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Rice Basketball: Owls swept by UTEP, drop regular season finale

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Rice basketball fell to UTEP in their final regular season game, their last before the Conference USA Tournament next week.

A game of runs ended running away from Rice basketball at Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday. Every time UTEP took a lead, Rice was able to battle back to within one score. The back and forth continued through the first half into the early moments on the second half. Then UTEP took a double-digit lead and held on for the win.

Rice has lived and died by the three point shot this season. That came to fruition once again in the loss to UTEP. Rice shot 25.7 percent from three, well below their season average of 34.3 percent. Two of their nine made threes came in the final minute and half, when the Owls had resorted to fouling to extend the game. The same shooting woes had doomed the Owls in their two prior games with UTEP.

Final Stats

Player of the Game – Robert Martin

The senior forward came close to a double-double in the last home game of his Rice career. He finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists, despite missing all five of his shots from three. Even though he came off the bench, he played 32 minutes, the second most on the team to Trey Murphy and more than every other Rice bench player combined. He will be missed next season.

Up Next

Rice basketball clinched a spot in the Conference USA Basketball Tournament earlier in the week with a win over Southern Miss. Saturday’s game against UTEP was for seeding purposes. The Miners clinched the highest seed in bottom pod, leaving the 12-Seed for Rice. The Owls were the 11-Seed last year and were bounced in the first round. The full bracket should be set for the 2020 tournament by the end of the day.

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Rice Basketball 2020 Game Preview: Men vs UTEP | Women vs Old Dominion

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Rice basketball wraps up the regular season on Saturday at Tudor Fieldhouse. Here’s a preview of the men against UTEP and women against Old Dominion.

Rice Basketball

Time: Mar. 7 at 1:00 p.m. CT
Venue: Tudor Fieldhouse
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: CUSATV

UTEP 16-14 (7-10), Last 5 (3-2)

  • 67-62 (L) vs WKU
  • 71-61 (L) vs Marshall
  • 68-62 (W) vs Rice
  • 75-56 (W) vs Southern Miss
  • 60-56 (W) at Middle Tennessee

Rice 15-15 (7-10), Last 5 (3-2)

  • 73-70 (L) vs Old Dominion
  • 70-54 (W) vs Charlotte
  • 68-62 (L) at UTEP
  • 77-66 (W) vs Middle Tennessee
  • 72-57 (W) at Southern Miss

UTEP statistical leaders

  • Scoring | Bryson Williams – 17.9 per game
  • Rebounds | Bryson Williams- 7.0 per game
  • Assists | Jordan Lathon – 2.9 per game
  • Steals | Jordan Lathon – 1.1 per game
  • Blocks | Bryson Williams – 0.8 per game

Rice statistical leaders

  • Scoring | Trey Murphy – 13.5 per game
  • Rebounds | Drew Peterson – 6.7 per game
  • Assists | Drew Peterson – 3.5 per game
  • Steals | Drew Peterson – 1.0 per game
  • Blocks | Trey Murphy – 0.6 per game

Rice keys to victory

UTEP beat Rice in each of the previous meetings between the teams this season, but neither came in dominant fashion. The Miners won 72-64 in Houston and 68-62 at home. The common theme in both contests was clutch play down the stretch from UTEP. Both of these were one-possession games with five minutes to play. By the time the clock had ticked down to the final seconds, Rice had resorted to fouling to extend the game.

Rice didn’t shoot particularly well from three in either game, particularly in the waning moments when they need the shots most. It’s hard to beat any team three times and Rice has played well enough to hang with UTEP so far. Buckling down and playing a cliched “full 40 minutes” should help Rice clinch the No. 11 seed in the Conference USA Basketball Tournament.

Rice Women's Basketball

Time: Mar. 7 at 3:30 p.m. CT
Venue: Tudor Fieldhouse
TV: CUSATV

Old Dominion 24-5 (14-3), Last 5 (3-2)

  • 71-66 (W) vs North Texas
  • 63-59 (L) at Charlotte
  • 64-54 (W) at Marshall
  • 60-49 (W) vs FAU
  • 64-61 OT (L) vs UAB

Rice 20-8 (15-2), Last 5 (4-1)

  • 62-51 (L) at Charlotte
  • 69-66 (W) vs North Texas
  • 74-65 (W) at UAB
  • 73-60 OT (W) at Louisiana Tech
  • 82-59 (W) vs UTEP

Old Dominion statistical leaders

  • Scoring | Taylor Edwards – 11.9 per game
  • Rebounds | Amari Young – 5.3 per game
  • Assists | Taylor Edwards – 3.4 per game
  • Steals | Amari Young – 2.2 per game
  • Blocks | Marie Reichert – 1.3 per game

Rice statistical leaders

  • Scoring | Erica Ogwumike – 19.0 per game
  • Rebounds | Erica Ogwumike – 7.8 per game
  • Assists | Jasmine Smith – 3.0 per game
  • Steals | Sydne Wiggins – 1.8 per game
  • Blocks | Nancy Mulkey – 3.1 per game

Rice keys to victory

Not much went right when Rice women’s basketball lost to Old Dominion earlier this season. The loss snapped a historic 30-game conference winning streak. Rice fell behind early, had Sydne Wiggins foul out down the stretch and turned the ball over 14 times. Even with their miscues, Rice managed to rally from a six-point fourth quarter deficit to force overtime.

Keeping the core starters out of foul trouble and locking down on defense will make this rematch even more tantalizing. The winner of Saturday’s game clinches the No. 1 seed in the Conference USA Basketball Tournament.

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Rice Women’s Basketball clinches share of 2020 regular season C-USA title

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It was another banner night for Rice Women’s Basketball, which defended their spot atop Conference USA, clinching a share of the regular season title.

