Hilltopper Basketball Drops Game at Rice

Saturday, February 18

Houston, Texas

7 p.m.

Western Kentucky University

-1413,610 CUSA

Rice

-1710,88 CUSA

Western Ky.

Rice

WKU Hilltoppers guard Dayvion McKnight (20) of the Hilltoppers during a game at E.A Diddle Arena on Feburary 9, 2023 in Bowling Green, KY. Photo by Gunnar Word/WKU Athletics

Photo by: Gunnar Word/WKU Athletics

2/18/2023 9:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

HOUSTON – WKU Hilltopper Basketball got down early at Rice on Saturday night and was unable to overcome the deficit, falling to the Owls 83-77.

WKU missed its first seven shots of the game while the Rice Owls hit 10 of their first 14 attempts. The lopsided shooting resulted in a 25-9 Rice lead by the 11:41 mark. The Owls' Quincy Olivari hit three straight 3's forcing WKU to call a timeout.

The Hilltoppers went on an 11-0 run between 4:57 and 2:08 in the first half to cut the Rice lead to just 27-36, but the Owls closed out the period on 7-0 run to push Their lead back up to 43-27 at the break.

In the first half, Rice shot 51.5% from the field, including a 53.8% clip from 3. The Owls held WKU to 34.5% shooting and a 25% (4 of 16) mark from beyond the arc.

WKU (14-13, 6-10 C-USA) used a 13-2 run to open up the second half to get within six points of the Owls. The 48-42 deficit at the 13:30 mark was the closest the Hilltoppers had gotten since the beginning four minutes of the game.

From there, the Owls tacked on five points and kept the Hilltoppers at arm's length the rest of the way.

Several late 3-pointers got WKU within six and then five, but never closer. Rice (17-10, 8-8) didn't score a field goal in the final 3:47 of the game as the Hilltoppers tried to maintain the deficit by fouling. The Owls scored 14 points in that time frame, all off of free throws.

Dayvion McKnight led the Hilltoppers in scoring with 21 points in 32 minutes of play. He also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and added three assists.

Rice's Quincy Olivari knocked down four 3's, scoring 34 points in all. He logged a double-double with 12 rebounds, all on the defensive end.

The Hilltoppers will return home for its final two games in E.A. Diddle Arena in the 2022-23 season. WKU will first take on Louisiana Tech at 8 p.m. CT on Thursday evening. The game will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.