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MBB: Owls fall to Charlotte on Senior Night

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With their Conference USA Tournament berth secure, Rice basketball fell at home to Charlotte in the final game of the regular season.

Head coach Scott Pera had employed six different starting lineups this season, generally keeping to a combination of Ako Adams, Quentin Millora-Brown, Chris Mullins, Jack Williams and either Josh Parrish or Drew Peterson for most of the season. On Senior Night, with a berth in the Conference USA tournament already secure, Pera put seniors Dylan Jones and Oliver Xu into the starting five.

Seldom used reserves, it was a nice gesture by Pera, who watched happily on the side of the court as Jones scored the first back of the night — also his first points of the season. Jones and Xu were soon replaced by the normal contingent as the two teams kept the score close throughout the first 38 minutes of game action.

With 4:15 remaining in regulation, Charlotte took the lead from Rice for good. Three consecutive Charlotte three-pointers quickly extended the lead to double-digits, the largest advantage for either team in the game. The Owls would cut it to seven, but never get any closer, falling by a final score of 78-70.

Robert Martin led the team with 15 points. Jack Williams had another solid showing, posting 11 points and six rebounds in the final home game of his career. The team as a whole shot 41.4 percent from the floor, failing to keep pace with a tremendous night from Charlotte’s Jon Davis who led all scorers with 28 points, adding nine rebounds.

Although the loss ends the regular season on a sour note, Rice has at least one more game to play. Rice’s first game of the conference tournament will be on Wednesday, March 13. The full bracket should be announced soon, but 11-seed Rice is tentatively set to face 6-seed Marshall. The Owls won the regular season matchup with the Herd, 74-69.

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WBB: 2019 Regular season by the numbers

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It’s been a season to remember for Rice women’s basketball. Here are seven numbers that help tell the story of how impressive the Owls have been.

0

Losses against Conference USA opponents. Rice’s perfect run marks only the third time a women’s team has reached 16-0 in Conference USA, a feat most recently achieved by Houston in the 2010-2011 season. The only current CUSA squad to achieve perfection was UTEP who did it back in 2007-2008.

16

Double-doubles recorded by Owls’ leading scorer Erica Ogwumike. She’s averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds a game this season — a double-double. She’s been held under double-digit points just twice in conference play.

18

Consecutive victories for the Rice team, tied for the second longest streak in the nation. Already the longest such streak in school history, it could be extended with the conference tournament and other postseason games remaining.

19.2

Margin of victory for Rice in conference play. A perfect record would have been impressive by itself, but the level of dominance Rice has exhibited in their victories has been nothing short of incredible. One of the Owls’ 16 conference games has been decided by single digits and Rice has led by more than 40 points in conference games this season.

52.7

Points per game allowed by the Owls this season. Not only does that lead Conference USA, it ranks in the top 10 of the nation. Put in starker context, No. 1 Baylor averages 54.2 points per game allowed. Conference USA hasn’t seen a team this effective on the defensive side of the floor in this decade.

73

Blocks by center Nancy Mulkey who was the most terrifying defender in the paint in the conference. She had more blocks by herself than four different CUSA teams, edging out the next highest blocker, Marie Benson, by 34 blocks. Benson had 39.

93

Highest point total of the season for Rice. It came in a game against McNeese State in the early portion of non conference play. As elite of a defense group as this is, they can still light it up with strong shooting performances, too.

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Baseball: Previewing the Oklahoma series

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Rice baseball looks to rebound from a pair of midweek losses with a second straight weekend series win. Next, the Owls take on UC Irvine at home.

Listen online // Watch Friday (CUSA TV) // Watch Saturday (CUSA TV) // Watch Sunday (CUSA TV)

11-2 Oklahoma will visit Rice as a part of a brief Texas road trip which got underway with a 7-2 loss to Dallas Baptist on Wednesday night. They’ll face the Owls for three this weekend before a Tuesday night game back in Norman against UT-Arlington.

Other than the midweek upset, Oklahoma’s only other loss came in the Tony Gwynn Classic, losing their game to Cal State Fullerton 8-6. Fullerton has been a fringe Top 25 team this season. Rice has lost to their fair share of ranked squads, but their most recent outings against ranked foes have gone well — wins over Baylor and TCU. Here’s how the Owls and Sooners stack up for their weekend series.

Projected Pitching Matchups

Friday – 6:30 pm: Matt Canterino (0-2, 2.00) vs Cade Cavalli (2-0, 1.04)
Saturday – 2:00 pm: Evan Kravetz (1-1, 3.45) vs  Nathan Wiles (3-0, 1.35)
Sunday – 12:30 pm: Jackson Parthasarathy (2-1, 1.69) vs  Levi Prater (2-1, 1.62)

Oklahoma Pitching

Oklahoma pitching has been a bright spot for the team in 2019. Although most of the staff’s work has come against lesser competition, the starters and bullpen have responded in kind. None of the projected starting pitchers this weekend has an ERA worse than 1.62. The trio has combined for 14 walks total across 54 innings with 48 combined strikeouts.

