Owls Prep for UH
Sunday, January 13, the Rice Owls head "crosstown" to play the Houston Lady Cougars at Hofheinz Pavilion. Tip is set for 2pm.
The Owls have lost four straight games; and, the team's confidence is clearly lacking.
"We're just having a lack of energy. I guess," said senior guard Kadie Riverin. "Starting from practice -- we're inconsistent. Some days we're really intense and ready to go and have a great practice. Then, the following day, we're just down and have no energy. The same things seem to happen during the games.
"We seem to have all right first halves then the second half we're a whole different team. I think that's the big thing we're struggling with. It's a snowball effect. One person gets down then the whole team seems to follow; and, we can't seem to pick each other back up. But, we're working on it. Hopefully, we'll get better."
Rice (7-9) has started 0 and 2 in Conference USA; but, Riverin still believes the conference season is still young.
"It's a long season. We still have 14 games left. It's just the beginning of conference."
Riverin is looking forward to playing the Lady Cougars on Sunday.
"It's pretty exciting. It's always a fun game. It's a pretty pumped up, hyped game. We're excited to play them."
A major reason for the Owls' struggles during this losing skein is poor shooting.
"We haven't been shooting the ball well since Christmas," said Greg Williams, Owls head coach. "We're struggling to score points. We've scored 46, 51, 51, and 54 (the last four games). We're the lowest scoring team in the league. We have not been running the ball like I would like."
"I know our shooting percentage has been very poor since Christmas break. We spend a lot of time in practice on shooting. We think we have better shooters than what they're shooting the ball right now. But, when shooters start missing, they start thinking about it, they start losing confidence and get hesitant. Those are the things we're trying to eliminate right now. We're telling them we have confidence in them."
A second reason for the Owls' ineffectiveness is the ankle injury to senior post Valeriya Berezhynska.
"I thought she'd play this week; but, her ankle is just not responding. Her problem is this is the third time she's sprained her ankle in about six weeks; and, it's a very bad sprain. She missed two weeks of practice before the season. She missed our first game. We were lucky after the TCU game -- when she sprained it again -- that we had finals. She missed a week then. The ankle is very tender. The swelling has not gone down in it. There has been improvement this week; but, I don't think she'll play next week at all. It's a repeat injury; so, it's going to take longer for her to come back.
Despite the losses and the injuries, Coach Williams is looking forward to facing UH on Sunday.
"They've had a very tough schedule. They've been a team that on any given night they can play with anybody in the country. They had a tremendous win -- which I'm sure was a tremendous confidence boost for them -- over Tulane. They came from eight down and beat Tulane by 10. They're coming off a nice win and we're struggling right now.
"Twiggy (McIntyre) has been a big impact for them -- allowing Tye Jackson to slide over and score and assist. Cobilyn Hill gives them nice size inside. Courtney Taylor is really coming on; so, they're two freshmen posts are really playing well right now. Ryan Meyers is playing well for them off the bench. So, they're a deeper team. I'm sure they're excited to play us."
Coach Williams cites a few keys for the Owls in the match up.
"We've got to shoot the ball better. No question. Our shooting has carried, particularly our second halves have just been abysmal our last three games. We've just been getting blown out in the second half after competing (in the first half). We have to figure out how to play for 40 minutes. We've got to handle their pressure. We've had problems in the past against their press. All those things factored in are things we're going to have to do to have a chance to get a win over there Sunday."
2pm tip-off. Tickets are still available.
The Owls have lost four straight games; and, the team's confidence is clearly lacking.
"We're just having a lack of energy. I guess," said senior guard Kadie Riverin. "Starting from practice -- we're inconsistent. Some days we're really intense and ready to go and have a great practice. Then, the following day, we're just down and have no energy. The same things seem to happen during the games.
"We seem to have all right first halves then the second half we're a whole different team. I think that's the big thing we're struggling with. It's a snowball effect. One person gets down then the whole team seems to follow; and, we can't seem to pick each other back up. But, we're working on it. Hopefully, we'll get better."
Rice (7-9) has started 0 and 2 in Conference USA; but, Riverin still believes the conference season is still young.
"It's a long season. We still have 14 games left. It's just the beginning of conference."
Riverin is looking forward to playing the Lady Cougars on Sunday.
"It's pretty exciting. It's always a fun game. It's a pretty pumped up, hyped game. We're excited to play them."
A major reason for the Owls' struggles during this losing skein is poor shooting.
"We haven't been shooting the ball well since Christmas," said Greg Williams, Owls head coach. "We're struggling to score points. We've scored 46, 51, 51, and 54 (the last four games). We're the lowest scoring team in the league. We have not been running the ball like I would like."
"I know our shooting percentage has been very poor since Christmas break. We spend a lot of time in practice on shooting. We think we have better shooters than what they're shooting the ball right now. But, when shooters start missing, they start thinking about it, they start losing confidence and get hesitant. Those are the things we're trying to eliminate right now. We're telling them we have confidence in them."
A second reason for the Owls' ineffectiveness is the ankle injury to senior post Valeriya Berezhynska.
"I thought she'd play this week; but, her ankle is just not responding. Her problem is this is the third time she's sprained her ankle in about six weeks; and, it's a very bad sprain. She missed two weeks of practice before the season. She missed our first game. We were lucky after the TCU game -- when she sprained it again -- that we had finals. She missed a week then. The ankle is very tender. The swelling has not gone down in it. There has been improvement this week; but, I don't think she'll play next week at all. It's a repeat injury; so, it's going to take longer for her to come back.
Despite the losses and the injuries, Coach Williams is looking forward to facing UH on Sunday.
"They've had a very tough schedule. They've been a team that on any given night they can play with anybody in the country. They had a tremendous win -- which I'm sure was a tremendous confidence boost for them -- over Tulane. They came from eight down and beat Tulane by 10. They're coming off a nice win and we're struggling right now.
"Twiggy (McIntyre) has been a big impact for them -- allowing Tye Jackson to slide over and score and assist. Cobilyn Hill gives them nice size inside. Courtney Taylor is really coming on; so, they're two freshmen posts are really playing well right now. Ryan Meyers is playing well for them off the bench. So, they're a deeper team. I'm sure they're excited to play us."
Coach Williams cites a few keys for the Owls in the match up.
"We've got to shoot the ball better. No question. Our shooting has carried, particularly our second halves have just been abysmal our last three games. We've just been getting blown out in the second half after competing (in the first half). We have to figure out how to play for 40 minutes. We've got to handle their pressure. We've had problems in the past against their press. All those things factored in are things we're going to have to do to have a chance to get a win over there Sunday."
2pm tip-off. Tickets are still available.
posted by Kris Gardner @ 10:54 AM
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