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Conference USA Football 2022: Week 12 Roundup

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Conference USA Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 12.

Team Week 12 Result Up Next
Charlotte vs LA Tech W, 26-21  —
FAU at MTSU L, 49-21 vs WKU
FIU at UTEP L, 40-6 vs MTSU
LA Tech at Charlotte L, 26-21 vs UAB
MTSU vs FAU W, 49-21 at FIU
North Texas — OFF —  — vs Rice
Rice vs UTSA L, 41-7 at North Texas
UAB at LSU at LA Tech
UTEP vs FIU W, 40-6 at UTSA
UTSA at Rice W, 41-7 vs UTEP
WKU at Auburn L, 41-17 at FAU

Notable Week 12 results – Standings

Home field secured

On a dreary day in Houston, the sun was shining on UTSA and quarterback Frank Harris. The Roadrunners dispatched of the Owls in quick order, securing the host duties for the upcoming Conference USA Football Championship Game where they’ll play either North Texas or Western Kentucky in two weeks time.

Let’s go bowling

While UTSA was working to clinch home field, other Conference USA squads were trying to make sure they had another game to play, too. Middle Tennesse became the fourth C-USA squad to clinch bowl eligibility so far this season, crushing Florida Atlantic to pick up win number six.

Uh Oh, Owls

It wasn’t just the Rice Owls who fell flat, the Florida Atlantic Owls were equally embarrassed. FAU was thoroughly outplayed by Middle Tennessee, pushing them into a do-or-die situation next weekend. Both Owls would like a mulligan for this week’s fiascoes, but that’s not going to happen.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Who’s joining UTSA?

Both Western Kentucky and North Texas sit tied in second place in the Conference USA standings with identical 5-2 records, but only one of them will get to make the trip. North Texas plays Rice, still searching for their elusive sixth win, while Western Kentucky faces an FAU squad in the same boat. North Texas holds the tiebreaker, so the Mean Green need a win and a WKU loss to get in.

Who else is still playing?

Florida Atlantic, Rice, UAB and UTEP all enter the final week of the regular season one-win shy of the six wins needed to secure bowl eligibility. The Blazers will be home favorites against the visiting Louisiana Tech Bulldogs but the other three teams will be underdogs, with Rice and UTEP both playing away from home. How many make it through?

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Rice Basketball closes strong, dispatches Western Michigan at home

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Rice basketball caught fire late, taking down Western Michigan to stay perfect at the Owl Invitational with one game still to play.

A day after a furious second half explosion to take down Georgia Southern, Rice basketball faced an early test against Western Michigan in their second game of the Owl Invitation at Tudor Fieldhouse. Travis Evee opened the scoring with a three-pointer, but Western Michigan would spend the majority of the first half in front, leading by as many as eight points.

The lead would never stretch farther than that. Cam Sheffield hit a couple of baskets to get Rice back into the game. The two sides traded blows for a few more minutes before Rice closed the half on an 8-0 run in the final 28 seconds, with Quincy Olivari leveling the score with a triple of his own at the buzzer.

More: Rice Basketball Season Preview

Rice would jump out in front by four on a three from Travis Evee shortly after the break, but the lead would be short-lived. Western Michigan rallied, this time stretching their advantage to nine points at the midpoint of the half. The Owls would lead again until the clock went under 3:00 and Olivari drained another three-ball to put the home team up by one.

From then, Travis Evee put on a clinic at the charity stripe, knocking down his free throws and sending Rice home with a win.

Player Spotlight | Travis Evee

Rice basketball had a few big performances that helped propel them to a win on Saturday, but it was the clutch shooting of Evee down the stretch that stole the show. He was 10-of-12 from the line on the afternoon, finishing a pristine 9-of-9 in the final three minutes, making it impossible for Western Michigan to mount a comeback. He just didn’t miss, including a three-pointer interspersed between the free throws to put the gam out of reach for good.

Final Box | Rice 96 – WMU 88

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice basketball is two games into the Owl Invitational. They’ll finish on Monday against Houston Christian. After that, the Owls have another home game on deck, this time against Prairie View A&M on Nov. 30.

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Rice Basketball Roundup: MBB over GA Southern, WBB over Pacific

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Both Rice basketball teams were in action on Friday. Here’s a brief rundown of how the men and women faired and what’s next for both.

Rice Basketball

Rice basketball still has early season kinks to work through but got back in the win column on Friday with a hard-fought victory against Georgia Southern.

With defense still very much a work in progress, anything is possible. What might have been a comfortable home-court advantage for Rice basketball did not last on Friday night against Georgia Southern. The Owls watched an eight-point lead vanish in the moments before halftime, ceding a 9-0 run by the visitors to fall behind 48-47 at the break.

As the three-pointing shooting started to slow in the second half, Rice turned to Max Fiedler in the post. He was extremely effective, making his shots count and scoring all of his nine points in the second half. Rice retook the lead and stretched it to as many as 17 points, hanging on to win a wild one at home.

