Owls hope growth, C-USA tourney spot can go hand in hand

With a 4-14 record, Rice already has two more losses than last season. The Owls probably won’t be invited to the College Basketball Invitational this year, much less the NCAA Tournament, but with a new coach leading one of the youngest, most inexperienced teams in the country, Rice’s focus remains on growth, even if it comes at the expense of winning — for now.

It’s understood at this point: The Owls, who are 1-4 in Conference USA play, lost six transfers in the offseason and returned just one of their top seven scorers and rebounders from last year in junior Connor Cashaw.

But heading into Thursday’s game at Southern Mississippi (9-10, 2-4), Rice is still in shape to qualify for the C-USA tournament, which pits the league’s 12 best teams (the Owls are currently 12th) — if they can convert their progress into more wins down the stretch.

“I think we’ve improved more than any other team in Conference USA, because we went from a group of new guys to playing our first real college basketball games,” sophomore forward Robert Martin said. “Now that everyone is getting in the flow and learning what the intensity is like, (it) only makes our ceiling bigger.” Meaningful minutes

Martin, like several of his fellow underclassmen, was lodged on the bench last season, buried by a lineup that featured Egor Koulechov, now Florida’s secondleading scorer, and Marcus Evans, C-USA’s third-leading scorer a season ago.

“I try to embrace the role and responsibility that comes with (a starting role),” Martin said. “Last year, I didn’t play much because we had a solid eight-man rotation, and some of them were juniors and seniors, so everybody’s role was already solidified. Having to play 28 minutes a game is a completely different role from last year. Game days, practices — they took on a new meaning, because you couldn’t just slide through.”

The Owls’ trial-by-fire baptism has left the team hungry and optimistic, despite their early struggles.

“I thought we’d play a little better earlier than we did, but I also had to factor in the difficulty of the schedule,” coach Scott Pera said. “So I’ve been proud of the guys because they’ve hung with it and started to show some strides and hopefully now can have a good second half here and finish on an up note. The improvement is the key to me.”

Freshman forward Malik Osborne has been solid on the boards. He’s the Owls’ No. 2 rebounder (6.1 boards per game) and averages 6.4 points. Fellow first-year man Najja Hunter averages four points per game but has looked more comfortable attacking the rim. Sophomore strides

Sophomore forward Tim Harrison opened conference play with three consecutive double-digit scoring games and has increasingly seen more playing time.

“People forget that even though he’s a sophomore, he’s barely played,” Pera said. “Tim played very few minutes last year, so he’s almost like a redshirt freshman in some ways. ”

Sophomore Ako Adams also has started to find his rhythm, scoring at least 16 points in each of the last three games.

“I’m just playing my game, and things are slowing down for me, (but) the confidence comes from my teammates,” Adams said.

As the Owls’ starting point guard, Adams has lifted some of the burden from Cashaw, CUSA’s seventh-leading scorer (16.7 points per game) and the team’s leading rebounder (6.6).

“He struggled early on and couldn’t find his shot,” Pera said of Adams. “He was really pressing and putting a lot of pressure on himself, but recently he’s seen the ball go in a few times, and he’s settled down and calmed down and seemed to have found his groove. If we’re going to win games with these 13 games remaining, he has to continue doing what he’s doing.”

While failure is an inevitable aspect of growth, Rice players and coaches insist they continue to approach each game no differently than the last.

“Even if you’re 0-20, you take it personal when someone thinks, ‘OK, this is an easy win,’ ” Martin said. “You want to go out and prove that we deserve to be here. I don’t care what my record says; it’s not a reflection of who we are or what we’re about.”