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Rice Basketball Ambushed by FGCU in OT

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Rice Basketball never trailed in regulation, but found themselves in a double-digit deficit, losing to FGCU in overtime at the Coconut Hoops Tournament.

Points were at a premium in the early goings of the second Rice basketball contest at Coconut Hoops. Jimmy Oladokun opened the scoring against Florida Gulf Coast with a layup more than two minutes into the contest as the Owls slowly began to accumulate a modest advantage.

Rice opened up a 9-2 edge, eventually growing the lead to 13 points on a big three-pointer from Jalen Smith. Florida Gulf Coast would close the half strong, though, knocking down consecutive three pointers to cut the gap to seven at intermission.

NEWS: Rice Launches The Gateway Project, Rice Stadium Renovation

That late push would prove to be the spark Florida Gulf Coast needed from deep. Riding hot three-point shooting from Jordan Ellerbee, the local team would trim the Owls’ advantage to one point midway through the second half. Rice never trailed in regulation, but a missed jumper from Trae Broadnax at the buzzer left the door open for overtime. Florida Gulf Coast capitilized.

The Eagles, who had yet to lead at any point in the first 40 minutes, scored the first 13 points in the extra period, putting the game out of reach before the Owls were able to get their feet underneath them. For a second game in a row, the Owls were bystanders in extra time.

Rice Basketball falls to 2-6 with the loss. The Owls are 0-4 away from Tudor Fieldhouse this season.

Final Box | FGCU 78, Rice 63

Key takeaway | Deja Vu All Over Again

For those who might have missed this game, the script mirrored the first Rice Basketball contest at Coconut Hoops. Just like they did Tuesday against Florida Gulf Coast, Rice led Kennesaw State for the bulk of regulation but couldn’t find a way to close the door in regulation.

Trae Broadnax fouled out. Kennesaw State outscored Rice 6-1 in overtime.

One day later, Trae Broadnax fouled out against Florida Gulf Coast, who outscored Rice 19-4 in overtime.

Two very winnable games. And Rice basketball had ample opportunities to win in the first 40 minutes but couldn’t close either out. Either would have bee gut-wrenching another, but for these games to occur in succession was particularly cruel. If this team can survive this, it should all be uphill from here, because it’s hard to imagine a more painful way to lose two basketball games in a two day span.

Up Next: GEICO Coconut Hoops vs Oral Roberts (Wed, Nov. 26 at 3:30 pm)

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The Roost Podcast | Ep. 220 – Rice Football Outpaced by North Texas

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Rice Football started fast but couldn’t finish against North Texas. What to take from the loss, which featured free ice cream and beer for students.

For roughly one quarter, everything was looking good for Rice football. Then the North Texas offense took off and did not slow down. The Owls didn’t get the win, but the student turnout was encouraging and there were still a handful of positives to take from the game as the program still hopes for a bowl opportunity entering the final week of the regular season.

We talked through it all. You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 220.

Episode Notes

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Rice Football vs North Texas Game Recap

  • Tackling and correctable errors on defense
  • Realistic expectations for the defense given the personnel problems
  • Aaron Turner’s big day and the bright spots on offense
  • Quarterback inconsistency and what that means for the offense’s bigger picture
  • Free ice cream, beer and an elevated game day experience

Where can you find us?

The Roost Podcast is part of the Dave Campbell’s College Podcast Network. You’ll still get the same content with the same hosts, but now under the DCTF banner. If it’s happening in college football in Texas, we’re talking about it. You can find this podcast and all of our partner podcasts on Apple, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Rice Football 2025: South Florida presser quotes and depth chart

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Next up for Rice football, a road game against South Florida. 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 recapped the North Texas game and looked ahead at their upcoming matchup with South Florida.

