The source for Rice sports news

Kings of the Hill: Rice Basketball knocks off WKU

By

Rice basketball fell behind early, but caught fire when it mattered, upsetting Western Kentucky to earn a big road win.

A season ago, Rice basketball gave Western Kentucky a good half of a game at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, KY. The second half, though, was all Hilltoppers, who seemed to have another gear the Owls just could not match. Rice got their road rematch with WKU on Thursday night and while it was indeed a tale of two halves, Rice made sure it was the second stanza that shouted the loudest.

It wouldn’t start pretty, though. Western Kentucky opened the game with a 10-0 explosion. With six minutes left in the first half, Rice trailed 29-16. The defense had held in key moments, but the offense hadn’t found its shooting stroke and was held without a field goal in the first 10 minutes of play. Nothing was falling… until it was.

Want More Rice sports news? Subscribe on Patreon

Trailing by 10 points at the break, Rice took off. The Owls shot a dismal 21.9 percent from the floor in the first half, making just five of 19 from three. “You’re not going to beat anyone shooting 21 percent,” head coach Scott Pera quipped post game, noting one important caveat “[In] previous years when we didn’t shoot well, it affected our defense. This group is different.”

Still in the game because of that defense, Rice started to catch fire. In the second half, Rice shot 58.1 percent from the floor and made nine of 15 three-pointers, including a sequence in which Travis Evee, Quincy Olivari and Cameron Sheffield went back-to-back-to-back to put Rice in front by seven under six minutes to play.

Western Kentucky lost their leading scorer Dayvion McKnight, but managed to tie the game up with 90 seconds to go. Rice would go up by one before Travis Evee made the defensive play of the night, stealing back the basketball and knocking down a pair of three throws to take a three-point lead with under 10 seconds to play. Rice would hold on and clinch Pera’s first ever win over the Hilltoppers.

Player Spotlight | Travis Evee

Part of last season’s prolific scoring duo with Carl Pierre, Evee had taken somewhat of a secondary spot behind Quincy Olivari early on this season. Olivari had been hot and Evee had done his job, getting the ball in his hands. But it always felt like just a matter of time before Evee — who hadn’t reached the 20-point mark since November 21 — was going to go off again.

Evee led all scorers with 24 points and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe, including a pair of game-sealing shots down the stretch. He also added six rebounds and five assists. It was his best performance of the season and the Owls wouldn’t have been able to do what they did without him on the court on Thursday night.

Final Box | Rice 81 – WKU 78

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice basketball will finish 2022 with a New Year’s Eve tilt in the desert against UTEP, the second and final game of their current road trip. That game is scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. tip-off on CUSAtv.

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

Recent Posts

Rice Athletics: Where do women’s sports rank in ACC? — December Patreon Q&A

By

Rice Athletics has faired extremely well in women’s sports in Conference USA. Can they maintain that success in the American Conference?

There were so many good questions submitted in our last Q&A request at the tail end of the Rice football season and this one deserved its own acknowledgment. With football finished and the early signing period in the books, now was the perfect time to take a closer look at another good question that came in relating to sports beyond football in the Owls’ new home, specifically the women’s sports. We tackle that in this month’s Patreon Q&A.

Want to get your questions answered? Subscribe on Patreon for our monthly mailbag.

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

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.

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

Historic Rice football recruiting class to send Owls “soaring to new heights”

By

Another top-flight Rice football recruiting class is in the books and like many beforehand, it carries some history-making swagger.

“Today was a great day for the Rice Owls,” head coach Mike Bloomgren said as he opened up his Early Signing Period press conference. “We believe this class will take us soaring to new heights.”

The wording might have changed from year-to-year, but the refrain sure sounded the same. Rice was making waves on the recruiting front, and the best was yet to come.

It took a year or two to get things rolling, but the rhythm of the Rice football recruiting machine continues to amplify. Now, for the third time under head coach Mike Bloomgren, the Owls have made history.

If it feels like this story has been told before, that’s because it has. Under Bloomgren, the 2020 signing class was, at the time, the highest-rated recruiting class in program history. Then, two cycles later, the Owls broke that record with a new best-ever haul with the 2022 class. And now, again, Rice football recruiting has made history.

The rankings will fluctuate some between now and February when the traditional signing day occurs, but as things currently stand, the 2023 class is the No. 80 class in the nation, the highest ranking in school history. When it comes to average recruit rating, the class is second by fractions of a point to the 2022 class, but that could change when newcomers like transfer quarterback JT Daniels are accounted for.

