The source for Rice sports news

Rice Basketball Falls in OT to Kennesaw State

By

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)

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Women’s Basketball Rallies Past UIW

By

A disastrous second quarter left Rice Women’s basketball in a hole, but the Owls rallied late to stave off an upset by UIW at home.

Rice women’s basketball fell behind from the opening tip, but kept things close through the first quarter, getting to the line and creating opportunities close to the basket. Still, they found themselves trailing by six points heading into the second quarter which is where things took a turn for the worse.

UIW opened the quarter on a 14-0 run, turning a modest advantage into a commanding 20-point lead. Rice would claw back a few baskets before halftime, but the offense was in complete disarray, managing just seven field goals in the half and no three-pointers.

NEWS: Rice Launches The Gateway Project, Rice Stadium Renovation

Trailing by 15 points at intermission, Rice mounted a modest comeback in the early portions of the third quarter, propelled by four three-pointers from Dominque Ennis to help shrink the deficit to as few as two points but the real rally would come with Rice down 12 in the fourth.

Rice opened the quarter on a staggering 15-2 run, followed soon afterward by an 11-2 run. Just like that, a double-digit deficit turned into a comfortable home team advantage. Victoria Flores knocked down some last-minute foul shots to secure the win.

Rice women’s basketball improves to 3-2 on the season and 2-0 at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Final Box | Rice 70, UIW 62

Key takeaway | Sputtering Shooting Leaves Reason for Concern

The fast-paced, explosive offense Rice women’s basketball hoped to showcase this season has yet to materialize in any real way. Whether it’s new personnel leaning to play together, execution issues or a fundamental error in the construction of the offense, Rice needs to go back to the drawing board, asap.

The Owls shot 20 percent from the floor in the first half and 29.2 percent in the game. They missed their first 13 three-point shots, finishing just 15 percent from deep. Bad shooting days happen and had the opponent not been a 1-3 UIW squad, it probably would have cost Rice a win.

They deserve all the credit for clawing back and seizing victory on a day when they weren’t at their best. Good teams do that. But if this team wants to become a sustainable winner, better offensive outings are going to be required on a much more consistent basis.

Up Next: Discover Puerto Rice Shootout vs Illinois State (Nov. 26 at 11:30 am)

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

American Conference Football 2025: Week 13 Roundup

By

American Conference Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron this week.

TeamRecord This WeekResultUp Next
Army5-5 (3-4)vs TulsaL, 26-25at UTSA
Charlotte1-10 (0-7)at GeorgiaL, 35-3at Tulane
ECU7-4 (5-2)at UTSAL, 58-24at FAU
FAU4-7 (3-4)vs UConnL, 48-45vs ECU
Memphis8-3 (4-3)— OFF — — vs Navy (THR)
Navy8-2 (6-1)— OFF — — at Memphis (THR)
North Texas10-1 (6-1)at RiceW, 56-24vs Temple (FRI)
Rice5-6 (2-5)vs North TexasL, 56-24at USF
Temple5-6 (3-4)vs TulaneL, 37-13at North Texas (FRI)
Tulane9-2 (6-1)at TempleW, 37-13vs Charlotte
Tulsa4-7 (1-6)at ArmyW, 26-25at UAB
UAB3-8 (1-6)vs USFL, 48-18vs Tulsa
USF8-3 (5-2)at UABW, 48-18vs Rice
UTSA6-5 (4-3)vs ECUW, 58-24vs Army

Storylines // Standings // Preseason Poll

Roadrunners Rock Pirates at the Alamodome

East Carolina became the latest team to fall victim to whatever magic UTSA keeps bottled up inside the Alamodome. The Pirates were in contention to play for the American Conference championship entering the weekend and find themselves on the outside looking in. Owen McCown tossed five touchdown passes and Will Henderson rushed for 146 yards as the Roadrunners clinched bowl eligibility.

Mean Green Style Points

Wide receiver Wyatt Young set an American Conference single-game record with 295 receiving yards against Rice on the same night his teammate, running back Caleb Hawkins, cashed in three rushing touchdowns to tie for tops in the nation in touchdowns with 22. Either performance would have been enough to take down Rice.

Non-American Huskies

Don’t look now, but a nine-win UConn team has wrapped up the season 2-1 against American conference foes, taking down Florida Atlantic on Saturday after a win over UAB and loss to Rice earlier in the season. If nothing else, this program looks like it could compete in this conference, where they played as recently as the 2019 season.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

And Then There Were Three

Three one-loss teams remain in play for the American Conference Championship Game: Tulane, Navy and North Texas. Tulane can keep things simple and clinch a spot by defeating Charlotte next weekend and remaining the highest ranked team in the College Football Playoff rankings. North Texas has the head to head win over Navy. Things get strange if either the Mean Green or Green Wave lose, but they’re in the driver’s seat heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

Playing for Six

Florida Atlantic played its way out of bowl contention this past week, but three other teams remaining in the mix for their sixth win entering the final weekend of the regular season: Temple, Army and Rice. All face tough roads, with the possible exception of Army, which has been one of the few programs immune to the Alamodome curse since Jeff Traylor arrived at UTSA.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Know Your Foe: Rice Football vs North Texas

By

North Texas is next up on the 2025 Rice football schedule, so we’re going behind enemy lines with Mean Green insider JD Davis of the North Texas Eagle.

Mean Green insider JD Davis was kind enough to stop by and answer a few questions about the upcoming matchup between Rice Football and North Texas. The answers below should shed some light on the Owls’ upcoming opponent.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special features like this are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered in our monthly Q&As and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and features like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

Subscriber content. Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.
Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Basketball Falters Late Against Tarleton State

By

Rice Basketball led at the break but couldn’t hold off Tarleton State in the second half as the visitors ran away with the game in the second half.

Tarleton State opened the game with the first points, but Rice basketball quickly fired back with a three-pointer from Jalen Smith to jumpstart a back-and-forth contest in the early goings on Thursday night. Tarleton was able to amass a handful of meager leads, but it was Rice who controlled a good portion of the first half, at least until Tarleton guard Dior Johnson started to heat up.

Johnson scored 15 of his 29 points in the first half, nearly erasing a seven-point Rice lead on his own and bringing the game back within one point at halftime. Rice offered up some protest at the beginning of the second frame, only to see Tarleton turn to guard Cam McDowell who picked up the scoring baton from Johnson and kept going.

NEWS: Rice Launches The Gateway Project, Rice Stadium Renovation

McDowell finished with 19 points, all of which came in the second half as the visitors a 21-4 run which turned a slim Rice lead into a massive deficit which would prove to be too much to overcome. Tarleton defeated Rice for the first time in program history.

Rice Basketball falls to 2-4 with the loss. The Owls are 2-2 at Tudor Fieldhouse this season.

Final Box | Tarleton 90, Rice 74

Key takeaway | Compounding Defensive Woes

Oh how quickly early season losses can quench an off-season’s worth of hope. And while the results have been disappointing for Rice basketball, it’s their defensive stumbles that have to be the most concerning.

It’s more understandable that this team would struggle to shoot well as the new pieces were integrated into the offensive system, but the defense was supposed to be what this team could hang it’s hat on. That hasn’t been the case in the early portions of this non-conference slate.

Tarleton shot 59 percent from the floor in this game, marking the fourth straight opponent to shoot better than 49 percent so far this season. The Owls have played six games. That rate has to come down in a hurry if Rice is going to have the sort of season they were expecting.

Up Next: GEICO Coconut Hoops vs Kennesaw State (Mon, Nov. 24 at 3:30 pm)

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts