Rice up 70 - 62, 21.1 left. Rice hits 2 FTs.

(01-25-2018 09:46 PM)Da.Owl Wrote:  67 - 60, 50.6 to go Rice steals and hits 2 FTs. 69 - 60

Thx for the play-by-play!

Rice with more FTs. 73 - 62

Rice wins 73 - 64

Nice win, and actually showed good poise down the stretch. Second consecutive game that both Osborne (16 points, 5 boards) and Meyers (9 points, 8 boards) were major contributors. Hopefully, we can build on this one.

Huge win!

Few notes:

-Austin's play has taken a step up the past few weeks. Still needs to slow it down at times and let the game come to him, but that tip-in at the buzzer was massive
-Might've been Connor's best game of the season. Lockett locked him up (he's a really good defender), Connor responded with 7 assists, 14 rebounds, and a clutch late steal
-FIU came in ranked 85th in the country in defensive TO% and we only turned it over 12 times

Great effort defensively and on the boards. Reported that AJ has quit the team. Concussion problems won't let him continue. On the girls' side I talked with Olivia after the game tonight and she says she's doing better every day and hopes to be back soon.

Yeah it's unfortunate about AJ but concussions are not fun. I hope he gets better.

Very nice effort down the stretch, and obviously our best rebounding game of the year. Hopefully it gives them some confidence to get some more wins. I have no illusions in thinking FIU is that great of a team, but when we've had so few wins this year in football and men's basketball, any win at this point is a happy day.

Meyer gave us some huge minutes and it's nice to see him out of the doghouse too. I also like the move of starting Hunter - even if he didn't have a great shooting game tonight, he had one of the key plays of the game with a steal and lay-up early in the 2nd half to show that we were ready to play the final 20 minutes,.

Maybe Olivia should try to get a medical redshirt since 2/3 of the season is already over and not play her this season anymore.

(01-25-2018 10:30 PM)bobreinhold1 Wrote:  Great effort defensively and on the boards. Reported that AJ has quit the team. Concussion problems won't let him continue. On the girls' side I talked with Olivia after the game tonight and she says she's doing better every day and hopes to be back soon.

Small complaint, but it can't be that difficult for our video team to not show replays over live action. Connor's steal at the end of the game wasn't shown and neither was Austin's massive block.

The 3 blocks by Meyer all sent a message about coming inside....nice to see him being aggressive and decisive tonight. Hopefully Myles didn’t hurt his back too bad midway in the 1st half. Overall a pretty solid effort tonight.

(01-25-2018 10:30 PM)bobreinhold1 Wrote:  Great effort defensively and on the boards. Reported that AJ has quit the team. Concussion problems won't let him continue. On the girls' side I talked with Olivia after the game tonight and she says she's doing better every day and hopes to be back soon.

Thanks for the update on AJ, that's too bad. Especially since he was just granted a 6th year of eligibility (if I recall)? Had injuries throughout his collegiate career.

Sigh. Well it was nice to see the comical having two decent sized Rice articles this morning (WBSKB and MBSKB game vs FIU), but was entertained to see that Austin had added an S to last name. Incredible.

Coach Pera has lengthened his bench again in an attempt to find combinations that work. The primary beneficiary is Austin Meyer, who has now played serious minutes for 3 games in a row where he has contributed. However, there was a 4 minute stretch late in the game where Rice turned the ball over 4 or 5 times in a row and did not score, but luckily FIU could not capitalize on the Owls lapses. Two traveling calls by Meyer under the basket were part of that sloppy play. He still has a great deal to improve in his game but we are seeing progress.

What was great to see was a number of Rice players go to the basket aggressively, including Austin, Robert Martin, Ako Adams, and Connor Cashaw. Malik Osborne showed a nice shooting touch from outside, which helped open up the lanes and the paint. Not only were Meyer's blocks important, but Najja Hunter had a block that was pretty spectacular, he can really elevate.

I did not think FIU was well coached. Their passes were sloppy, they were undisciplined and they did not play well as a team. Even thought they only had 6 turnovers they also only had 8 assists. Rice doubled that assist number against the Panthers.

Let's hope Saturday's game continues to showcase Rice's improved play. A 2-game winning streak would be great!

(01-25-2018 11:24 PM)OldOwl Wrote:  Maybe Olivia should try to get a medical redshirt since 2/3 of the season is already over and not play her this season anymore.[quote='bobreinhold1' pid='15022709' dateline='1516937431']

It probably depends on whether she can play this season (which hopefully she can), and if the team has a legitimate chance to win the conference and make the NCAA tournament.

It probably wouldn't hurt the class breakdown since there are four other juniors who will be seniors next year (compared to three current sophomores). So that way, they would have four scholarships to give out each of the next two seasons (after just having two this year). But I personally don't think you ever give up the opportunity to make it to the NCAA's if you can. Maybe next year they get hit by a terrible injury bug and instead of being a top-25 team like I think is possible, they end up .500. You just never know how things shake out.

Weeknight games are more difficult for me to make but i plan on being there tomorrow to see this 2 game winning streak :)

(01-26-2018 12:06 PM)owl95 Wrote:  Weeknight games are more difficult for me to make but i plan on being there tomorrow to see this 2 game winning streak :)

Try to see the ladies too.