And that’s one other noticeable change as the history-making continues. Daniels, a former high school national player of the year and five-star recruit, has signed with Rice. Daniels is the highest-rated signee in program history. He surpasses four-star commitment quarterback-turned-wide receiver Luke McCaffrey, who was also brought in by Bloomgren and his staff.

More: 2023 Rice Football Recruiting class early signing period live blog

On the high school front, the Owls added linebacker Ty Morris and defensive end Joseph Mutombo in this class. Both are among the 10 highest-rated signees in program history, five of which have been signed by this staff in the past five cycles.

No matter where you look, it’s all coming up Owl. “We were trending on Twitter,” recruiting director Marco Regalado mentioned, specifically addressing the late night announcement that Daniels was heading to South Main. “People were talking about the Rice Owls, and that’s recruiting. That helps.”

It’s going to take more than some social media shout outs to turn positive recruiting momentum into results. Regalado and the Rice staff know that as well as anyone. But it wouldn’t be fair to them not to acknowledge how they raised their level of recruiting as they prepare for a big test next season when they move to the AAC.

“What we recruited in the past to compete in that conference is not going to work in the next one. We saw that every year when we played Houston and how athletic they were across the street,” Bloomgren said. “Now, also playing Houston this year and being able to hit them in the mouth a little bit … gives us a lot of hope that as long as we’re signing the right kids from an athletic standpoint, we can make some noise in that conference.”

The Owls have made just about as much noise as they could on the recruiting front. Up next? The AAC.

Want more Rice football recruiting info? Subscribe now on Patreon for more on this class and additional Owls’ sports news

Become a Patron!
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football Recruiting: JT Daniels to transfer to Owls

By

Former five-star recruit JT Daniels is the newest member of the 2023 Rice Football recruiting class, starting the early signing period with a bang.

The 2023 Rice Football recruiting class got off to a roaring start on the eve of the Early Signing Period. First reported by Pete Thamel, former five-star quarterback JT Daniels is set to transfer to Rice.

Even before his inclusion in the rankings, the 2023 class was already trending toward the highest rated in program history. Now Daniels — who incidentally will become the highest-rated player to ever play for Rice football since recruiting rankings were introduced in the early 2000s —  will send that rankings score even higher.

Daniels initially committed to USC out of high school and has since had stints at Georgia and West Virginia. He helped the Bulldogs win a national title in his time in Athens and brings 45 career touchdown passes and just shy of 7,000 passing yards. He’s 17-12 as a starter, most recently starting 10 games with the Mountaineers last season.

Rice has taken swings at relatively big quarterback names in the Transfer Portal before under head coach Mike Bloomgren, but this is arguably the biggest windfall the Owls have had at the position yet, based purely on the talent and resume Daniels brings with him to South Main. It’s also worth noting, as Thamel reported, Bloomgren had recruited Daniels before.

Daniels provides Rice with an influx of talent at the most important position on the field, a position Rice has struggled to find consistency at under Bloomgren thus far. If things work out for the best, all parties might have found exactly the pairing they need for a productive future in the American Athletic Conference

There’s more… Stay tuned to our Early Signing Period live blog for live updates on the 2023 class as it unfolds. Who knows, maybe there are some more fireworks coming?

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

Recent Posts

Rice Football Recruiting: 2023 Early Signing Period Live Blog

By

The majority of the 2023 Rice Football Recruiting class will become signees during the Early Signing Period. Follow all the action here.

Like many others before it, the 2023 Rice Football recruiting class is shaking up to be a strong group. Rice has had three of its five highest-rated signing classes under Mike Bloomgren and they don’t appear to be slowing down any time soon.

This live tracker will follow all the latest news and updates throughout the day, with some notes along the way on the class as it is finalized. If you’re not a subscriber yet, here’s your chance.

Become a Patron!

Which newcomers will make sizable impacts as soon as they arrive on campus like Isaiah Esdale, Chris Conti and others did this past fall? This class has plenty of talent which could find its way to the field soon.

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

Now, let’s dig into the latest from the Early Signing Period, below.

Updates

9:20 p.m.

Historic Rice football recruiting class to send Owls “soaring to new heights”

5:00 p.m.

What’s next? Stay tuned later this evening for a writeup on the historic haul. In the next few days there will also be detailed position-by-position breakdowns of the entire class plus some coaches notes on the new additions.

We’ve also recorded a brief microcast on the Daniels addition for our All-American and Booster level patrons.

4:55 p.m.

It’s official. The rest of Wednesday’s haul is official and as follows:

West Virginia transfer quarterback JT Daniels is in.

https://attheroost.com/2022/12/20/rice-football-recruiting-jt-daniels-to-transfer-to-owls/

Nassau CC transfer defensive lineman Jordan Campbell is in.

