It was a good weekend for Rice basketball, who swept their three-game slate over five days to stay undefeated at Tudor Fieldhouse.
- Thursday | Rice 92 – North American 54
- Saturday | Rice 110 – Northwestern State 73
- Monday | Rice 100 – Jarvis Christian 64
Frankly, Rice basketball took care of business this weekend against teams they should have beaten soundly. To some extent, that’s par for the course, but it was encouraging to see just how quickly they dispatched these three, particularly their Saturday win over Northwestern State.
The Demons entered that game 8-2 with a road win over No. 15 TCU and over the Owls’ former C-USA foe Southern Miss under their belts. Yet Rice romped easily at home.
Quincy Olivari was unstoppable, topping 17 points in all three contests, and he would have had many more had he come close to his normal complement of minutes. Max Fiedler had a double-double against Jarvis Christian and a season-high 22 points against Northwestern State. Travis Evee even got back on track, going 4-for-6 from three on Monday evening, scoring 14 points.
The Owls opened the benches in all three games, getting valuable minutes for younger players who — if past seasons are any indication — might very well be called upon for expanded minutes down the stretch.
Up Next | Full Schedule
Then next time Rice basketball takes the court they’ll be in the thick of Conference USA play. The Owls have already played one conference game, a strange mid-November road tilt against Middle Tennessee, which they lost. Up next after Christmas are road against at Western Kentucky (Thr, Dec. 29) and at UTEP (Sat, Dec. 31).
