Starting from scratch could be the best solution to get the Cougars out of their current funk.
The Cougars (12-17, 4-12 Conference USA) dropped their final game of the regular season to cross-town rival Rice 72-57 Saturday at Hofheinz Pavilion.
Rice jumped out to a 40-27 lead at halftime, and the closest the Cougars got in the second half was within seven points.
“It’s a lack of execution,” Darian Thibodeaux said. “We prepare well, we have good practices. We just haven’t been doing a good job of carrying over our defensive assignments into games.”
The Owls (13-17, 5-11) bombarded the Cougars from deep, connecting on 47 percent of their 3-point attempts.
The Cougars will be the No. 11 seed in the C-USA Championship Tournament.
“The beauty of it is that now comes conference and everybody is 0-0,” Nixon said.
“All the times we’ve talked about how good we can be, it’s time to stop talking.”
Head coach James Dickey said the team is entering into the third part of the season with the non-conference and conference schedule over.
“We have to be excited about getting an opportunity to play another game,” Dickey said.
The Cougars will face No. 6 seed Marshall in the first round of the C-USA Tournament at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso.
