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Coming into Thursday’s game, UTSA coach Steve Henson had watched enough film of Rice to know that Marcus Evans and Egor Koulechov could blow a game open with their shooting ability.
After containing Conference USA’s most potent scoring duo for most of the first half, the bottom fell out for the Roadrunners after the break.
Evans scored 17 of his game-high 26 points after intermission and Koulechov produced all 18 of his points in the second half to power the hot-shooting Owls to an 80-68 victory at Autry Court in Houston.
“Yeah, they are good players, really good players,” Henson said wearily in his post-game interview on the Roadrunner Sports Network after the game. “They found their shooters on the perimeter.”
That might have been an understatement as the Owls (18-7, 7-5) riddled an assortment of UTSA defensive sets to claim their fifth consecutive victory – their longest winning streak in a season since 2004-05.
“We went zone there in the one stretch where we weren’t getting any stops out of our man-to-man (defense) and they just lit up our zone,” Henson said. “There were just too many 3-pointers for them in the second half.”
The Owls erupted for 52 points after the break, the most allowed in a half by UTSA all season. Rice hit 58.1 percent from the field and a sizzling 64.3 percent of its threes in the second half. In the first half, the cold-shooting Owls shot 37.9 percent from the field and clanked all 10 of their 3-pointers.
UTSA tied the game at 65 on a jumper by Giovanni De Nicolao with 5:15 left. But Evans hit a 3-pointer and two foul shots starting a closing 15-3 run that iced the victory.
The realization that UTSA (11-15, 6-7) had the Owls on the ropes but couldn’t put them away was most galling for Henson after the game.
“I hope they aren’t feeling good right now because I felt that was a game we had a chance to win,” said Henson, who saw his team drop its 13th defeat in 14 road games this season. “You have to make plays down the stretch. Make baskets and make plays, whether it’s a rebound or a steal or something. They made them and we didn’t.”
Jeff Beverly scored 10 points during an early 19-10 run where the Roadrunners confused the Owls. But sloppy mistakes dotted the rest of the half as UTSA had 11 turnovers. Those miscues sparked Rice’s 17-2 spurt late in the first half before UTSA pulled within 28-27 at the break.
“Turnovers in the first half were a big problem,” Henson said. “We just hadn’t been doing that. We’ve been taking care of the basketball and they weren’t that aggressive. But the turnovers in the first half were really bad and then we didn’t guard well enough in the second half.”
Despite the defensive breakdowns, the Roadrunners again dominated inside with a 45-33 edge in rebounding and a 21-4 edge in second-chance points.
Among the keys for that inside production were backups Mitar Stanojevic and George Willborn III, who combined for 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
“I was proud of them,” Henson said. “George came in and gave us a great lift and Mitar gave us a lot of energy and passion, which isn’t surprising because it’s what he does every day. Those guys did a nice job for us.”
Beverly led the Roadrunners with 20 points and Lucas O’Brien chipped in with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Henson is counting on the sting his team’s sixth loss in its last eight games to suitably inspire his team on the long bus ride for Saturday’s game against North Texas.
“I like the fact our guys aren’t sitting in there thinking we tied it or whatever it was late,” he said. “They aren’t content with that, and that’s very important. We’re not trying to just hang in there with good teams.
“I think Rice is a good team. We had a chance. Somebody had to make one or two plays and it was Rice tonight.”
Tgriffin@express-news.net
Twitter: @TimGriffinBig12
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