Rice University
-612, 05 CUSA
SMU
-710, 13 CUSA
Owls Stumble On Defense, Fall To SMU 73-65
1/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 20, 2010
By MOISEKAPENDA BOWER
The moment was a microcosm of the 2009-10 season, a flash of frustration that must be taking its toll on the entire Rice roster.
Owls sophomore forward Lucas Kuipers had rediscovered his long lost shooting stroke, having tallied a season-high 13 points before hoisting a 3-pointer from the top of the key with the Owls trailing by six and roughly 43 seconds remaining in the game. The shot looked true leaving Kuipers' hand, and it landed on the rim with such delicacy that a shooter's roll was expected. Several tantalizing bounces later, the ball dropped off the rim, the Owls' chance to halve the deficit falling with it.
Rice dropped its sixth consecutive game and remained winless in Conference USA action, falling to SMU 73-65 on Wednesday night at Tudor Fieldhouse. The Owls added another near miss to the pile of aggravating defeats by continuing their recent trend of leaky defense.
"I just didn't like the consistency and urgency on the defensive end," Rice coach Ben Braun said. "This is a game where we're playing a team that's pretty much been in the 50s in conference ... but we've got to make sure our defense is better than it was because that's our margin for error in the game. If we play good defense we will find ways to come down and convert (on offense). Defensively I was very disappointed. We didn't get the stops we needed to get when we needed to get them."
Braun was particularly irate over the opening of the season half, a period that began with SMU forward Papa Dia (21 points, nine rebounds) converting a three-point play just 17 seconds in. Dia parlayed an offensive rebound into a point-blank basket 82 seconds later before passing out of a late double team to Justin Haynes, who promptly rerouted the ball to Derek Williams (22 points) for an open 3-pointer and a 42-37 lead at the 17:56 mark. Following a seesaw first half Rice (6-12, 0-5 C-USA) pulled no closer than two points the rest of the way.
After they cut the deficit to two for the final time at 54-52 via a Connor Frizzelle layup with 7:00 left, the Owls allowed Robert Nyakundi a trio of open perimeter looks. Nyakundi was 1-for-8 from the floor before nailing all three shots, including a pair of 3s, in succession to extend the lead to 62-56 with 5:16 left and supply the Mustangs a working margin.
SMU (7-10, 1-3 C-USA) shot 51.0 percent (26-for-51) from the floor. During their six-game losing skid, the Owls have allowed their opponents to shoot a robust 50.6 percent (161-for-318) from the floor.
"If you're giving up 50 percent of your shots, we're clearly not playing the kind of defense we can play," Braun said. "Our players have gotten away (from previously established defensive principles) from a mental standpoint. The urgency has got to be there."
The Owls lacked consistency on offense, too. For the first time since a home loss to North Texas on Dec. 5, both Frizzelle (14 points on 6-for-15 shooting) and Kuipers (15 points on 5-for-11 shooting) scored in double figures. But aside from a late surge by freshman forward Arsalan Kazemi (15 points, nine rebounds), the Owls received scant interior production. Dia more than doubled the scoring output of Trey Stanton, Suleiman Braimoh and Emerson Herndon, who combined for just 10 points in 35 minutes. The Owls totaled only 22 points in the paint.
"We've just got to find something. It seems like we're missing something," Frizzelle said. "I don't know what it is; maybe it's the intangibles like Coach said. We've just got to find something."
Improved shooting from the free-throw line would help - the Owls missed 11 of their 27 attempts - and balanced scoring would be welcome. But the one thing Braun craves is greater defensive intensity, and if his final salvo offered indication, he'll reinforce that desire soon.
"If I've done a poor job teaching what it means to take charges, get loose balls and stop the ball, they'll understand what that means (in practice on Thursday)," Braun said. "That I will make sure because then it's on me. They can't do it if they don't know (how) ... so I'm going to make sure our players (have) no doubt. We may have some bumps and bruises, but we're going to figure out what it takes to win some games.
"That's not a threat, but what I need to do for our team. Our team needs to get a little tougher."
