Rice (11/23/10)

Talon90 · November 24, 2010

Did you see the game or are you basing it on the outcome? We played like trash a lot of the night.

I agree mdh.....we did not play well tonight but still somehow got a W. Three point fg is again just awful (3-19)....our defense (interior and perimeter) was shaky at best and we were bailed out by some HORRIBLE calls by the refs....Rice had plenty to complain about very poor officiating. It let us go to our strength in free throw shooting...let us get back in the game and in the end sealed the deal with UNT shooting 2 shots each foul at the end.

1:00 to go with a lead and instead of working the clock and working up a good shot we jack up a 3??? Just doesn't make any sense.

Tristan Thompson continues to carry this team.....man he is fun to watch....when he gets hot hitting the three he is scary.

Press worked well and the guys really got after it which led to some huge turnovers at the end.

I am encouraged we can still gut it out when we are not playing our best but this team has a lot to work on.

Happy for the win but lots to improve on.

GMG!

Talon90 · November 24, 2010

Good win to gut this one out. Tristan and George carried us for sure. But, big big free throws by Shannon. We so badly need more depth off the bench. Cam Spencer is at least three weeks away from returning and Alzee wasn't even at the game. I think we were outscored by at least 8 with Knox in the game and his stat line..ouch.

Good points. Couldn't agree with you more.

UNTflyer · November 24, 2010

Official Rice Attendance: 3453

SeasonTotal: 13803

Season Average: 4601

UNTflyer · November 24, 2010

Good win to gut this one out. Tristan and George carried us for sure. But, big big free throws by Shannon. We so badly need more depth off the bench. Cam Spencer is at least three weeks away from returning and Alzee wasn't even at the game. I think we were outscored by at least 8 with Knox in the game and his stat line..ouch.

Alzee was at the game, still on crutches.

THOR · November 24, 2010

I think we were outscored by at least 8 with Knox in the game and his stat line..ouch.

maybe outscored, but not out fouled!!!

All About UNT · November 24, 2010

Alzee was at the game, still on crutches.

I saw you multiple times on tv

ntmeangreen11 · November 24, 2010

Sloppy game to say the least.

Given how bad we shot from the field we are very, very lucky to have pulled this one out. I think we shot 35% from the field and I would assume it's only that high because of the late effort in the second half, wouldn't be surprised if we shot less than 25% in the first half.

Knox just had a horrific game once again, I'm trying not to harp on the kid, but in less than a minute seconds he gave Rice 5 points and 3 fouls, we need to sign two JUCO big men or a transfer at the post for next season or we are going to be in big trouble.

UNTflyer · November 24, 2010

I saw you multiple times on tv

So what happened, did the TV station go to commercial on the final play?

All About UNT · November 24, 2010

So what happened, did the TV station go to commercial on the final play?

Say wha?? No...it showed it till the end from what I saw. I have to say that the commentary, the edits, the replays, the backgrounds and everything else were great regional representation of the program. It seemed a lot more professional than what we saw when we played TAMU last year.

GrandGreen · November 24, 2010

NT was far from impressive tonight other than they found a way to win at the end. This team unlike any recent NT team has no depth at all. It has to improve, the second line of bigs was close to terrible. Holmen, Edwards and Knox were varying degrees of bad. I took up for Knox against KU, but he looked more like a scared hs player tonight than a third year college player. Holmen continues to run around outside and miss shots and play matador defense. Holmen has all the physical tools, why can't he play? He could be the savior of this year team because he has the talent but so far has shown little other than bad shoot selection. Edwards, frankly looks like he has some health issues, he tries but looks totally uncoordinated at times.

Very good not great games by Thompson and Odufuwa. Was I the only one that feared NT season was all but over when Odufuwa went down in the first half. As bad as NT played, they found enough to win at the end. Shorter came through with the free throws as NT basically won the game at the free throw line. Hogans had another great hustle game but missed a lot of easy shoots, but he too came through at crunch time with some offense. Johnson and White both had off games, they were much faster than anything Rice had, but just never really clicked. White is hard to figure this year, one all world game and three were he just hasn't been a big factor.

NT seems to always start slow and build under JJ and I hope that trend continues. This team is really only 6 players deep right now and that it is going to hard to overcome unless someone else starts to contribute more. Williams can play if he can get healthy, Spencer is no star but compared to what is coming off the bench right now; he could be a big help.

Edited November 24, 2010 by GrandGreen

All About UNT · November 24, 2010

Gotta miss Eric at this point.

UNT90 · November 24, 2010

Gotta miss Eric at this point.

We run a post up and penetrate offense with barely one post up player, and he gets doubled just about every time he touches the ball down low. I worry that the 2nd post is not currently on this team. I think we will sorely miss Big Tram before this season is over, no matter how successful this season turns out.

jdennis82 · November 24, 2010

did the team play to their potential? absolutely not.

BUT, the important thing is getting out of that game without another L on the record. if this team wants to win a game in the NCAA tourney, the key will be having 6 losses or less and earning a better seed than #15. squeak them out now, that's fine. especially before thanksgiving break. i trust JJ will coach these guys up as he's always done.

buff64 · November 24, 2010

Say wha?? No...it showed it till the end from what I saw. I have to say that the commentary, the edits, the replays, the backgrounds and everything else were great regional representation of the program. It seemed a lot more professional than what we saw when we played TAMU last year.

Would have been nice if the announcers would have given the score more often, the running score on the telecast was too small to read .

Army of Dad · November 24, 2010

I agree mdh.....we did not play well tonight but still somehow got a W. Three point fg is again just awful (3-19)....our defense (interior and perimeter) was shaky at best and we were bailed out by some HORRIBLE calls by the refs....Rice had plenty to complain about very poor officiating. It let us go to our strength in free throw shooting...let us get back in the game and in the end sealed the deal with UNT shooting 2 shots each foul at the end.

