Rice Owls Outscored at Ford Center by UAB Blazers in Conference USA Quarterfinal

The Rice Owls faced a challenging matchup against the UAB Blazers at the Ford Center at The Star, culminating in a 60-87 defeat. The Owls now stand with an additional loss to their record, while the Blazers add another victory to theirs.

In this quarterfinal game of Conference USA, the Rice Owls started strong with an initial half score of 30 points but were unable to maintain their momentum, matching their first half performance with another 30 in the second. Despite their efforts, they fell short as the UAB Blazers tallied an impressive 40 points in the first half and escalated their offensive output to 47 points after halftime.

The Owls showcased some solid statistics despite the loss. They achieved a field goal percentage of about 46 percent and were successful on ten out of twenty-four three-point attempts, translating to roughly a 42 percent success rate from beyond the arc. From two-point range, they made eleven out of twenty-two shots – exactly half – and from the free-throw line, they scored eight out of eleven attempts which is approximately a 73 percent completion rate.

On defense and on court hustle plays, however, there was room for improvement for Rice. They managed only one block throughout the game compared to three from UAB. Additionally, they secured just two steals while allowing ten by their opponents. In terms of rebounds too, Rice was outperformed with only twenty-six total rebounds - one offensive and twenty-two defensive - whereas UAB grabbed thirty-three rebounds including seven offensively.

One area where Rice excelled was in distributing assists; they completed sixteen assists over UAB's thirteen but suffered significantly more turnovers with twenty-one compared to just ten by UAB. This discrepancy contributed heavily to points off turnovers where Rice scored ten but allowed twenty-three.

The Blazers' offense proved too much for The Owls' defense as evidenced by higher shooting percentages across all categories: fifty-one percent from two-point range; fifty-eight percent from three-point territory; and seventy-six percent accuracy at free throws line which helped them secure more points both inside (thirty-six) and outside (fourteen fast break points) than Rice's respective totals (twenty inside paint points).

As fans look forward to future games featuring The Rice University basketball team's participation will be broadcasted live for supporters who wish follow along as season progresses into its latter stages.