Coach Penny struggles to find winning combo takes another L, 74-71 against Rice. photo by Don Mooney
by Don Mooney 1-31-2024
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Travis Evee hit back-to-back threes to give Rice the lead for good and the Owls made six-of-eight free throws to close the game as they defeated Memphis, 74-71, Wednesday night from FedEx Forum.
The loss marked the fourth straight for the Tigers with all of them coming in conference play and three coming by three or fewer points. Davis Jones’ 18 points led Memphis offensively while Tomlin chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds. Turnovers were again a problem for the Tigers, giving the ball away 16 times to the Owls in the contest.
Sophmore Mekhi Mason led Owl scoring with 17 pts in program win over Tigers. photo by Don Mooney
After Memphis went in front 1-0 less than a minute into the contest, the Tigers never led again until a triple from Jones with 4:16 remaining put them in front 59-58.
Rice began the game by jumping out to a 10-3 lead after a Keanu Dawes three-pointer and a layup from Anthony Selden. Memphis cut the lead to two off a 7-2 run. But consecutive threes by Travis Evee and Alem Huseinovic gave Rice an 18-10 lead. After trading baskets, Selden drove in for a layup and Huseinovic hit his second three of the half to give Rice a 24-14 lead with 4:08 remaining. Memphis made a basket and two free throws, but Keanu Dawes hit his second three. UM hit two more free throws, but Selden closed the half with a layup followed by two free throws to send the Owls into halftime with a 33-22 lead.
Memphis scored seven of the first nine points in the second half to cut Rice’s lead to six. A Huseinovic three pushed the lead back to nine. After trading baskets, the Tigers scored five straight to pull within 42-38, seven minutes into the half. The teams went back-and-forth over the next three minutes. But a three-pointer by Mekhis Mason followed by a Max Fiedler put-back sent Rice on a 7-2 run, extending Rice’s lead to 55-46. However, the Owls missed five straight shots as consecutive three-pointers by UM sent them on a 15-3 run to take a 61-58 lead with 3:06 to play. The Owls, though, didn’t waver. After the teams traded baskets, Evee hit a three-pointer, then hit a second to give Rice the 68-65 lead with 48 seconds remaining. Rice then made six-of-eight free throws to seal Rice’s first-ever victory at Memphis.
Stats
Rice connected on 49.0% (25-of-51) from the field and 47.6% (10-of-21) from three. Memphis, who was receiving votes in both the Associate Press and Coaches polls, was held to just 41.7% (25-of-60) from the floor and 16.7% (3-of-18) from three. Rice was outrebounded, 35-to-30.
David Jones’ 18 pts wasn’t enough for Tigers. photo by Don Mooney
What Head Coach Pera Had to Say
“It was a great, great job of our guys playing tough in the clutch and I think all these battles that we’ve been through helped toughen us up. We really handled getting the ball inbounds well. (Keanu Dawes) hit two very, very big free throws. Travis (Evee) hit two threes. Even though he’d been struggling, he stayed confident and hit two big ones to give us the lead back. Our kids never wavered when they got the lead. The talks in the huddle of leadership by Max (Fiedler) were tremendous. It was a program win. Just a huge win for our guys and a huge win for Rice basketball.”
Notes
• This was the 10th meeting between Rice and Memphis and the first since 2013.
• Rice won for the second time in the series and the first time at Memphis.
• Rice connected on 10 three-pointers, the sixth time this year it made at least 10 threes.
• The Owls tied a season-high with 10 steals.