UH and Rice have had different starts to their seasons as they prepare for conference play.
When Rice basketball coach Scott Pera helped construct this season’s non-conference schedule, the Owls were a different team. At the time, they weren’t even Pera’s team.
The schedule was built for then-coach Mike Rhoades, who, had he not departed for Virginia Commonwealth, would be in his fourth year after a 23-win season that was Rice’s winningest in over a decade. Last season’s team was older than this iteration and featured one of the most underrated guards in the country in Marcus Evans. It also boasted guard Egor Koulechov, who’s now the second-leading scorer at Florida.
Through 13 games, Rice is 3-10. After a wrenching one-point loss in the opener to Eastern Kentucky, the Owls earned their first victory in their third contest against Northwestern State. They also picked up wins over St. Thomas and St. Edward’s at Tudor Fieldhouse but followed those with losses to Texas Tech and New Mexico.
“I think we had a very tough non-conference, but as a freshman, as younger guys, it definitely helps us progress to see what we’re capable of doing and what competition might look like in the future for us,” freshman guard Najja Hunter said.
Mental toughness a key
In the preseason, Pera professed his excitement about this year’s unit. Sure, Rice lost seven lettermen, but those openings would give young Owls the space to stretch their wings.
The game experience has helped freshmen and sophomores better understand their skill sets and how they best fit with upperclassmen on the floor.
“Mental toughness is going to be really big for this team, (looking) at how we started off,” Hunter said.
Following their most recent game, a 74-66 loss to Texas State, Pera talked about that start.
“I use the word ‘disappointed’ just because I thought we made some progress in those last five days on the road, having a lead in the second half against Texas Tech, having a chance to cut it to four with two minutes left at New Mexico,” he said. “I thought we really progressed in executing the game plan and some guys really improving, so my disappointment tonight is that we didn’t play better.”
The Owls have done well in 3-point defense, holding teams to 31 percent from behind the arc, which tops Conference USA.
“We can still improve that, but that’s one of the things we’ve done well,” guard Miles Lester said. “Offensively, I think we’ve done a pretty good job moving the ball; we just haven’t made open shots.” Cashaw tops returnees
As the lone returning starter, junior guard Connor Cashaw was expected to elevate his play and has improved in most major statistical categories. He leads the Owls with 16.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.
“Any people not believing in us, we turn it into positive,” Cashaw said. “That’s been my mindset. That’s the whole team’s mindset.”
Lester, a freshman who has earned his way into the starting lineup, believes the Owls have improved through non-conference play. Like his teammates, he takes the losses in stride.
“Every game we wanted to win, but we knew coming in that our schedule was tougher this year than they normally have, so you just want to learn as much as you can playing those teams,” he said.
In early November, Pera hoped his team would be finding its rhythm by January.
“It’s a long season — we realize that, too. Our goal is that we keep getting better every week,” he said. “The process is to be playing our best basketball hopefully once league kicks in in late December (and) early January and see where that takes us.”
With C-USA competition beginning Thursday night at UTSA (7-6), the Owls need to improve in several areas. They rank last in the conference in scoring offense (66.9 points per game), scoring margin (-8.2) and field-goal percentage (40 percent) while fielding a decent rebounding margin (1.3) — good enough for seventh. Lester notes free-throw shooting (67 percent) also is high on the agenda.
Rice plays at UTEP (57) on Sunday, then opens 2018 with a home game against Old Dominion, which at 9-3 sports the league’s best non-conference record, on Jan. 4.
The Owls travel to Ruston, La., to play Louisiana Tech (9-4) on Jan. 20. The schedule gets more perilous in February with games at Middle Tennessee State (8-4) and UAB (9-4) before home games against Marshall (9-4) and Western Kentucky (8-5) over a four-game stretch.