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

We’re still learning how to handle the ebb and flow of a game. Offensively, I’ll speak on that because I think both sides handle things differently. Offensively when the rollercoaster goes downhill and a drive stalls, we let that impact us mentally more than we should. That is why I say I think we held ourselves back offensively Saturday and the key is not to do that this week. The key is we need to make them defend all parts of the offense. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the growth of the offense

We’ve played an incredible schedule. We don’t go into this game intimidated. It’s just to me, we’re playing another Top 25 caliber program. I can list them all. We start Louisiana at the beginning of the year was being touted as a top 30 program to UConn, to Memphis, to North Texas and now here we go to South Florida. We’ve been battle tested and I’m excited now to see, here we are game 12, playing for the opportunity to go to a bowl game and what will we learn from all those tests throughout the year.” Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on being battle tested

I do think one of the differences will be, they have one of the best players in the country at quarterback. What makes him so dangerous in who he is is his ability to hurt you with his legs and his arm. That’s different than last week. Last week, very comfortable just standing in the pocket and getting rid of it quick. No really quarterback run game. This week it’ll be more quarterback run game and the passing game probably isn’t that diverse, not quite as exotic, because of the quarterback run game with that and to me, that’s the key. We need to make them one-handed on that side of the football. To do that, you’ve got to control the line of scrimmage and you’ve got to tackle him well, which is a really big challenge, but that’s our challenge.- Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the USF offense

Putting it all together, man, what an opportunity for us. I think if we can do that – and we’re better in a lot of areas than we were week one, we’ve grown so much, but then there’s some areas because of injuries or season and stuff that we’re still trying to search for answers for – but if we can put it all together, man, what an exciting Saturday. We want to make them uncomfortable. WE want to get them in the fourth quarter. And that opportunity is there if we can now establish ourselves, play four really good quarters of football in all phases. And that’s what it’s going to take. We’ve seen all phases be really good this year. It would be nice and it would be imperative for all of our three phases to be in sync, play quality football at the same time Saturday in South Florida. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on what it will take to win on Saturday

Everything jumps out. They’re flaying to the ball. They’re playing for each other. They’re playing with a lot of pride. They’re still trying to fight for a conference championship, so you see the effort out there, it jumps out. They’re front seven is good. DBs can run. They can tackle as well. I think for us, it’s just going out there like every week, matching their intensity, matching their physicality. But they’re a good team. They’re still fighting for a conference championship and even the College Football Playoff so we know we’re going to get their best effort. We gotta go out there and play our game, like we did last week but we gotta take the punches and we gotta throw punches back. – Running back Quinton Jackson on USF

He’s really able to use his legs really well so we just wanna focus on containing the quarterback, pressing the pocket and just making throws difficult for him because we know he’s a dual threat. We want to make sure that he doesn’t affect the game with his legs. – Defensive lineman Tony Anyanwu on USF QB Byrum Brown

Full Press Conference

Depth Chart

Depth Chart Notes

There was one change to the depth chart this week, the removal of Braylen Walker. As The Roost reported last week, Walker was expected to miss the remainder of the regular season, so this change was not unexpected and is more reflective of how that room has looked over the course of the last several weeks.

Any other adjustments will likely be injury-related or driven by the subtle schematic shifts the Owls employ for this game. We’ll cover those in depth on this week’s practice report, available to those subscribed to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon, which should be out later this week.

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Rice Football 2025: NFL Owls Week 12 Roundup

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Rice Football is well represented on 2025 NFL rosters. Here’s the latest from the NFL Owls in action in Week 12.

There are former Rice football players scattered across the NFL. Stay tuned each week for their game results and notables from each player.

TeamNFL Owl(s)This WeekResultNext Week
Washington CommandersLuke McCaffrey (WR)— OFF — —vs Broncos (SNF)
Atlanta FalconsElijah Garcia (DL)vs SaintsW, 24-10at Jets
Philadelphia EaglesKylen Granson (TE)at CowboysL, 24-21vs Bears (Fri)
Jacksonville JaguarsAustin Trammell (WR)at CardinalsW, 27-24 (OT)at Titans
Detroit LionsJack Fox (P)vs GiantsW, 34-27 (OT)vs Packers (Thanksgiving)
Pittsburgh SteelersChris Boswell (PK)
Calvin Anderson (OL)		at BearsL, 31-28vs Bills

Defense

Elijah Garcia – DL, Falcons

Garcia was signed off the Giants practice squad this past week to the Falcons active roster. He was inactive for this week’s game against the Saints.

