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Rice Basketball Roundup: Owls sweep three-game home slate

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It was a good weekend for Rice basketball, who swept their three-game slate over five days to stay undefeated at Tudor Fieldhouse.

  • Thursday | Rice 92 – North American 54
  • Saturday | Rice 110 – Northwestern State 73
  • Monday | Rice 100 – Jarvis Christian 64

Frankly, Rice basketball took care of business this weekend against teams they should have beaten soundly. To some extent, that’s par for the course, but it was encouraging to see just how quickly they dispatched these three, particularly their Saturday win over Northwestern State.

The Demons entered that game 8-2 with a road win over No. 15 TCU and over the Owls’ former C-USA foe Southern Miss under their belts. Yet Rice romped easily at home.

Quincy Olivari was unstoppable, topping 17 points in all three contests, and he would have had many more had he come close to his normal complement of minutes. Max Fiedler had a double-double against Jarvis Christian and a season-high 22 points against Northwestern State. Travis Evee even got back on track, going 4-for-6 from three on Monday evening, scoring 14 points.

The Owls opened the benches in all three games, getting valuable minutes for younger players who — if past seasons are any indication — might very well be called upon for expanded minutes down the stretch.

Up Next | Full Schedule

Then next time Rice basketball takes the court they’ll be in the thick of Conference USA play. The Owls have already played one conference game, a strange mid-November road tilt against Middle Tennessee, which they lost. Up next after Christmas are road against at Western Kentucky (Thr, Dec. 29) and at UTEP (Sat, Dec. 31).

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Rice Football Recruiting: Former Husker OL Brant Banks commits to Owls

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The 2023 Rice Football recruiting has added a Big Ten transfer in the trenches. Former Nebraska offensive lineman Brant Banks has committed to the Owls.

Rice Football recruiting classes have always stressed talent up front, making the addition of at least one veteran offensive lineman a must for the 2023 class. Rice has filled that need with a productive transfer from Nebraska. Houston native Brant Banks has announced he’s coming home and has committed to the Owls.

Banks played his high school ball at Westbury Christian where he played both ways before heading north to the Big Red. He originally chose Nebraska over offers from around the country. He turned down Baylor, Boston College, Cal, Houston, Pitt and Missouri.

After redshirting in 2019, Banks became a key special teams player and offensive line contributor from that point onward. Banks started the 2021 season opener against Illinois and saw extensive action in several other contests.

In addition to his prowess on the football field, Banks actually suited up for the Nebraska men’s basketball team prior to the Big Ten Tournament following the 2019 season. He played three minutes in the Huskers’ first round game against Indiana. A big man that can move is always a plus and Banks’ brief appearance on the hardwood gives evidence he can do just that.

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Banks has some high school film available if you want to dig that far back, but the reality is the 6-foot-7, 300-pounder has only grown bigger and stronger since those clips were taken. He’s a Big Ten-caliber blocker who can move people around. That’s a big plus for a Rice offensive line that needs reinforcements. Here’s a clip from the Huskers’ spring media sessions before the season.

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Rice Football Recruiting: TE Matt Hall commits to Owls

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The 2023 Rice Football recruiting class is making key additions from the Transfer Portal including Truman State’s Matt Hall who has committed to the Owls.

A veteran tight end seemed an obvious candidate for the 2023 Rice Football recruiting class, given how important the position is to the Owls’ offense. With the Early Signing Period just days away, Rice has their man. Truman State grad transfer Matt Hall has committed to the Owls.

Hall comes to Rice after a standout career at Truman State, a Division II program in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. In three seasons, Hall caught 86 passes for 962 yards and 13 touchdowns. He averaged 11.2 yards per catch and mixed in a few explosive plays, too.

For Hall, Rice was near the top of his list from the start. “There were three things I was looking for,” Hall told The Roost. “A place with great culture, a place that has great academics, and a place that would challenge me on and off the field to be a better player, student, and man. Rice checked every one of those boxes.”

Rice tried to engineer a similar addition at this time last year, landing a commitment from Cal transfer tight end Gavin Reinwald. Unfortunately, Reinwald never saw the field at Rice following a preseason injury. A healthy Hall should ease the burden from starter Jack Bradley and provide the Rice offense with another vertical threat.

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What Rice football saw in Hall becomes pretty clear from a brief glance at his film or a look at his boxscore. He’s fluid in space, can get downfield and make a play after the catch. He’s an aggressive blocker that can fill multiple roles within the Rice offense. He’s going to provide instant production to a position that needed another trustworthy option.

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Rice Football: Disappointed Owls ready to turn the page

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Rice football found itself on the wrong side of history in the Lending Tree Bowl against Southern Miss. Now they’re ready to turn the page.

