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Rice Basketball wins School House Mania game over UIW

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Rice basketball fought through a slow start, riding Travis Evee’s second half burst to a win over Incarnate Word in the Owls’ School House Mania game.

Things got off to a bit of a bumpy start for Rice basketball in their annual School House Mania game. Playing host to Incarnate Word, the Owls found themselves trailing their visitors in the early minutes. UIW built a five-point lead before Rice finally got its footing.

Near the midpoint of the first, Rice thundered back with a 17-4 run. A deficit turned into a 10-point advantage as all the Owls on the court got involved in the scoring. They moved the ball well and started to knock down open shots, albeit still without much success from three.

Those failures from long range would create an opening for Incarnate Word’s Josiah Hammons who made a pair of long balls to quickly neutralize the Rice advantage. The Owls would go into halftime with just a three-point lead which disappeared entirely on the first UIW possession after the break.

Travis Evee would break the gridlock. The veteran guard connected on a trio of three-pointers in the span of a few possessions, turning a one-score game into another double-digit advantage for Rice. Incarnate Word would chip away down the stretch, but Rice was able to keep their opponents at arm’s length and ride Evee’s hot hand — he scored a game-high 29 points — to a much-needed win.

Evee notched his 1500th career point in that winning effort, becoming just the 10th player in program history to reach that mark. It was the defense, though, that drew some of his most effusive praise.

“I thought the communication on defense was really good today. There weren’t many self-inflicted wounds on defense. We made them make a lot of tough shots,” Evee said. “We made them take one shot, they didn’t get many offensive rebounds today. Our guys are boxing out. We were flying around with energy.”

Final Box | Rice 80 – UIW 57

Key takeaway | Defense?

Rice hasn’t proven itself to be a team that can play 40 minutes of excellent defensive basketball yet, but Wednesday was an encouraging sign things might be slowly moving in the right direction. While the offense struggled in the early goings, the defense managed to keep this team in the game, something Pera called out almost immediately in his postgame comments.

“I might start chanting defense, defense!” Pera joked. “I think for one of the first times in a long time our defense energized our offense. Whereas in the past, so many times our offense is what got our defense going. I’m happy about that and I think our effort in the second half was outstanding”

Rice held Incarnate Word to 33.9 percent shooting for the game and 24 percent shooting in the second half. The Owls crushed their opponents on the boards after the break, winning that battle 27-12. There have been signs of defensive growth over the past few weeks, but this was one of the better performances we’ve seen from this group so far. Getting a full 40 minutes is the next step.

Up Next: at Northwestern State – Dec. 16 (Sat.)

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Rice Football 2023: NFL Owls Week 14 Roundup

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Rice Football is well represented on 2023 NFL rosters. Here’s the latest from the NFL Owls in action in Week 14.

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

Team NFL Owl(s) This Week Result Next Week
Denver Broncos Elijah Garcia (DL) at Chargers W, 24-7 at Lions (Sat)
Detroit Lions Jack Fox (P) at Bears L, 28-13 vs Broncos (Sat)
Indianapolis Colts Kylen Granson (TE) at Bengals L, 34-14 vs Steelers (Sat)
Los Angeles Rams Austin Trammell (WR) at Ravens L, 37-31 (OT) vs Commanders
New England Patriots Calvin Anderson (OL) at Steelers (TNF) W, 21-18 vs Chiefs
Pittsburgh Steelers Chris Boswell (PK) vs Patriots (TNF) L, 21-18 at Colts (Sat)
Seattle Seahawks Myles Adams (DL) at 49ers L, 28-16 vs Eagles (MNF)
Tampa Bay Bucs Nick Leverett (OL) at Falcons W, 29-25 at Packers

Offense

Calvin Anderson – OT, Patriots

Anderson was active but did not play in the Patriots’ Week 14 game against the Steelers.

Kylen Granson – TE, Colts

Granson hauled in two of his four targets from 17 yards in the Colts’ Week 14 game against the Bengals.