1:00 to go with a lead and instead of working the clock and working up a good shot we jack up a 3??? Just doesn't make any sense.

Tristan Thompson continues to carry this team.....man he is fun to watch....when he gets hot hitting the three he is scary.

Press worked well and the guys really got after it which led to some huge turnovers at the end.

I am encouraged we can still gut it out when we are not playing our best but this team has a lot to work on.

Happy for the win but lots to improve on.

GMG!

Disagree, #14 in particular got away with murder for most of the first half. Don't forget he was the one who lined up George for a body check after George was up in the air and he flat out punched Hogans in the ribs in the first half and got away with it. It leveled out some in the second half, but the officiating was still terrible it's just that the bad calls were more balanced after the break.

Censored by Laurie · November 24, 2010

Disagree, #14 in particular got away with murder for most of the first half. Don't forget he was the one who lined up George for a body check after George was up in the air and he flat out punched Hogans in the ribs in the first half and got away with it. It leveled out some in the second half, but the officiating was still terrible it's just that the bad calls were more balanced after the break.

But if those late fouls weren't called, we wouldn't have been shooting free throws. I think that was Talon90's point...

untjim1995 · November 24, 2010

Guys, I will guarantee you that Rice would beat almost every SBC team right now. They have some good dribble and drive guards and they can shoot from the outside. Braun is a very good coach and he would coach circles around many of the SBC coaches. This win may not look that great at the end of the year because of Rice's record in their conference, which isn't great either, but is apparently LIGHT YEARS ahead of the SBC this year, but it would continue to help us gain momentum to that big 20 win streak. I will say this, especially now that the team is getting some attention, this will help out big for an NIT bid if we don't win the SBC Tournament. Our record and the attendance will at least get us some recognition there. I want us to go to the NCAAs and think we ahve a great chance, but a win against teams like Tech and Rice will at least help us to hedge our best if we don't get back to the NCAA Tournament. And, at this point, the only way the SBC could even conceive of getting two bids is if UNT and WKU basically only lose 3-4 games each. Even that may not do it because this league is so bad right now. It really amazes me at how fast and far the decline has been for the SBC over the last 2 years.

Edited November 24, 2010 by untjim1995

UNTflyer · November 24, 2010

Hard to judge the quality of the Rice win right now. Last year they had 8 wins but started out 3-1. That was their record heading into last night, but they are supposed to be an improved team.

Censored by Laurie · November 24, 2010

Hard to judge the quality of the Rice win right now. Last year they had 8 wins but started out 3-1. That was their record heading into last night, but they are supposed to be an improved team.

This.

That was a solid defensive team that encouraged our sloppy play...mind you, we did little to curtail our errors. Their zone dictated play until TT knocked down 3 in a row.

The 68 points we scored is the most Rice has allowed this season...and their only other loss came by a point at a good Santa Clara team.

They go to Texas and then welcome Arizona to Houston in their next 2 games...so their performance in those 2 tough match-ups should provide us with a bit better barometer of who we just beat.

In looking at C-USA this season, Rice should be a middle of the pack team.

Army of Dad · November 24, 2010

But if those late fouls weren't called, we wouldn't have been shooting free throws. I think that was Talon90's point...

Rice played like thugs much of the night. In the second half Domo (or White) was put into a headlock on the offensive end-no call. Tristan went up for a lay up and had his shot "blocked" by getting whacked in the face. He went into the media timeout after spending a few moments under the backboard he came up blinking and checking his eye. From our seats it was very easy to see how red his eye was-no foul called. Rice had no more right to complain about the officiating than we had, and I would say much less right to complain. The first half was brutal and in their favor, the second merely poor but equally so.

KoldBeer · November 24, 2010

It's still too early to put a lot of weight into these numbers but Kenpom has Rice ranked at #144. The only two teams that North Texas will play the rest of the season ranked higher are LSU and WKU. Rice is the 9th out of 12 teams in CUSA (on Kenpom).

Green Lantern · November 24, 2010

Rice played like thugs much of the night. In the second half Domo (or White) was put into a headlock on the offensive end-no call. Tristan went up for a lay up and had his shot "blocked" by getting whacked in the face. He went into the media timeout after spending a few moments under the backboard he came up blinking and checking his eye. From our seats it was very easy to see how red his eye was-no foul called. Rice had no more right to complain about the officiating than we had, and I would say much less right to complain. The first half was brutal and in their favor, the second merely poor but equally so.

Of course, in looking at NT from Rice's perspective, I'd have probably junked up the game last night too. When we have less than 30 pts. at halftime, that's not NT basketball. When we have less than 75 pts in a game, that's not NT basketball.

I thought Rice had a good gameplan to come and take away as much of NT's transition game as possilbe. Hard fouls and force us into a half court set. Slowed the pace down to an uncomfortable level. Make us beat them from shooting over their zone (which we really didn't do effectively).

On a positive note, I was pretty pleased with our full court press to close the game. Well executed for the most part and made Rice really work.

Army of Dad · November 24, 2010

Of course, in looking at NT from Rice's perspective, I'd have probably junked up the game last night too. When we have less than 30 pts. at halftime, that's not NT basketball. When we have less than 75 pts in a game, that's not NT basketball.

I thought Rice had a good gameplan to come and take away as much of NT's transition game as possilbe. Hard fouls and force us into a half court set. Slowed the pace down to an uncomfortable level. Make us beat them from shooting over their zone (which we really didn't do effectively).

On a positive note, I was pretty pleased with our full court press to close the game. Well executed for the most part and made Rice really work.

Yeah and I also noticed just how fast they were trying to double George, especially in the early part of the first half.

I agree the press looked pretty good and it really bothered them.