Offense

Austin Trammell – WR, Jaguars

Trammell played in his fourth game of the season on Sunday against the Cardinals. He was targeted once but did not record a reception.

Calvin Anderson – OL, Steelers

Anderson saw his first action with the Steelers’ offense this weekend, playing 23 offensive snaps in addition to this typical duties on special teams.

Kylen Granson – TE, Eagles

Granson saw some involvement with the offense this week, but was much more active on special teams, where he played 20 snaps against the Cowboys on Sunday.

Special Teams

Jack Fox – P, Lions

Fox punted five times in the Lions’ Week 12 win over the Giants, averaging 40 yards per kick with a long of 46 yards. The dip in average was driven by four well-placed balls pinned inside the 20 yard line.

Chris Boswell – K, Steelers

Boswell did not attempt a field goal on Sunday, but did convert all four of his extra point attempts. He is 19-of-22 on field goals this season, including one blocked kick.

Injured Reserve

Luke McCaffrey – WR, Commanders

McCaffrey was placed on injured reserve with a broken collarbone suffered during the Commanders’ loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 9 and is expected to be sidelined for the foreseeable future.

More Owls in the NFL

From practice squads to current free agents, there are other Owls on the cusp of returning to active rosters. Find more details on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

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Rice Basketball Falls in OT to Kennesaw State

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Rice Basketball and Kennesaw State needed more than 40 minutes to resolve their opening matchup at the Coconut Hoops Tournament, with Kennesaw State winning in OT.

Rice Basketball played a nerve-racking opening game to the Coconut Hoops Tournament that was tight throughout. Kennesaw State opened the scoring before Rice quickly answered to produce one of seven first half ties. Kennesaw State led by as many as nine, but it was Rice that took a one point lead into halftime.

A strong start to the second frame by Trae Broadnax looked like it would give Rice some breathing room. It was two successive baskets from Stephen Giwa and another jumper from Broadnax that gave Rice an 11-point edge, the largest by either team in the game to that point. Yet Kennesaw State would not go away.

NEWS: Rice Launches The Gateway Project, Rice Stadium Renovation

Kennesaw quickly whittled the Rice lead from 11 to none, going ahead by a point with 6:33 remaining in the contest and daring Rice to answer. They would, retaking the lead for a brief period before a Kennesaw State jumper with six seconds left forced overtime. Kennesaw outscored Rice 6-1 in the extra period to secure the in.

Rice Basketball falls to 2-5 with the loss. The Owls are 0-3 away from Tudor Fieldhouse this season.

Final Box | Kennesaw State 89, Rice 84

Key takeaway | Learning Resiliency

This was a 45-minute grind that took a lot of effort to get to the finish line. When Rice went up by 11, it looked for a moment like they’d done just enough to put the game out of reach. Instead, that advantage went up in smoke more quickly than it took for Rice to create the lead in the first place.

Less tough teams might have thrown in the proverbial towel at that point. Rice has certainly had some less than resilient showings so far this season. So for the Owls to weather the storm, absorb the rally, and still find a way to regroup and finish was notable. But when Broadnax left the court for overtime, baskets seemed to stop falling.

The first few weeks of the season have shown us this team is going to have its hot and cold stretches. Effort and willpower are controllable things that can steal wins on days when everything isn’t going according to plan or their opponent is making some shots of their own. A win like this would have gone a long way, but the way the loss transpired is further evidence this team has more work to do.

Up Next: GEICO Coconut Hoops vs Florida Gulf Coast (Tues, Nov. 25 at 6:00 pm)

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