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Rice Women’s Basketball to face BYU in first round of 2023 WNIT

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Rice women’s basketball has accepted an invitation to participate in the 2023 WNIT and will play BYU in the first round.

Rice women’s basketball is postseason bound. After falling to UTSA in the second round of the Conference USA Tournament, the Owls have accepted a bid to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). The first round will take place from March 15 to March 17. All host sites for that round and subsequent rounds will be determined by the higher bidding team.

Rice will play BYU in the first round on Friday, March 17 with tipoff scheduled for 8:00 pm CT. BYU enters the tournament with a 16-16 record. The Cougars last played in the WCC Tournament, falling to Gonzaga.

Stream the game on BYUtv here.

The Owls have a rich history with the WNIT. In 2018, Rice defeated Texas State in Round 1 before falling to New Mexico in Round 2. They next appeared in the WNIT in 2021, parading through the field and defeating Ole Miss to take home the tournament championship. Along the way they posted victories over Arizona State, Fresno State, California Baptist and Delaware.

This will be the first appearance for Rice women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Edmonds in a postseason tournament after taking over leadership of the program prior to the 2021-2022 season.

The entire field WNIT was announced on Monday, following the release of the Women’s NCAA Tournament Bracket. Here is the full WNIT bracket. Should Rice advance past the first round, the Owls would play the winner of the first round game between Oregon and North Dakota State.

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Rice Basketball to face Duquesne in first round of 2023 CBI Tournament

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Rice basketball has accepted an invitation to participate in the 2023 CBI Tournament and will play Duquesne in the first round.

Rice basketball is postseason bound. After falling to UAB in the second round of the Conference USA Tournament, the Owls have accepted a bid to the College Basketball Invitation Tournament (CBI). The Tournament will take place from March 18 to 22 with all games at the Daytona Beach Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, FL.

This is the Owls’ third appearance in the CBI. Rice first played in the 2017 tournament, defeating San Francisco in the opening round before falling to Utah Valley in the quarterfinals. Last year Rice went down to the wire against 3-Seed Ohio in the opening round, taking a lead with five seconds to play, only to watch it crumble on a buzzer-beating shot from the Bobcats that sent Rice home.

Opening round games will be played on Mar. 18 and Mar. 19 with the remaining rounds taking place over the next three days. Should a team play on the second day of opening round games and advance to the finals, they would play four games in four days.

Rice basketball head coach Scott Pera released this statement regarding the news:

“We are excited to be heading back to Daytona Beach and participate in the CBI in back-to-back years. We had a good, but too short, experience last year. For our program to get to back-to-back postseasons is another barrier we have broken down as we continue to grow Rice Basketball and head into the American Athletic Conference next year.”

The entire field was announced on Selection Sunday, following the release of the NCAA Tournament and NIT Brackets. Here is the full CBI bracket. Should Rice advance past the first round, the Owls would play the winner of the first round game between Southern Utah and North Alabama.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 140 – Rice Football Spring Practice and Coaching News

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Rice Football has started spring practice with three new assistant coaches, college football has new rules and the Owls’ 2023 schedule is out!

A lot has happened in the world of Rice football since the Owls last took the field. From coaching staff changes to new coaches (and a new conference and a new schedule!) there’s a lot to work through for an “offseason” show. We attempt to cover it all on our first show under the banner of Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 140.

Episode Notes

Housekeeping

The Roost Podcast is now part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You’ll still get the same content with the same hosts you’ve grown to love (or at least tolerate), but now with new partners.

Please support us on Patreon. Be the first to get the inside scoop on what’s going on with Rice football and stick around for even further analysis. That includes practice updates, analysis and more. Your support matters and makes The Roost better.

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Rice Football Spring Ball and news round table

  • DCTF Network news
  • 2023 Rice Football schedule anaylsis. It’s a step up, but not that big of a step.
  • Unpacking the upcoming college football rule changes and how they might impact the game
  • Reviewing the coaching changes and discussing the significance of the turnover and new hires
  • Spring practice final thoughts. Two things we’re looking forward to this spring.

Where can you find us?

The Roost Podcast is part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You can find this podcast and all of our partner podcasts on Apple, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Rice Football 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 1: Coaching Shuffle

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Rice Football has three new assistants with more on the way. Here’s the latest on the new faces and how they’ll fit at South Main.

After an eventful offseason, Rice football began its spring practices on Monday. Unlike some prior springs, there were a host of new faces on the field, including transfer quarterback JT Daniels and three new position coaches, who have since been formally appointed by the school.

I caught up with head coach Mike Bloomgren and each of the three new coaches to get their early impressions on the South Main and understand what they expect to bring to the Owls.

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Rice Basketball bounced from C-USA Tournament by UAB

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Rice basketball hung around for a while, but couldn’t keep pace with UAB, bowing out in the second round of the Conference USA Tournament.

It was going to take an extremely well-played game for Rice basketball to give UAB a run for its money. The Owls did not get that out of the gate, turning the ball over frequently and falling behind 12-5 in the first five minutes. Rice collected itself and made some threes, retaking the lead 16-12 on an 11-0 run.

In that span, Rice looked comfortable on both sides of the court. They protected the basketball and took advantage of UAB’s mistakes. They hung tough through the ensuing UAB run, falling behind by 10 before firing back to make it a two-point game with one minute remaining before the halftime buzzer. Travis Evee and Max Fiedler provided almost all of the scoring on an unusually quiet night from Quincy Olivari.

It was at that one-minute mark when the poise of UAB made the difference. Rice fouled a three-point shooter, allowed a separate three-point shot and a dunk, all in the span of 57 seconds. Just like that, Rice was back down by 10 in a game they had largely played evenly with one of the conference’s best teams.

Rice would get within five early in the second half, but another rash of turnovers and the unstoppable play of UAB’s Jelly Walker proved too much. He made four consecutive three-point shots, sparking a 15-4 UAB run. Up 17 points at the under-12 timeout, Rice was unable to dig out of the hole, falling in the second round and seeing their regular season come to an end.

Final Box | UAB 87 – Rice 60

Key takeaway | Talented, but flawed

In many ways, the two-game sample of the Conference USA Tournament summed up the Rice basketball season. The Owls found a way to hang on to a win against a UTSA team below them in the standings, but it took a last-second prayer to make it happen. Then they rose to the occasion and gave a really good UAB team a scare, only for their inconsistent ball handling and spotty defense to be exposed late.

Evee hit just about everything on Thursday night. Fiedler was the key piece in the middle. Olivari had an off night, but we’ve seen him drop 20+ on a regular basis. Mekhi Mason and Cameron Sheffield have both produced throughout the year. One can’t question the raw talent on this team. But for whatever reason, it wasn’t enough.

Head coach Scott Pera is going to have to take a hard look in the mirror this offseason and find a way to reassemble the pieces in a way that produces more consistent results. The talent is there.

Up Next | ???

Rice basketball finished the regular season 16-16 last year and earned an invite to the CBI. At 18-15 this season, they’re probably in line to return to that tournament again, should they decide that’s something they’d want to do. Pera has talked in the past about how important postseason basketball is to the program, so it seems likely the Owls 2022-2023 campaign will have at least one more stanza.

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