Nick Leverett – OT, Buccaneers

Leverett was active but did not play in the Bucs’ Week 14 game against the Falcons.

Austin Trammell – WR, Rams

Trammell returned a kickoff 22 yards and handled three punts, returning those for a total of nine yards in the Rams’ Week 14 game against the Ravens.  He saw a few snaps with the offense but did not record any targets or receptions.

Defense

Myles Adams – DL, Seahawks

Adams was active but did not play in the Seahawks’ Week 14 game against the 49ers.

Elijah Garcia – DL, Broncos

Garcia was inactive for the Broncos’ Week 14 game against the Chargers.

Special Teams

Jack Fox – P, Lions

Fox punted four times, averaging a booming 51.8 yards per punt against the Bears. He had a long of 58 yards on the day.

Chris Boswell – K, Steelers

Boswell did his duties well yet again, making his lone extra point try and nailing a 56-yard field in the Steelers’ loss to the Patriots on Thursday Night Football.

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 detail on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

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Early deficit dooms Rice Women’s Basketball against Gonzaga

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Rice women’s basketball was unable to climb out of a massive early hole against Gonzaga, falling to the ranked Bulldogs at home.

The visiting Gonzaga Bulldogs were the No. 23 team in the country entering the game and gave every indication they belonged among the nation’s best from the star, opening their contest against Rice women’s basketball on a 15-0 run before Shelby Hayes broke their scoring streak nearly halfway through the first quarter.

Trailing by 15, the situation grew more dire as Zags shooter Eliza Hollingsworth delivered a career-best performance, matching her best-ever totals for points and three-pointers by the middle of the second quarter. That enabled the visitors to extend their lead to 21 before the Owls scratched the deficit down to 14 in the final minutes before halftime.

Rice was able to trim the hole to single digits in the final moments of the third quarter, leaning on a complete team effort on both sides of the court to get within seven points. After falling behind big early, to have the game in reach entering the fourth was encouraging, but the deficit would prove too big to overcome.

Gonzaga would do just enough offensively in the fourth quarter — including a pair of dagger three-pointers — to keep the game out of reach. Rice threatened, but could never close the gap, ultimately falling to 5-4 on the season.

Final Box | Gonzaga 80 – Rice 72

Key takeaway |  When the threes don’t fall

Rice women’s basketball is 4-1 when making at least eight threes this year and 1-3 when they don’t (they made three today on 18 attempts).  Their lone victory when they didn’t shoot the three particularly well came against Houston Christian, a team the Owls should be more than capable of handling regardless of how well their outside shooting fairs — Rice made 32.2 percent of their threes (6-for-21) in that game.

The Owls have had some career performances from long-range this year. Maya Bokunewicz tied the school record with seven triples against Saint Mary’s. Dominque Ennis had a personal best six threes against Texas Southern. When someone wasn’t lights out from deep, though, this team has struggled to find its groove offensively.

Finding a solution to that problem is becoming increasingly more important and Saturday’s third quarter might have served as one of the most tangible signs of progress yet. When Rice took possession for the first time in the period, they trailed by 16 points. They made just one three but entered the fourth quarter down by just nine.

It took some strain to get there, but Rice was able to attack the rim, get to the line a couple of times and make their foul shots. That’s a recipe for success, regardless of what’s happening from long range and it’s one Rice might need to lean on again in the near future if the cold streaks from three continue.

Up Next: vs Prairie View A&M (Sat. Dec 9)

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AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco announces retirement

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On an otherwise quiet Thursday morning, AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco announced his forthcoming retirement. He will be missed.

In today’s media landscape, few major announcements stay entirely under wraps. Half an hour until the American Athletic Conference office released perhaps it’s most significant statement of the past several seasons, there had been not even a hint of what was to come in the national media. Then, in a swift notice, AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco announced his retirement.

Effective May 31, 2024, Aresco will retire from his position atop the AAC, a place he has resided for the past 11 years. To this day, Aresco is the only commissioner in league history, guiding the then Big East and helping it grow into the AAC we know today.