The bullpen has been good, but not nearly as dominant. Ledgend Smith and Jason Ruffcorn have been some of the most reliable relief pieces for the Sooners. Smith has a perfect 0.00 ERA, allowing just three hits in 6.1 innings pitched this season. Ruffcorn, the team’s presumed closer, has three saves so far this year.

Ryan Madden, Wyatt Olds and Aaron Brooks have contributed here and there. All three will most likely make at least one appearance in the games over the weekend.

Oklahoma Hitting

With the pitching staff throwing as well as it has, there hasn’t been as much pressure thrust on the Oklahoma lineup. It’s been the most consistent producers who make this unit operate effectively. Brandon Zaragoza and Tyler Hardman are far and away two of the better hitters on the team, with both hitting better than .375 for the season.

Hardman leads the team in home runs (four), but is not immune from strikeout outing — he ranks second on the team with 13KS. The power has been distributed across the rest of the lineup, but look for Justin Mitchell and Conor McKenna to power through in difficult moments.

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Basketball: Owls top Charlotte for third straight win

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Rice basketball has taken their game up a notch, remaining perfect in pod play with a 79-70 road win over Charlotte on Wednesday.

With a trip to the Conference USA conference tournament already secured, Rice had two bouts with the Charlotte 49ers to make their last adjustments. The first came Wednesday and resulted in the second win in two chances for Rice over Charlotte so far this season.

For the Owls, it was Drew Peterson who led the way on offense. A role play for a large chunk of the season, Peterson has come on strong in the last few weeks, posting 31 points in the Owls’ last two games including a 15 point effort against Charlotte. Right behind in on the stat sheet was Chris Mullins (14 points) and Robert Martin and Ako Adams, each with 12.

Six different players connected on at least four field goals on Wednesday and five different Owls tallied three rebounds or more. As has been the recipe for many wins this season, it was truly a team effort.

Rice held Charlotte to 37.7 percent from the field while connecting on 49.2 percent of their own buckets, including 50 percent from three-point range. Charlotte managed to block seven shots. Although they were able to cut the deficit down to as little as one point in the second half, the home team never led, trailing from the moment Quentin Millora-Brown put in a layup to start the scoring in the first half.

The two squads will end their respective regular seasons with a third game in Houston on Saturday. Tip off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Rice holds a one game advantage, including the head-to-head tiebreaker, over Middle Tennessee for the top spot in their pod. Regardless of the outcome on Saturday, Rice will be the No. 11 seed in Frisco.

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Rice Baseball: Owls fall to Sam Houston in Wednesday shootout

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Rice baseball couldn’t hold off a disciplined Sam Houston offense, falling on a bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning on Wednesday.

Runs were expected to come in bunches when Sam Houston came to town on Wednesday. The Bearkats did indeed bring their bats, striking first on a one out single in the first. Rice would quickly even the score in the second before the two squads exchanged 4-run innings in the third.

It took Sam Houston five hits to score their four runs. Rice only needed one, utilizing a sacrifice fly followed by a three-run blast from Andrew Dunlap to level the game. Dunlap would come up with another big hit in the next inning, capping off a four-run fourth inning with 2 RBI double down the left field line.

Leading 9-5, the Rice offense cooled down dramatically. Meanwhile, Sam Houston wasn’t done. The Bearkats struck for two runs in the sixth and two more in the eighth. The go-ahead run, which they scored in the final frame, came on a bases loaded walk to nine-hole hitter Diego Davila. That proved to be the deciding run as Rice would fall at home, 10-9.

Takeaways

1. The Owls have solved their 3-4-5 spots

Cleanup hitter Trei Cruz was promoted to the leadoff spot when the Owls’ offense sputtered out of the gate. He stayed consistent, leading the team in on base percentage and slugging percentage, but someone else was going to have to help drive in the runs.

Rice has found their answer in the trio of Braden Comeaux, Alex Collins and Andrew Dunlap. Those three were responsible for seven RBI against Sam Houston, coming through with big hits with runners on base. Comeaux didn’t have a hit on Wednesday, but he did reach base twice, scoring both times.

2. Work to be done behind the backstop

Sam Houston trimmed their deficit to one run in the eighth inning on a single to center field. Then, with two runners on base, two wild pitches allowed the base runners to advance, eventually scoring the game-tying run. Rice threw three wild pitches on Wednesday, bringing their total to 18 wild pitches over 14 games.

Justin Collins had a strong weekend behind the plate, but he’s been charged with five passed balls this year. The fielding errors are trending in the right direction and the connection from the mount to the plate needs some tuning up as well.

3. Midweek pitching remains a question mark

Addison Moss put together a strong outing on Tuesday against Houston, but it doesn’t seem likely he sticks in the midweek role for long. He’s going to challenge for a weekend spot, possible pushing someone else to an extended relief role or one of the midweek jobs.  That still leaves Rice in a quandary, especially on five-game weeks.

The combination of Drake Greenwood and Kel Bordwine have had their moments, but neither has taken the job for themselves, not yet. There are plenty of young arms in the pen waiting for their chance on the bump, too.

ON DECK | vs Oklahoma (Fri – Sun)

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