The Owls are on the highway to the Danger Zone.

There was next to nothing to wax poetic over from the Owls' 83-66 loss to UH. Cliff Ghoram was strong early and Tamir Jackson padded his stats late, but otherwise Wednesday night was a forgettable one. For the first time this season Arsalan Kazemi appeared to question his own athleticism, missing several layups while fretting over where Maurice McNeil was coming from. The other 'bigs' made meager contributions despite the fact the Cougars went with a small lineup throughout the contest: Trey Stanton (10 points, 3 rebounds, 0 blocks, 0 steals, 2 turnovers); Lucas Kuipers (5 points, 0 rebounds, 0 blocks, 0 steals); Suleiman Braimoh (3 points, 2 rebounds in only 5 minutes); Emerson Herndon (0-for-3 w/1 rebound in 2 minutes). Connor Frizzelle hit two 3s early and wasn't a factor after that. The bench delivered very little.

But, unfortunately, an offensive offense isn't anything new. The Owls opened league play dead last in Conference USA in field goal percentage (40.4) after all. However, the barrage of shots surrendered to McNeil and Kendrick Washington at the rim was disturbing. The matador defense on the perimeter that enabled Desmond Wade, Aubrey Coleman and Kelvin Lewis to coast into the lane and essentially deliver the ball on a platter to McNeil was troubling. The Coogs were 13-of-20 (65%) from inside the arc post-intermission. That number is indefensible.

Everyone was willing to accept losses as long as progress was being made. But for the third time in four games the Owls gave indication that they are in fact regressing, with their debacle against their Third Ward rivals coming on the heels of ugly road losses at Lamar and TCU. This roster is offensively challenged - we get that - but there is no excuse for the lack of effort on defense. Ben Braun knows this, which explains why he sat at the postgame presser looking like someone stole his lunch money. He wasn't pouting, just stewing in his own juices.

"You've got to control the paint somehow," Braun said, speaking both offensively and defensively. "You've got to either get to the line - we've got to be the team that gets into the paint. We only got 22 points in the paint (UH scored 42). That to me was a little disappointing."

If this team is going to win, or at least be competitive, they must do so with defense. That point has been hammered home repeatedly, and at this juncture one would assume that the players are acutely aware of that fact. Instead, they allowed Lamar to shoot 49.1% in a 77-61 loss on Dec. 23. They allowed TCU to shoot 52.8% in a 70-58 loss on Jan. 2. UH shot 50.0% in scoring the second-most points against the Owls this season. The defensive intensity has waned, and given the limitations on offense, that spells doom against the upcoming schedule.

The Owls, winless on the road, travel to Orlando to face UCF on Saturday. A trip to New Orleans for a tilt against Tulane follows four days later. Then a return home against Memphis on Jan. 16. An 0-4 C-USA start is staring the Owls squarely in the face, and if the Owls drop to 6-11 overall, all that preseason chatter about a .500 record will be extinguished. What then?

If the Owls wish to avoid falling into that pit of despair, they'd better find a means to reclaim their defensive identity. And the staff should devise whatever motivational ploy is needed to coax more out of the Stanton-Kuipers-Braimoh triumvirate than their 19.4 points and 11.5 boards per game. This team proved that it can lose inside-out against the Coogs, so the time has come for them to show that they can win in a similar manner, starting on Saturday at UCF.