Tyler Stevenson's Career Night Not Enough in Tight Loss at Rice

Saturday, February 6

Houston, TX

2 PM

Southern Miss

-712,39 CUSA

Rice

-128,66 CUSA

Southern Miss.

Rice

Tyler Stevenson's Career Night Not Enough in Tight Loss at Rice

2/6/2021 5:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game Book (PDF)

HOUSTON, Texas -- Tyler Stevenson's career-high 29 points on 12-of-21 shooting could not overcome Rice's hot three-point display in a 76-68 defeat to the Owls on Saturday afternoon.

It was the fifth, 20-point game of the season for the junior and Columbus, Miss., native and eighth for his career. Four of those this year were against C-USA foes.

However, it was Rice's 14-1 lead over the first six minutes that served as the difference. Southern Miss eventually got within 26-25 at 2:38, but the Owls hit a three before the halftime buzzer to lead 32-27 with momentum on their side.

"We dug ourselves a big hole and had to sub en mass, and our second wave really did a great job," head coach Jay Ladner said. "They played with some spirit and something to prove, and to the starters' credit, they picked up on that energy when they came back in. But you also have to play for 40 minutes, not 34 like we did today."

Southern Miss (7-12, 3-9 C-USA) turned a 69-60 deficit at 3:26 into 69-66 at 1:36, thanks to a second-chance layup by Stevenson, put-back slam by DeAndre Pinckney and a long jumper by Justin Johnson. Rice responded with a layup and two free-throws to take a 73-66 lead with 47 ticks left.

The Owls (12-8, 6-6 C-USA) also went 14-for-32 from deep and 14-for-15 at the foul line, compared to Southern Miss' 3-for-17 and 7-for-12, respectively.

But Stevenson's effort should not go unnoticed if anyone in the league has slept on him yet.

"He's small in that he's 6-foot-8 and going against a few extra inches this weekend, but he's also playing on two sprained ankles," Ladner said. "That's the type of toughness that we mean by the 'Southern Miss way' of doing things. We needed him, and he gutted it out, and we just need a few more guys with some consistency like that."

Southern Miss will return home Friday and Saturday to host defending C-USA champ North Texas.

NOTABLE
-Tyler Stevenson also had 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season (eighth of career).
-Stevenson's 29 points were the most by a Golden Eagle since Boban Jacdonmi in the 2019-20 opener against Delta State.
-Cortez Edwards was the last Golden Eagle with 29-plus points against a Divison I foe, scoring 30 against Marshall in the 2018 C-USA Semfinals en route to making the All-Tournament team.
-Justin Johnson added eight points off the bench. Over his last three outings, he is averaging 9.7 ppg and 23.7 mpg on 12-for-21 shooting (57 percent).
-Johnson was averaging 3.0 points over 13.3 minutes per game going in.
-Southern Miss' 11 steals were a season-high.