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Rice Basketball falls to Charlotte in AAC Tournament

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No. 12 Seed Rice Basketball took an early lead but couldn’t hang on, falling to No. 13 Seed Charlotte in the AAC Tournament.

The opening game of the AAC Tournament started out at a modest pace with Rice Basketball and Charlotte trading baskets in the early minutes of the first half. The 49ers held a modest lead before the Owls started scoring in earnest. Trailing by one midway just past the midpoint of the half, Rice would go on a 15-3 run jumping out to a big lead. They’d hold an 11 point advantage at the break and looked to be in control, but Charlotte wasn’t done just yet.

The 49ers came out of the break with furious intensity, getting the game back within three with a 10-2 burst to open the second half. Rice would hold the edge for some time past that, but the margin would never reach double digits again. Instead, Charlotte drew level, tying the game at 52 with 4:41 to play.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Offense

Once again, Rice basketball found itself with the game on the line in the final moments. Free throws were exchanged and Rice had the ball down by one with 13.3 remaining. A jumper from Trae Broadnax bounced off the rim, Charlotte grabbed the board and just like that the Owls’ season was effectively over.

Rice ends its season with a finale record of 13-19.

Final Box | Charlotte 64, Rice 61

Highlights

What They’re Saying | Press Conference

Key takeaway | Learning to close

This marks the 13th straight defeat for Rice basketball in games decided by six points or fewer. Bad luck plays into any such streak that disastrous in nature, but the clear inability to close out games is unmistakable. Credit is due to coach Rob Lanier, who addressed his team’s most glaring flaw head on.

“It’s kind of been the same story for us throughout the year. We’ve been in a lot of these close games and haven’t found a way to win it, Lanier said. “I told them that I’ll take responsibility for my part in that, and going forward the guys who come back, they have to share in that responsibility so we can grow and we can change the face of what this program is all about.”

Even though this kind of result isn’t new, the emotions post game were still very real.

“No, there’s no less pain,” Lanier said.

Likewise, guard Trae Broadnax opened up about the growing weight of the team’s struggles in those clutch situations this season. “I think when they don’t go the right way, I think there’s a lot of anxiety that rises up just because we haven’t got over the hump in so many of those close games down the stretch,” he said “You can turn the entire thing around in terms of results so that you can get that monkey off your back, but we never got to the point where we could do that.”

Broadnax has an additional year of eligibility remaining and indicated he’s looking forward to joining Lanier in rectifying the Owls’ biggest flaw. The 2024-2025 season is in the books. That work can start right now.

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Rice Football 2025 Spring Practice Notebook 1: Spring Intros

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The 2025 Rice Football spring practices are officially underway as head coach Scott Abell and his staff get their first looks at the Owls on the field.

For the first time with head coach Scott Abell at the helm, Rice football hit the practice field. As has been the custom in recent years, the Owls will practice for a week, take a short hiatus for spring break, and then return to finish practices, concluding with the spring game on April 12. That’s a brief window to accomplish a lot.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the weeks ahead, starting now with Abell’s opening comments, some forthcoming tweaks to the defensive scheme, individual standouts early on and much more.

Abell’s expectations

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2025 AAC Men’s Basketball Tournament Preview

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The 2025 AAC Men’s Basketball Tournament is slated to tip off in DFW this week. Here’s a preview of the action.

The Favorite: Memphis

At 16-2 in league play and 26-5 overall, Memphis is the front runner to cut down the nets this season, entering the conference tournament as the No. 2 scoring team in the league, thanks to PJ Haggerty and company with strong defensive metrics to go alongside it. The only AAC team in the top 50 of KenPom as of Monday, anything less that a tournament championship would be disappointing for this program.

The Contenders: North Texas, UAB

There are at least two squads capable of thwarting the Tigers’ aspirations. UAB is the only team in the league that averages more points per game than Memphis while North Texas allows nearly 13 points fewer per game than the Tigers. Neither has been as consistent as Memphis has been this season, but both boast NCAA Tournament history and enough talent to beat the Tigers head-to-head. The Mean Green came closest to doing that in the regular season, losing by four in Memphis.

The Dark Horse: FAU

Florida Atlantic is as battle tested as they come and despite an uninspiring 17-14 record. The Owls looked to be contenders for an top four seed at times this year, but a three game losing streak in late February, including losses to Memphis and North Texas, buffeted them down to the five spot. FAU can shoot it and has moments on defense to stay afloat on that side of the court.

The Wild Card: Temple

When in doubt, bet on the three ball to cause chaos in March. Temple is second in the conference behind Memphis in three point field goal percentage and is one of the teams most capable of getting hot behind the arc and knocking off someone they shouldn’t. Once that happens, it’s anyone’s guess how the rest of the tournament might play out.

The Bracket

The opening play-in game will take place on Wednesday, March 12, with first full day of action set for Thursday, March 13. Here is the slate for the first two days. The full schedule is available on the conference website. All early-round games can be streamed on ESPN+, with the championship on ESPNU.

First Round | Wednesday, March 12 (Super Pit in Denton, TX)

Game 1: No. 13 Charlotte vs. No. 1 Rice – 12 p.m. CT

Second Round | Thursday, March 13 (Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX)

Game 2: No. 9 South Florida vs. No. 8 Wichita State – 11:30 a.m. CT
Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. No. 5 FAU – 1:30 p.m. CT
Game 4: No. 10 Tulsa vs. No. 7 Temple – 6 p.m. CT
Game 5: No. 11 UTSA vs. No. 6 ECU – 8 p.m. CT

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Rice Women’s basketball upsets UTSA, on to AAC Semis

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Rice Women’s Basketball remains undefeated in AAC Tournament games, improving to 6-0 all time with an upset of 1-Seed UTSA.