Safety Ashton Ojiaku is in

Linebacker Ty Morris is in

Corner AJ Stephens is in.

Corner Jamarion Clark is in.

Southwestern transfer tight end Ethan Powell is in.

1:58 p.m.

Linebacker Beau Barton is in.

1:21 p.m.

Defensive lineman Coleman Coco is in.

12:55 p.m.

Defensive end Chris Clark is in.

12:42 p.m.

New 2024 offers are starting to come in. We won’t’ track them all here, but you can always find them and the latest updates on the 2023 signees/commits on the recruiting tracker.

12:28 p.m.

Finally, the first defender is in the fold. Not a fan of the Owls sitting on these signatures this long. Anyhow, defensive end Joseph Mutombo is in.

12:13 p.m.

Wide receiver Drayden Dickmann is in.

11:28 a.m.

Wide receiver Justin Williams is in.

11:01 a.m.

Wide receiver Landon Ransom is in.

10:34 a.m.

Quarterback Chase Jenkins is in.

10:12 a.m.

A quick recap. Nine official announcements so far.

  • OL Luke Needham
  • OL Phillip Gallegos
  • RB Daelen Alexander
  • OL Brant Banks [Nebraska]
  • OL Peyton Farmer
  • TE Matt Hall [Truman State]
  • OL Nate Bledsoe
  • OL Patrick Valent
  • TE James Falk

10:06 a.m.

The sixth (and likely final) offensive lineman in the 2023 class is official. Luke Needham is in.

9:53 a.m.

Offensive lineman Phillip Gallegos is in.

9:45 a.m.

Rice is clearly spacing out announcements today, but there are already a few commits that have publically announced they’ve signed including WR Landon Ransom and QB Chase Jenkins.

9:32 a.m.

Running back Daelen Alexander is in.

9:07 a.m.

Nebraska transfer offensive lineman Brant Banks is in.

8:47 a.m.

Another offensive lineman is official. Peyton Farmer is in.

8:36 a.m.

How on brand is this? Of the first four announced additions to the 2023 class, two are offensive linemen and two are tight ends.

8:32 a.m.

Truman State tight end Matt Hall is in.

8:14 a.m.

Offensive lineman Nate Bledsoe is in.

7:48 a.m.

Offensive lineman Patrick Valent is in.

7:13 a.m.

The first letter of intent is in! TE James Falk is official.

6:48 a.m.

While we wait for the presses to warm up, one tidbit to pass along. Rice hasn’t signed a recruiting class better than 80th in the country in program history. The Owls’ current best, from a national rankings perspective, was the No. 82 class in 2009. Rice started the day with the No. 75 class in the nation.

6:36 a.m.

As is typically the case, the majority of the incoming Owls are based in the central time zone. The class has no Florida commits as of yet, that’s usually where the fireworks have started in recent signing days. No official announcements as of yet, but 7:00 central in Texas is ticking closer and there’s going to be a lot happening then. Hang on.

Wednesday morning – 5:55 a.m.

National letters of intent can start arriving from the Eastern time zone in just a few minutes. It’s time to get this show on the road.

Tuesday night

The college football world was fixated on Rice football on Tuesday night. On the eve of the early signing period, the Owls landed former 5-star and national championship-winning quarterback JT Daniels.

https://attheroost.com/2022/12/20/rice-football-recruiting-jt-daniels-to-transfer-to-owls/

Tuesday afternoon

The initial group of December signees for the 2022 Rice Football recruiting class was a bit on the smaller side given the initial uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 waivers and their impact on future rosters. That’s not the case this time around. While there are a few spots remaining for additional Transfer Portal candidates, Rice has brought in a robust group they will sign in December.

And once again, as has been the case in year past, several Rice signees have yet to receive a 247 Sports rating. Even still, the 2023 Rice Football Recruiting class has already come in strong. Here’s where the group stands as of Tuesday evening. Players are eligible to fax in their signatures starting at 7:00 a.m. local time.

Rice has the No. 3 class in Conference USA entering Wednesday morning. When accounting for the conference moves upcoming in 2023, Rice football owns the No. 7 class among all 2023 members of the AAC. The Owls were as high as fourth in the new AAC as recently as Monday evening. There’s a lot to watch as the dust settles here.

Make sure to stay tuned on Twitter and follow our live blog here during the day for updates. Get the latest list of the 2023 Rice Football Recruiting commits by clicking the tracker below.

Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting

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

Recent Posts