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Shooting Can’t Keep Up as Rice Basketball Falls at Pepperdine

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Rice Basketball was outgunned by a red-hot Pepperdine offense, closing out nonconference play without a single road win.

Cam Carroll opened up the scoring but Rice basketball still found itself playing from behind for most of their contest against Pepperdine on Saturday evening. The Waves took the lead right back from the Owls and held a minor advantage through much of the first half, although there were three more lead changes before the break.

The early minutes of the second half proved to be the Owls’ undoing. Pepperdine opened the period on a 10-4 run, stretching their lead to 13 points and putting Rice on the defensive. It took some time, but the Owls started to find their shooting stroke as they attempted to keep pace with their sharpshooting hosts. Pepperdine shot 49 percent from the field, straining a Rice offense that couldn’t recover from a much slower start.

MORE: Rice Football Recruiting — 2025 Winter Transfer Portal Tracker

A 7-0 run just after the midpoint of the second quarter would briefly get Rice back within single digits, but Pepperdine rallied, keeping the margin right around 10 points for the next several minutes as the clock wound down. It was then that Pepperdine connected on five consecutive three-point attempts, effectively ending any hopes of a Rice comeback.

Rice Basketball falls to 6-7 with the loss. The Owls are 1-5 away from Tudor Fieldhouse this season.

Final Box | Pepperdine 84, Rice 62

Key takeaway | Road Woes

Had things gone differently in Fort Myers at Coconut Hoops, the Owls’ shockingly awful record away from Tudor Fieldhouse would be much easier to swallow. Yes, the quality of competition Rice has played on the road has been stout. Yes, many of those games have remained competitive, even going to overtime. Still, Rice has won one basketball game outside of the city of Houston in six tries.

The American Conference might not be chock full of sure-fire powerhouses as it has been in recent years, but the level of competition will still be rigorous. Half of those games are going to be played away from Tudor Fieldhouse. Plain and simple. Rice basketball has to find a way to win away from home.

Up Next: at Tulsa (Wed, Dec. 31 at 1:00 pm)

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Rice Women’s Basketball Pushes Past Houston Christian

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Rice women’s basketball had another down shooting day, but still managed to overcome Houston Christian thanks to a dominant defensive effort.

Shelby Hayes set the tone with 10 first quarter points as Rice women’s basketball found itself in a dogfight with the Houston Christian Huskies on Saturday afternoon. There were six ties and seven lead changes by the 4:27 mark of the second quarter. That was when the home team was finally able to generate some breathing room, going into the break up six points, spurred by back-to-back three pointers from Mylee Guinn.

Houston Christian got back within three points in the opening minutes of the third quarter before Rice seized control for good. The Owls engineered a 15-point run, shutting Houston Christian out for more than six minutes as they built what would prove to be an insurmountable 18-point advantage.

MORE: Rice Football Recruiting — 2025 Winter Transfer Portal Tracker

The teams would trade points in the fourth quarter, but by then Rice had emptied its bench and simply had to squeeze out the last few minutes of clock to secure another home victory. With the win, Rice women’s basketball improves to 10-3 on the season and 6-0 at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Final Box | Rice 62, Houston Christian 42

What They’re Saying

What a way to finish December. I am so proud of this group and the focus and intensity that they brought all non-conference. We protected home, we defended and held teams to season lows, and we did a lot of great things that we can build off of going into the new season which is conference play. I am excited for the players and the staff to have a few days to regroup before we get into the grind of the American Conference. – Rice Women’s Basketball head coach Lindsay Edmonds

Key takeaway | Defensive Domination

The Rice women’s basketball offense has garnered much the attention this season as it works to develop the level of consistency it will need to compete at a high level in the American Conference. However, the growing pains on that side of the ball shouldn’t take away from the string of successful outings the defense has put forth over the last several weeks.

Rice held Houston Christian to 28.8 percent shooting from the field and forced the Huskies to commit 21 turnovers. The Owls kept their opponents uncomfortable for 40 minutes, even though their own shots weren’t falling with any sort of consistency. The level of competition is only going to go up from here, but the defense has certainly been a bright spot as the Owls close out nonconference play.

Up Next: at South Florida (Tues. Dec. 30 at 6:00 pm)

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Rice Football 2025: Bowl Week Practice Notes 1

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Rice Football is postseason-bound and will have the vast majority of its starting roster intact for the Armed Forces Bowl. Here’s the latest from the practice field this week.

Finals are winding down, but the Rice football season is starting to ramp back up. After a brief break between official practices, the team returned to the field this week as they began their preparations for the Armed Forces Bowl against Texas State on January 2. The team hopes to make the most of the extra time. Here’s more on the progress they’ve made so far.