After playing UTSA close in a pair of regular season contests, Rice women’s basketball entered their AAC Tournament quarterfinal with hopes that the third time would be the charm. While the Roadrunners led for most of the first quarter, the Owls rattled off a 9-0 run early in the second quarter to take a four-point lead into halftime.

Rice would maintain that advantage throughout the third quarter, leaning on a couple of well-timed threes from Dominque Ennis to keep UTSA at arm’s length. A free throw from Sussy Ngulefac pushed the Owls’ lead to nine, their largest of the afternoon to that point, in the closing moments of the third.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Defense

UTSA collected themselves in the changeover before the final frame began, opening the scoring with eight straight to claw back within a single point. Onlookers collectively drew in deep breaths, wondering if a fourth quarter collapse was looming or if the resilient March-tested version of Rice women’s basketball would emerge in a do-or-die moment. It was the latter.

A jumper from Aniah Alexis, sandwiched between a pair of threes from Victoria Flores turned a one-score game upside down. Up by nine points with 1:41 to play, the Owls were able to lean on their defense, knock down a few free throws, and walk away from the court with the biggest upset of the AAC Tournament thus far.

Final Box | Rice 62, UTSA 58

What They’re Saying | Post Game Press Conference

Key takeaway | Tournament Owls

Rice is undefeated in AAC Tournament games. That streak will end at some point, probably. UConn managed never to lose an AAC Tournament game, but barring historic dominance, a loss in the AAC Tournament will come. Rice is just hoping that eventual defeat holds off a while longer.

“There was a different aura about us, a different walk about us, a different talk about us,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said, reflecting on her program’s ability to flip a switch and play their best basketball in these do-or-die moments. “So “maybe it is a thing. Whatever it is, I want to bottle it up and I want to keep going for two more.”

Or, more succinctly in the words of an assistant coach to the team this week, “The Tournament Owls are back.

The version of Rice women’s basketball that took the court against UTSA on Monday afternoon sure looked like the one that was promised months ago. The team that talked about seedings and NCAA Tournament expectations had the talent and the swagger to take down a team that was receiving votes in the NCAA Top 25. But for whatever the reason, that team hasn’t shown up very often this season. Not until now.

“I think winning [the conference tournament- last year, we’ve taken a lot of that mentality. We know how to win. We know what it takes to come from the bottom and finish on the top,” she said. “We’re trying to bottle up that experience and take it with us now and finish with a ring.”

It might have been easy to look past the version of Rice women’s basketball that struggled through January and February. However, nobody is looking past the Owls right now who stand two wins away from an improbable return to the Big Dance.

Up Next: AAC Tournament Winner of 12-Seed Charlotte vs 4-Seed Temple

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Rice Baseball suffers sweep by Yale

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The losses continue to mount for Rice Baseball, which suffered a series loss to Yale, dropping the Owls’ overall record to 2-13 on the season.

FRIDAY | Yale 8, Rice 3

Rice baseball starter Davion Hickson found himself in early trouble on Friday night when a hit by pitch and an error thrust him into a jam. Yale would capitalize, striking for two in that inning before threatening in the second and breaking through in earnest in the third. Yale made it 5-0 after three, taking advantage of free passes and defensive errors to force Hickson out of the game before the fifth inning.

Last Weekend: Rice Baseball winless at Astros College Classic

The Rice bats got three back but two more runs charged to Von Baker made it 8-3 heading to the sixth. Even with an impressive four-inning, no-hit, six-strikeout showing form Garrett Stratton in relief, the deficit proved too large to overcome with the Owls falling in the series opener by a final score of 8-4.

SATURDAY | Yale 11, Rice 8

JD McCracken got Rice off to a much improved start on Saturday afternoon, mowing down Yale batters through six scoreless innings before the Bulldogs finally got to him with a solo home run to open the seventh. Even with the blemish, McCracken had done enough to put the Owls in a position to win, along with 3 RBI from Michael Zito and Graiden West’s first career home run at the plate.

“He was spectacular. He was amazing,” Rice baseball head coach Jose Cruz Jr. said of McCracken’s showing. “He does set the tone. And he pitches to contact. There’s a lot of action out there. We’re happy to have him. As long as he’s healthy, he’ll be out there as long as he can go.”

McCracken’s brilliance would fizzle quickly when he left the mound. It didn’t matter who came through the door, Tucker Alch, Jackson Blank and Caleb Williams were each responsible for runs that turned a significant Rice lead into an agonizing loss as Yale scored 11 in the final three innings. Rice would get three back, but it wouldn’t be enough to salvage the game.

SUNDAY | Yale 7, Rice 4

Yale struck first in the series finale, getting two runs in the first and two more in the second, forcing Rice starter Robert Fernandez from the game early on. This time, the Owls’ bats offered some resistance, though. Rice scored three in the bottom of the first, one run via an error and the final two coming on the first home run from freshman Blaine Brown.

More: 2025 Rice Baseball Season Preview

Trailing 4-3 after two innings, both bullpens kept the game close until Yale broke through in the seventh with one insurance run and two more in the eight. Down 7-3, Brown added another RBI on a single in the eighth but that would prove to be the end of the scoring for both teams on the weekend and Rice dropped the final game 7-4.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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