Rice Women’s Basketball clinched a share of the Conference USA Women’s Basketball regular season title with a Thursday night win over UTEP. The Miners kept things close early before Rice used their seemingly inevitable third quarter surge to put things out of reach and lock down the win at home.

The victory clinched a fourth consecutive season of at least 20 wins for Rice women’s basketball. That’s a testament to the incredible work done by head coach Tina Langley, who earlier this season became the fastest coach in program history to reach 100 wins.

Langley and the Owls aren’t done yet, though. The win over UTEP came in parallel with an Old Dominion loss to UAB in overtime. For the moment, Rice (15-2) holds sole possession of first place in Conference USA and the right to the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. That sets the stage for a winner-take-all contest this weekend between the Owls and the Monarchs.

Old Dominion (14-3) would leapfrog Rice with a win at Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday by nature of the head-to-head tiebreaker. Even with a loss, Rice could fall no further than the No. 2 seed. Since the top four teams in C-USA get byes in the first round and the middle-tier of the conference is fairly robust, the difference between the No. 1 seed and the No. 2 seed might not matter much this year. Still, the optics of being No. 1 carry some relevance.

This season has been flush with highs (Erica Ogwumike’s 2000-point, 1000-rebound plateau, 30th consecutive C-USA win) and lows (Injuries to Ogwumike and Nancy Mulkey, back-to-back C-USA losses, bad start to nonconference play). In the midst of all of the noise, Rice women’s basketball has proved to be resilient. Now it’s time to win when it counts — in March.

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Rice Baseball 2020: Previewing the Texas Tech series

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Rice baseball returns home to face Missouri State. The Owls are seeking their first series win of the season. Here’s how both teams stack up.

The final weekend of nonconference play for Rice baseball poses the biggest challenge of their season to date. The hot and cold Owls will take on No. 5 Texas Tech in their own ballpark for a three game series this coming weekend. A series win over Missouri State was a good first step. Taking a game or more from a College World Series perennial like Texas Tech would be an impressive statement prior to Conference USA play.

Game Notes

Times: Friday 6:30 p.m. | Saturday 2:00 p.m. | Sunday 11:30 a.m.
Venue: Rip Griffin Park
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: Friday and Saturday on Tech TV ($), Sunday on FSSW+

How each team fared this week

Rice baseball (2-10) won their first series of the season last weekend, taking two of three games from visiting Missouri State. The Owls then lost both of their midweek games, the first to Louisiana and the next to Houston.

Texas Tech (13-1) has won nine games in a row. They beat FAU last Friday before taking two games from Florida State over the weekend. They pummeled UNLV by a combined score of 22-5 in two midweek games.

Projected Pitching Matchups

Friday | Alex DeLeon (1-2, 9.82) vs Clayton Beeter (1-1, 3.00)
Saturday |Blake Brogdon (0-3, 4.60) vs Bryce Bonnin (2-0, 4.15)
Sunday | Drake Greenwood (0-1, 4.09)  vs Austin Becker (1-0, 4.38)

Texas Tech Pitching

The bullpen has been the strongest part of the Texas Tech pitching staff. Micah Dallas and Hunter Dobbins have mowed through opposing batters at a remarkable pace. Those two have combined for 35 strikeouts in 23.2 innings, allowing just three runs and three extra base hits over that time. Jakob Brustoski has a 0.00 ERA and a 0.500 WHIP with 11 punchouts.

On the starting front, things are a bit rockier. Staff ace Clayton Beeter has been good outside of a start against Tennessee, Texas Tech’s only loss of the season. The rest of the rotation has struggled to get past the fifth inning. The deep bullpen has helped, but eventually the starters are going to have to carry more of the load.

Texas Tech Hitting

The Tech offense has been dynamite. Second baseman Brian Klein is hitting .431 with nine doubles in 14 games. He’s one of six every day players batting better than .300 for the Red Raiders. The rest of the lineup is nearly just as potent. Only one player with at least 10 plate appearances has a batting average below .270. Catcher Nate Rombach is slugging .787.

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BREAKING: Chris Monfiletto and Sanders Davis named to Rice Football staff

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Rice football has two new coaches on the offensive side of the ball, both of which were promoted from within the program by head coach Mike Bloomgren.

Finding the right culture fit has been extremely important for Mike Bloomgren when he’s made staffing decisions for Rice football. Last year he replaced one assistant — Pete Lembo — promoting Mike Kershaw from within the organization and reassigning roles to fill the spot. When given the choice between starting fresh and finding someone capable within, Bloomgren has made his preferences clear.

This offseason has seen similar changes. Rice looked internally to replace offensive line coach Joe Ashfield and tight ends coach Bill Best. The result of those discussions were the promotion of two coaches already on the Rice football staff. Offensive quality control coach Chris Monfiletto will be named the tight ends coach. Offensive graduate assistant Sanders Davis will be named the offensive line coach.

Davis joined the Rice staff in 2019 after serving as the offensive line coach and the run game coordinator for Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, LA. Prior to that, he played his college ball at Dartmouth as a center from 2010 to 2013. Monfiletto also joined Rice in 2019. Prior to his work as a quality control assistant, he served as the head coach at Kenyon College from 2012 to 2018. Both men did well in off-field roles, earning their respective shots at on-field roles in 2020.

The addition of those two brings the Rice staff back to full strength, rounding out their assistant staff at 10. Monfiletto has already been on the road, joining the staff on their late-January recruiting push along with Rice Football Director of Recruiting Alex Brown.

Now with a complete staff, Rice football returns to the field. Spring ball is underway and the new coaches will be a part of the festivities.

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