Owls extend C-USA win streak to five
It takes a deep search in the record book to find the last time Rice beat five consecutive conference opponents — 2004-05 to be exact.
Perhaps it’s the greatest sign the program changed during the 2016-17 season.
Coach Mike Rhoades is counting his blessings before trying to figure out the big picture or what it means for Rice’s postseason hopes.
“I was a head coach at 25 to 35 and I lived and died on every loss,” Rhoades said after Thursday night’s 80-68 win over UTSA at Tudor Fieldhouse. “The wins I never enjoyed. The losses were killing me. I just said if I ever become a head coach again, we’re going to enjoy this process and I’m going to have more fun than any coach in the country.”
Safe to say he’s having fun. That five-game winning streak in 2004-05 ended at seven, bleeding into the next season.
Most of the current streak has come from Rice (18-8, 8-5 C-USA) handling its business on the road. After beating Charlotte at home Jan. 28, the Owls notched their first-ever win at North Texas and swept on their courts Conference USA’s Sunshine State teams — Florida International and Florida Atlantic — the latter in overtime after allowing 21 consecutive points in the first half.
A 26-point effort by Rice sophomore guard Marcus Evans helped Thursday. He’s at least tied for the team lead in scoring in each of Rice’s wins during the streak for a 24.2-point average.
“It’s just one of those things where we see all our hard work coming together,” Evans said. “We knew we were capable of it. We took a few on the chin to start the season off, but we knew we were going to get to this point if we just trusted the process.”
Evans’ periodic scoring bursts against UTSA (11-15, 6-7) helped offset the Roadrunners’ efforts. There was his seven-point swing — a 3-pointer and four-point play on consecutive possessions — that took Rice from a 38-37 deficit with 14:43 remaining to a 44-38 lead with 13:51 left.
Swingman Egor Koulechov has been another gem during the winning streak as well as the rest of the season. He scored his 1,000th point against FAU and had 18 Thursday.
There are players doing the dirty work like junior Bishop Mency, commended by the coach even though the guard might not pop out on the stat sheet.
Forward Marquez Letcher-Ellis is another one of those players. He had a put-back dunk to start the second half that set the tone for the rest of the contest.
Rice finished the game on a 15-3 run.
“Everybody’s clicking,” Letcher-Ellis said. “Everybody’s playing to the best of their ability. When we play like this, I feel like we’re a really hard team to beat.”