at UH Wednesday night. Tomorrow, the Owls look to extend their home win-
ning streak to four games against ECU. The game starts at 7:05 o m.
Men's tennis travels to
No. 32 Minnesota tomorrow
by Casey Michel
I HKMSHI K KDITOR1A1. STAFF
TAYLOR JOHNSON THRESHER
Sophomore guard Rodney Foster led all bench scorers with 11 points in Rice's 70-63 loss to UH.
0WL00K - THE WEEK IN SPORTS
Saturday, February 3
•Men's and Women's Track and Field at Houston Invitational
All day — Yeoman Fieldhouse, UH Campus
•Baseball vs. Central Missouri State
2:00 p.m. — Reckling Park
Third-straight year the Owls will host the Mules in their season opener
•Women's Basketball vs. Tulane
5:00 p.m. — Autry Court
• Men's Basketball vs. East Carolina
7:05 p.m. — Autry Court
Wednesday, February 7
•Men's Basketball vs. Southern Miss
7:05 p.m. — Autry Court
In their most dominant showing so far
this season, the men's tennis team shut down
Michigan State University and Lamar Univer-
sity in consecutive dual-matches Sunday. The
Spartans and Cardinals were unable to muster
a single team point against 29th-ranked Rice,
which improved to a record of 3-0 heading
into February.
Rice faces their toughest challenge to date
next weekend as they travel to Minneapolis to
face the 32nd-ranked University of Minnesota-
Twin Cities on Saturday. Today, however, the
Owls must first take on a Drake University team
that has not played a dual-match yet this season.
Assistant coach Efe Ustundag (Baker '99) said
the team should fare well based on its recent
performances.
"If we play doubles as we have been, and if
singles keeps up the energy, I think we should
come out of the tournament with two wins,"
Ustundag said.
Tlie Owls were forced to compete last week-
end without their top player, 28th-ranked senior
Lien Harknett, who injured his hamstring a
few weeks ago. Harknett has yet to see any
action this season but has been practicing
intermittently since X-rays showed no sign of
a tear. He will be a game-time decision for this
weekend's dual matches.
Even without Harknett, Rice had no problem
dispatching their opponents last weekend. Ju-
nior Ralph Knupfer and sophomore Toby Scheil
opened doubles play with an 8-4 trouncing of
Nick Ranks and Michael Flowers of Michigan
St. at the No. 1 doubles spot, and freshman Filip
Paroci and junior Filip Jivojinovic followed with
an 8-4 victory of their own at No. 3.
In singles. Rice only needed three more
matches to clinch the overall match 4-0. Senior
Jason Mok and Zivojinovic combined to yield
only two games to their challengers at the
five and six spots, winning both matches in
straight sets. At No. 1, Paroci impressed with
his upset of 51st-ranked Nick Rinks, starting
with a 6-1 opening set that clearly unnerved
his opponent.
"Filip started very solid and had very few
errors," Ustundag said. "He drove [Rinks]
insane. [Rinks] kept talking to himself, saying
how he just couldn't beat [Paroci]."
Rinks came back strong in the second set.
winning 6-1, and forcing the match to a deci-
sive final set. Fortunately, Paroci was able to
rebound from the second set and hand Rinks
his second loss of the year.
The Owls carried their momentum into the
second match of the day. routing the in-state
rival Cardinals 5-0. In doubles, Knupfer and
Scheil again led off with a victory, winning
their match 8-5. and Mok and sophomore
Christoph Muller bludgeoned their opponents
8-2, clinching the doubles point.
Once again, the Owls were undefeated in
all completed singles matches, easily winning
all four in straight sets.
As an impressive addition to last weekend s
success, Paroci was named Conference-USA
Player of the Week Tuesday, the first time the
freshman has won the award.
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Brown, David. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 2, 2007, newspaper, February 2, 2007; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443111/m1/19/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.