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Rice Football: Behind enemy lines on Texas State

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Rice Football takes on Texas State in the First Responders Bowl so we’re going behind enemy lines with the guys from the Squarin’ Around Podcast.

Andrew and Jakob of the Sqaurin’ Around Podcast, part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network, were kind enough to stop by and answer a few questions about the upcoming matchup between Rice Football and Texas State. Their answers below should shed some light on the Owls’ upcoming opponent.

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Rice Football Recruiting: Will Owls participate in Transfer Portal QB carousel?

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The Transfer Portal quarterback market is heating up. How will Rice football recruiting be involved?

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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.

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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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