Aresco issued this statement along with the release:

“It has been the supreme privilege of my long career in sports to have had the opportunity to lead this great conference from its reinvention in 2013, and to represent its outstanding student-athletes, coaches and administrators. I am grateful to the Board of Directors for giving me this opportunity to serve. It would take many pages to list this conference’s numerous athletic and academic accomplishments. There have also been some disappointments and difficulties along the way, most notably, the P5-G5 divide, realignment, College Football Playoff access for our deserving teams, and some competitive heartbreak in big games. But these have not affected in any way my enthusiasm in leading this terrific and resilient conference or my optimism for its long-term future. I would like to thank everyone associated with this conference for their significant contributions, and also my friends and colleagues in the college community, for their goodwill and concern for the greater good of the collegiate enterprise.”

You can find the full release here and a roundup of what others in the world of college athletics and media broadcasting had to say about the news here.

On a personal note, although my interactions with Aresco were brief, I was always impressed by his unrelenting confidence and unwavering determination. In a world of haves and have-nots, he never let anyone else define his league. Instead, he brought the fight to their doorsteps, fearless reminding all onlookers his conference was capable and, most importantly, kept receipts.

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AAC Football: Early Transfer Portal Results

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The Transfer Portal opened this week and several AAC Football programs have already been significantly impacted. Here’s where things stand after a week of action.

The first wave of transfers has hit the portal, with some AAC Football programs largely unaffected and others facing massive headwinds to find replacements by the time the Early Signing Period opens on December 20. The following numbers have been taken from 247 Sports Transfer Portal tracker, updated as of Wednesday, December 6.

School Portal Entrants
ECU 21
North Texas 19
Tulsa 13
Charlotte 13
FAU 11
UAB 10
Temple 6
USF 5
SMU 4
UTSA 3
Memphis 3
Tulane 3
Rice 0
Navy 0

State of the AAC

It’s no surprise the programs with the most turnover are the ones that aren’t making any postseason appearances. Of the seven teams with the fewest transfers listed, six are playing in a bowl while the seventh (Navy) still has one regular season game remaining and comes with its own extenuating circumstances.

It’s worth noting Rice does have one player who has announced he’s entering the portal, but not one that likely played into their future: CB Jordan Dunbar who did not play this season.

More: AAC Football Bowl Roundup

North Texas and ECU lead the pack and have been absolutely gutted by outgoing transfers so far. ECU’s demise makes some sense, following a dreadful 2-10 season filled with disappointment and frustration. The exodus in Denton, TX is more puzzling. Eric Morris’ built an impressive offense in year one and had the team on the fringe of bowl eligibility. He won’t be starting from scratch in 2024, but losing so many key pieces certainly won’t help.

Names to Watch

More names could enter before the portal closes, but as of now there are a handful of AAC players that are likely to be coveted assets over the next few weeks:

UTSA DE Trey Moore – The reigning AAC Defensive Player of the Year and arguably one of the premier pass rushers in all of college football, Moore is going to be at the top of the list for Power 5 programs across the country and should have his pick of final destinations.

North Texas QB Chandler Rodgers – Rodgers didn’t get any AAC postseason accolades, but that was probably more to blame on the copious amounts of quality QB play in the conference than Rodgers’ abilities. The quarterback transfer market is already brimming, but Rodgers proved this season he can be a starter somewhere.

Temple QB EJ Warner – Injuries and terrible offensive play around Warner kept onlookers from seeing his true ceiling this season. That might allow him to fly a bit under the radar, but any programs that dig a little deeper and assess his skillset should jump at the chance to add him to their QB rooms. He has multiple years of eligibility remaining.

Charlotte LB Nikhai Hill-Green – The No. 2 tackler on a 49ers defense that had plenty of opportunities, the 6–foot-2, 232-pound Hill-Green put plenty on tape this season to earn another shot as a starter elsewhere and should receiver plenty of interest.

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