Jacob Dar blossomed into a D1 player with Rice Basketball. Now, after a “gap year”, he’s back on South Main, seeking to elevate both himself and the Owls, again.
The era of the Transfer Portal has profoundly shifted how rosters are assembled in college athletics. No longer is there a singular pipeline from the prep ranks through college graduation that dictates how teams come together; as a result, unusual pairings are becoming more normative with each passing season. Rice basketball is no exception. Case in point: Jacob Dar.
Dar is a member of the 2026-2027 Rice Basketball team who transferred into the program this offseason. That’s notable because it was Dar’s second induction into the flock on South Main, having previously made the jump from then-Division III Emory & Henry to Rice for the 2024-2025 season. The season in between, Dar spent in the Big East, which is what makes Dar suiting up for the Owls in 2026 particularly intriguing.
This wasn’t anything akin to a professional internship or a study abroad that sent Dar to Seton Hall for a few semesters, only to return home to Rice a year later. No, Dar chose to leave Rice, and now he’s chosen to return, with full support from the Owls’ coaching staff, who appear ecstatic about the reunion.
“We obviously loved having him. We loved coaching him. He’s a great kid. He’s a tremendous player,” Rice basketball head coach Rob Lanier said of Dar. “He had the opportunity to go and play in the Big East, get that experience — and get compensated handsomely — and still didn’t find the grass to be greener.”
Is Dar a cautionary tale of the evils of money in college sports? Perhaps for some. For others, though, the Dar journey is a story of a meteoric rise from nowhere to somewhere and a young man’s realization of what he wants and where he belongs.
Dar was twice as productive with Rice Basketball as he was at Seton Hall, averaging more points (7.5 to 3.2), rebounds (3.7 to 1.9) and minutes (19.8 to 10.1).
It stands to reason the tradeoff in those statistics came with a dollar sign attached, but it’s not as if Dar went to the Northeast to cash a check and put his playing aspirations aside. It was a bet on his future potential, and one that Dar hopes he can still achieve at a place he’s already found success at before.
“As soon as I hit the portal, Coach Lanier called me,” Dar said. “We had a lot of great conversations. I respect Coach a lot, and I have a real good relationship with him. We were just having some real talks and it got me to think about what I really want to do, what I want for my future, and our goals aligned, and it made the most sense to be here.”
From Lanier’s perspective, there was never any animosity or hurt feelings that lingered from Dar’s departure.
“It wasn’t a difficult conversation when he hit the portal. It was natural,” Lanier said. “The talk wasn’t about coming back to Rice. The talk was about coming home. He came home. I’ve always felt like I was his coach. I’m glad I get to coach him again.”
On and off the court, it feels as if Dar has never left. In many respects, that’s a testament to both the player and his coach, who have handled a potentially challenging situation with grace and poise. Sports are a zero-sum business where wins and losses matter the most. There isn’t time to hold grudges.
When Dar left, he was on the cusp of stepping into a larger role on the team as a scorer. After an adjustment period during his first few months against Division I opponents, Dar exploded not long after the team returned from the holidays. In a 12-game stretch from January 8 to February 19, Dar averaged 13.0 points per game, shooting 46.4 percent from three. He started those last nine games, averaging 27.2.
More: 2026-2027 Rice Basketball Season Preview
There was heightened anticipation during that offseason that Dar could become a building block for the roster and a key leader on the team. Two years later, those expectations might finally be realized.
In a world where four-year starters at one institution are few and far between, coaching staffs are forced to identify and build up leaders who might not fit conventional wisdom. In Lanier’s perfect world, Dar probably never goes elsewhere. But in this world, he did. And Lanier is going back to the well with a leader he knows, hoping to develop this newer version of Dar into an asset for his program.
“He’s brought some leadership attributes back with him. He’s been a great voice in there,” Lanier said. “Just by virtue of coming back alone, it gives us some credibility with his teammates that, especially for the new guys, this guy played for you and thought enough of you guys as a staff to come back. He’s been very critical for us.”
Dar will take on those challenges in the days to come. If he can rise up and meet those expectations and, in the process, lead Rice basketball further than they’ve gone under Lanier to this point, few will dwell on what his current head coach has referred to as his “gap year” away from Houston. It’s still sports, a world where winning cures all.
It’s been 10 years since Rice basketball posted a winning record in conference play, dating back past Scott Pera’s time as the Owls’ head coach to the final season of the program under Mike Rhoades. Lanier last achieved the feat during the 2023-2024 season, but that came in his final year at SMU, not with Rice.
And therein lies the real story with Dar’s reemergence on South Main. He believes this is the best place for him to find success and develop as a basketball player. Lanier is making that same bet, too. If it pays off, last year for both men will be a thing of the past as Dar, Lanier and the Owls take strides toward a brighter future.
** Photo credit: Maria Lysaker **