Finalizing the Bowl Roster

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Rice Football 2025: Armed Forces Bowl presser quotes and depth chart

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Next up for Rice football, the Armed Forces Bowl against Texas State. Here’s what head coach Scott Abell had to say about the matchup and a few depth chart notes.

Head coach Scott Abell and a set of players met with the media for their customary weekly availability. They previewed the Armed Forces Bowl game and discussed the Owls’ upcoming matchup with Texas State.

We touch on those items, then dig into the Rice football depth chart and what the team looks like heading into the weekend. First, the quotes:

Press Conference Quotes

I think, kind of two parts. The first, you’ve got time. Being January 2, that’s a late bowl game so that afforded us some time… And then it gives you a chance to take a look at things you knew you were going to do once you got to spring football, especially in Year 1. There’s so much we can learn from this season. So many takeaways. You just take notes all year. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the benefits of a bowl game

As it sits now, we have a roster of 93 heading to our bowl game, which I’m incredibly proud of. We finished the season at 103. We’re down from 105 — two young men that were no longer with the program for different reasons — and some of those ten that aren’t a part of the count, now. Some of those are fifth year who are at the end of their careers. They’re graduated. They’re starting their real life. They’ve chosen that their football careers are over. There are a handful of guys that have made announcements to go into the portal and those guys are not participating in the game at this point and I don’t anticipate that changing. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the state of the roster and the Transfer Portal

You saw a couple young defensive lineman playing more at the end of the year… I also think they’ll probably be some younger skill guys, maybe offensively that you’ll see show up in the perimeter game that maybe have been waiting for their opportunity or this is the moment now that they get some extra prep. Without mentioning any specific names, I think those are some areas you can look at to see maybe some new names called, some new numbers show up – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on young players who could be more involved

I’m looking at it like how we looked at it going into the Louisiana week. We got that whole break going up to it. Watching extra film, trying to get some tendencies on the guys, resting out bodies. I think the break is a good thing for us. – Running back Quinton Jackson on how the team is approaching the bowl game

It was good to recover the body, get healthy. Guys were beat up. I mean, it’s awesome to be back out here, but I’m pretty sure a lot of guys on defense were itching to get back out here. We got a bad taste in our mouth from USF. We’d like to get back out there against Texas State. – Linebacker Ty Morris on how the team is approaching the bowl game

Full Press Conference

Depth Chart

An updated depth chart is expected to be provided at a later date. For the time being, stay tuned for this week’s practice report, available to those subscribed to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon. That will be published on Friday and has further details on players who have opted out of the game and how the Owls’ might adjust their gameplan, accordingly.

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Rice Women’s Basketball Overcomes Slow Start to Top Grambling

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A tied game after the first quarter wouldn’t stay even for much longer as Rice women’s basketball got things rolling to post a comfortable road win over Grambling.

It came as no surprise when Rice women’s basketball posted a strong defensive start in their Wednesday afternoon road tilt against Grambling. The Owls held the Tigers to 21 percent shooting in the first quarter, yet somehow ended the frame tied. That deadlock wouldn’t last much longer.

The three-ball started to fall in the second quarter, with three different players helping Rice build a nine-point advantage which was quickly stretched to 17 points in the early minutes of the third quarter. Grambling was able to get back within nine on a brief 8-0 burst, but it proved to be a last-gasp effort as Rice seized control after that.

MORE: Rice Football Recruiting — 2025 Winter Transfer Portal Tracker

The Owls led by 15 points at the start of the fourth quarter, lengthening that edge to as many as 28 points before a couple of free throws and a layup in the final minute kept the game from turning into a true blowout. All in all, it ended up being a rather expeditious win for Rice, even with the inasuspicious beginnings.

With the win, Rice women’s basketball improves to 9-3 on the season and 4-3 away from Tudor Fieldhouse.

Final Box | Rice 71, Grambling 47

Key takeaway | Heating Up

Grambling is bad. Full stop. The 2-9 Tigers had no business being competitive with Rice women’s basketball on Wednesday and, for the most part, they weren’t. All of a sudden the Owls have won six of their last seven, with the lone loss coming to a Big 12 team by a single point. Their only losses on their resume came to a pair of very good teams (South Dakota State and Princeton).

Houston Christian is the only game remaining between Rice and a 10-3 start and a short reprieve over Christmas break begins with a highly-anticipated road trip to South Florida. After a shaky start, much like how this game against Grambling began, Rice women’s basketball is heating up.

Up Next: vs Houston Christian (Sat. Dec. 20 at 2:00 pm)

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