Men’s basketball (5-4) fell to Rice (6-2) on Sunday 83-71 as the Owls hit 12 3-pointers for the second time this season en route to its fifth straight victory in wire-to-wire fashion. Junior guard Quincy Olivari paced all scorers with 30 points and shot 5-for-8 from three, tallied five boards and four assists to go with his buckets.
The Bobcat defense matched the most points they had given up all season when they gave up 83 in its game one loss to Washington State. Rice shot 54% from the field and 57% from the 3-point line. Although Texas State won the turnover battle 13-12, the ‘Cats were unable to capitalize off the turnovers they forced and were outscored 21-15 on points from them.
Contributing to Olivari’s 30-point performance was junior forward Max Fielder who finished with a game-high nine rebounds and five assists and was one of four Owl scorers in double figures with 12.
For Texas State, senior guard Mason Harrell was one of only two Bobcats to reach double figure points, finishing with 23. Senior guard Drue Drinnon had 11 points and three assists. In his second start, freshman forward Davion Sykes lead the team in rebounds, grabbing seven.
The struggles containing the Owls on defense carried over to the offensive side of the ball, as the team only made four threes on 29% shooting from beyond the arc and only had six assists, their second least in a game this season.
Texas State also held their own in the paint and off the bench, getting 34 from each, compared to just six bench points and 28 in the paint from the Owls. But the deficit created by the Owls precise 3-point shooting was insurmountable in the end.
Next game for the Bobcats will be 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10 against old Sun Belt foe, and new member of the WAC, UT Arlington in the Simmons Bank Showdown at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The game will stream on the Varsity Network.