Owls reach 20 wins for only the 7th time
A day earlier, the Rice Owls held a two-hour players-only meeting, not exactly protocol for a team on pace for its best season in 13 years.
After Saturday night’s 88-81 victory over Louisiana Tech, coach Mike Rhoades joked the Owls can meet as often as they like.
“I don’t know what they said to each other, but I know there’s two things in that locker room: There’s a lot of love for each other and they want to win,” Rhoades said.
Behind 26 points from guard Marcus Evans, the Owls pulled away late, sinking seven free throws in the final 51 seconds, to secure the school’s first 20win season since the 200304 campaign. It marks the seventh time the Owls have won at least 20 games in the program’s 103-year history.
“We’ve been through a lot,” said guard Marcus Jackson, who hit a 3-pointer to snap a 73-all tie with 4:07 left. “We’ve been expecting this for awhile. We’ve been chipping at the rock and finally we are having some success.”
The 20-win milestone comes in the third year under Rhoades, who inherited a program that had won a combined three Conference USAgames the previous two seasons. The Owls posted back-to-back 12-20 records in Rhoades’ first two seasons. Rice (20-9, 10-6 C-USA) has played particularly well the past month, winning seven of the last eight games.
“I had a plan when I came here,” Rhoades said. “The plan changes at times, but we know what the end result of the plan is — to try and win a championship. Alot of other sports at Rice do it a lot. Why can’t we do it in basketball? It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen this year or whenever, but let’s fight for it.”
Much to Rhoades’ liking that’s exactly what hap- pened Saturday.
After trailing by nine points, Rice rallied to take a 49-48 lead at halftime as both teams shot at least 50 percent.
Louisiana Tech (21-9, 134) took its first lead of the second half at 65-64 on a 3-pointer by DaQuan Bracey with 9:45 remaining.
The Owls then went on a 9-1 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Connor Cashaw. The Bulldogs responded with seven quick points, including a 3-pointer by Jalen Harris, to tie the game at 73.
“People think I’m crazy, but I love close games,” Rhoades said. “I love it when it’s a one- or twopossession game.”
Rice seized control with eight straight points, which included 3s by Jackson and Cashaw and a dunk by Marquez LetcherEllis, for an 81-73 lead.
Egor Koulechov and Letcher-Ellis had 12 points and Jackson added 11, becoming the 35th player in Rice history to reach 1,000 career points. Jackson had three of the Owls’ 13 3s.
“(Reaching 20 wins) is definitely a big accomplishment and speaks to how hard we’ve worked all season, but that’s not our goal for the end of the season,” Evans said. “We still have goals within reach.”