Final Box | Rice 88 – Georgia So. 71

Key takeaway | The shots will start falling

At some point, the shots were going to start falling. Off nights from the field are an unfortunate cost of doing business for a team that relies on the three-ball as much as Rice basketball does. That said, nights like Friday serve as a reminder that any night can be a good shooting night.

Rice hit seven of their first 10 three and 10-of-23 from distance for the evening. Their previous high in triples in a game this year had been 14 against St. Thomas. Their high for the entirety of last season was 15 against Houston Baptist. If that’s any indication, even better nights from distance are coming and a good (not quite great) night at the office was enough to get the win.

Up Next: vs Western Michigan – Saturday, Nov. 19 at 5:00 p.m.

Rice Women's Basketball

Rice women’s basketball kept their perfect start to the season rolling with another road win, this time over Pacific in a relatively comfortable fashion.

Not long after a double-digit road win over Saint Mary’s, Rice women’s basketball took to the court at Pacific a few days later and produced a similar result. The Owls jumped out to an early lead behind a strong defensive showing, holding Pacific to 25 percent shooting from the floor in the first quarter. That enabled Rice to amass a 10-point lead at the break.

It wouldn’t be easy, though. Rice held serve in the third quarter, but Pacific came alive in the final frame. They outscore the Owls 28-24 in the fourth, making 5-of-9 from deep, but it wouldn’t be enough. Rice would make the defensive stands they needed to and hit their free throws, moving to 4-0 on the season with the win.

Final Box | Rice 89 – Pacific 79

Key takeaway | The defense is coming

Following the Owls’ season-opening game against SFA, coach Edmonds mentioned she’d hoped for a better defensive showing, giving up 77 points was too much in her highest. The team responded by cutting their points against total to 69 (vs Abilene Christian), then to 64 (at St. Mary’s).

The Owls were trending that way after holding their foes to 34 points in the first half, but a second-half barrage pushed Pacific’s final total to 79 points, several points of which came in catch-up mode with the Owls shooting free throws.

That total was never going to continue to fall forever, but it’s pretty clear the message was received. The defense has been much better, particularly in key moments. And they’re probably not done improving that facet of their game just yet either.

Up Next: at Texas Southern – Wednesday, Nov. 23 at 2:00 p.m.

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Rice Football 2022: UTSA Insider gives his take on the Roadrunners

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Rice Football returns home this week to take on C-USA frontrunner, UTSA. Roadrunners’ insider Jared Kalmus fills us in on what to expect in this game.

Roadrunners’ insider Jared Kalmus of Underdog Dynasty was kind enough to stop by and answer a few questions about the upcoming matchup between Rice Football and UTSA. The answers below should shed some light on the Owls’ upcoming opponent.

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Rice Women’s Basketball soars past Saint Mary’s on the road

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It wasn’t quite wire-to-wire, but Rice women’s basketball started fast and maintained a comfortable lead in their road win over Saint Mary’s.

Despite the late tip-off, 10:oo p.m. Houston time, Rice women’s basketball showed up ready to play in Califonia against Saint Marys. The Gael’s won the 2022 WBI Tournament and were picked to finish fifth in the West Coast Conference this season. Rice was undeterred.

The Owls jumped out to a nine-point lead in the first quarter, holding Saint Mary’s to 29.4 percent shooting from the field. Shelby Hayes created a mismatch in the interior, scoring eight points in the opening frame. When the defense collapsed to account for her, it opened up shooting lanes for Ashlee Austin and Kaitlyn Crostwait from deep.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball Season Preview

The lead quickly grew to double-digits, as Rice mixed in contributions from a host of different contributors. The Owls got points from nine different players in the first half alone, seeing their advantage grow to as many as 17 points.

The third quarter was more contentious. Saint Mary’s continued to chip away, taking the Rice lead down from double digits to as few as five points. Fortunately for the Owls, every time the Gaels went on a run, they had an answer. The five-point lead ballooned back to 15 early in the fourth quarter. Rice would knock down their free throws to ice the road win.

Player Spotlight | Kaitlyn Crosthwait

On a night when so many different players contributed in big moments, Crosthwait seemed to find herself involved in a good portion of them. She scored 11 points, knocking down three of the Owls’ five three-pointers. She also had six rebounds, playing a team-high 30 minutes.

Rice was able to get so many players into the game on Wednesday night, but that sort of widespread rotation is possible because the team has veteran players that can help direct traffic no matter who is on the court. Crosthwait’s play and direction made a difference in this one.

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball continues its four-game road trip in the coming days. They’ll take on Pacific on Friday before returning to Texas to play Texas Southern (Wed. Nov. 23) and Texas A&M (Sun. Nov. 27) before their next home game at the beginning of December against TCU.

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