Nobody in the Rice football locker room had envisioned participating in what Mike Bloomgren aptly dubbed “the Frank Gore show” on a chilly December night in Mobile, AL. The last team to make it into the postseason was rewarded with a spot in college football history, albeit one they’d rather not be linked to. In some ways, though, it’s a fitting in-between that’s representative of who this team was this season.

“There are a lotta guys in that locker room that are in shambles,” head coach Mike Bloomgren said after the game. “They’re incredibly invested in what we’re doing and they wanted to find a way to win this game, but we didn’t get it done.”

The failure drops the Owls to 5-8. It’s their most wins since 2014, yet somehow symbolizes the floor of expectations moving forward. Senior defensive end Ikenna Enechukwu, who likely played in his last game as an Owl, forcing a fumble and being credited with a sack, said as much in his comments following the game.

More: Takeaways from Rice football loss to Southern Miss

“I want this to the bare minimum for them,” he said. “The bare minimum should be those six wins and they should be aiming for that conference championship, even if it’s in the AAC. I feel like they can do it.”

In a sense, Enechukwu knew that being in Mobile as a five-win team required a stroke of luck. Rice didn’t get much luck on Saturday evening, whether from their own efforts, a set of dubious officials or anyone else. The results were what they were. Now the next step is figuring out how to be on the right side of history next year and beyond.

There is hope on that front. Freshman quarterback AJ Padgett completed 19-of-37 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns against Southern Miss, just his second career start. Luke McCaffrey, who led the Owls in receptions, was a go-to target for Padgett after missing essentially the last three games. Joshua Pearcy had a sack.

Joining Enechukwu, Gabe Taylor and Izeya Floyd each forced fumbles. The offense finished with two turnovers of their own, the final one occurring on the arm of backup quarterback Shawqi Itraish in the final minutes. Still, it was only the third time this season Rice had finished with a positive turnover differential. And most of those playmakers are set to return.

And then there’s Padgett, who transformed himself from a fourth-stringer to starter in the span of a few weeks. Whether he’s given the shot to start next season or not, he wasn’t afraid to echo the sentiments of Enechukwu and Bloomgren when they turned their eyes to the future,

“[Going bowling] should 100 percent be the standard. If that’s not the standard, then what is? We should approach a season with the attitude that we want to win a bowl game. We want to win conference. We want to beat everybody we play,” he declared. “I don’t really think there’s any other mindset to approach a season with or you’re just going out there to lose and that’s not what I’m about. I’m a ballplayer. I go out there to win.”

Rice didn’t win on Saturday. Everyone is crushed by that. Now they’re tasked with getting their house in order for 2023 to ensure that a loss like that — bowl game or otherwise — isn’t a part of their future again.

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Rice Women’s Basketball pulls away from Sam Houston to stay perfect

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It was a close game at Tudor Fieldhouse until Rice women’s basketball pulled away in the fourth quarter to secure their ninth straight win.

Whether it was the early morning tip time or something else, Rice women’s basketball got off to a sluggish start in the first quarter in their final nonconference game. The Owls shot 28.6 percent from the floor in the opening frame but managed to keep the game close with their defense, trailing 15-10 when the second quarter began.

Sam Houston extended their lead to seven points on the first bucket of the second quarter, then Destiny Jackson took over for the Owls. She scored four consecutive buckets, vaporizing the deficit and turning it into the first Rice lead of the day.

While Rice was able to right the ship and make things interesting, Sam Houston wouldn’t go away. Neither team led by more than three points from the midpoint of Jackson’s second-quarter run (8:30 on the clock) til the 1:32-minute mark of the third quarter, a span of nearly 10 minutes of court time.

When the Owls’ shots started falling, though, they didn’t stop. A close game became a route in a matter of minutes. Rice hit four three-pointers to close out the third quarter, then did most of their fourth quarter damage inside, opening up a 13-point lead after the final media timeout and coasting to their ninth consecutive victory, completing a perfect run through non-conference play.

Spotlight | Katelyn Crosthwait

Crosthwait has become a reliable deep threat for Rice women’s basketball, making at least one three-pointer in eight of nine games and making three or more triples in six games so far. Altogether she’s shooting 41.4 percent from three, the best mark on the team.

It was Crosthwait’s third quarter contributions that helped open the game up and turned a close game into a multi-score advantage headed to the fourth quarter. In addition to her 14 points, which tied a season high, she also added four rebounds and an assist.

Final Box | Rice 68 – SHSU 57

Up Next | Full Schedule

The next time Rice women’s basketball hits the court they’ll be headed for conference play. After wrapping up its nonconference schedule, Rice will next play games against Middle Tennessee (Tues, Dec. 20), Western Kentucky (Thur, Dec. 29), and UTEP (Sat, Dec. 31).

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