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Rice Basketball Recruiting: G Kellen Amos commits to Owls

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The first Rice basketball recruiting addition of the new coaching staff is in. CCSU guard Kellen Amos has committed to the Owls.

Newly named Rice basketball head coach Rob Lanier has assembled his staff and hit the recruiting trail in earnest. The first commitment of his tenure comes in the form of Houston native Kellen Amos, who kicks off this new Rice basketball recruiting cycle with a bang, joining the Owls after spending the last two seasons at Central Connecticut State University.

Amos played his high school ball at Saint John College Prep in Houston before signing with Binghamton. He played two seasons there before transferring to CCSU where he stepped into a larger role with the Blue Devils. Amos started 63 games over the last two seasons, averaging 13.0 points per game and making 109 combined three-pointers.

With his help, CCSU secured the regular season title in the Northeast Conference. He was rewarded for his efforts with an all-NEC third-team selection this past season. In addition to Emory Lanier, head coach Rob Lanier’s son, Amos has also been joined by Villanova transfer Trey Patterson, slowly building up the Owls’ roster for the 2024-2025 season.

More: Rice Basketball Roster Tracker

Amos’ time at CCSU is filled with highlight-reel plays. He’s a capable scorer at multiple levels, adding a fearlessness at the rim to his ability to hit the deep shot, too. He’s also a threat on the defensive end of the court, protecting the rim with his 6-foot-7 frame and finding ways to turn defense into offense, like this.

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Rice Football Recruiting: RB D’Andre Hardeman commits to Owls

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The 2025 Rice Football recruiting class has doubled in size, adding its second commitment in the form of North Shore running back D’Andre Hardeman.

A highly attended spring game has paid its first dividend. Days removed from dozens of high school players descending on South Main, the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class has added another piece. North Shore running back D’Andre Hardeman has committed to the Owls.

When he arrives at Rice, Hardeman will join up with teammate and current Rice signee Lavonte Johnson, who signed with the Owls on National Signing Day. Both players were offered on the same day in late January. Now both will suit up for the Blue and Gray. There’s also the notable link between Rice linebackers coach Jon Kay, who came to Rice last season after a successful coaching career at North Shore.

Hardeman, the son of former Texas A&M running back Tiki Hardeman, was by no means flying under the radar since then. The Owls were one of almost a dozen offers he received. He eventually picked Rice over offers from UTSA, UTEP, Arkansas State, UTEP and others.

The 2025 Rice Football recruiting class now consists of Hardeman and Madison Prep (LA) athlete Semaj Pierre, who was the first to pledge to the Owls in this cycle, doing so back in the summer of 2023.

Premium: Rice Football Recruiting Offer and Commitment Tracker

The 5-foot-8, 180-pound runner put up video game numbers on one of the best teams in the state of Texas, tallying 1,709 yards and 22 touchdowns last season alone and the film matches the boxscore. He’s an explosive runner with great vision, showcasing the patience to make the right cut and quickly climbing to the second level. He’ll be set to flourish in the Owls’ offensive scheme.

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Rice Baseball edges UAB for first-ever AAC series win

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Rice Baseball narrowly missed a series sweep, settling for two wins over the weekend against UAB, their first-ever AAC series victory.

FRIDAY | Rice 4 – UAB 2

The Rice bats wasted no time on Friday night, staking staff ace Parker Smith to an early lead. RBI singles from Treyton Rank and Pierce Gallo put the Owls in front 2-0 in the first. Rank drove in another run when he was hit by a pitch in the second inning.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball tops TAMU-CC in midweek action

Leading 3-0, Smith cruised through six innings. He briefly ran into trouble in the fourth, allowing the Blazers to score twice, but was otherwise unscathed. Jacob Devenney added an insurance run on an RBI double in the sixth. Tom Vincent took over in the seventh and bridged 1.1 innings to closer Davion Hickson, who earned the save.

SATURDAY | Rice 4 – UAB 3 (15 inn.)

JD McCracken delivered a quality start in Game 2, his lone blemish coming via an unearned run when a defensive error allowed the Blazers to get on the board in the third inning. McCracken avoided having a loss tacked on his ledger when Devenny delivered a sac fly in the eighth inning to tie the game. That would be the last run for quite a while as the game entered extra innings and stayed deadlocked at 1-1 until the twelfth.

UAB went in front with two runs in the top of the inning and it might have been more had the potential third run not been tagged out at the plate. That proved to be significant soon after as Rice tied the game in the bottom of the inning with a single and a sac fly. Level at 3-3, Eric Correa provided the final dramatics, delivering a walk-off double to right field to clinch the series.

SUNDAY | UAB 4 – Rice 3

The two sides traded runs in the early innings, completing the third inning tied at one and the fourth inning tied at three before UAB went out in front in the fifth, 4-2. Rice starter Tucker Alch was lifted for the tandem of Garrett Stratton and Mauricio Rodriguez, who combined to throw five scoreless innings, giving the offense a chance to claw back.

Rice got one run in the eight on a two-out, RBI single from Ben Dukes. They then had a golden opportunity to tie the game in the ninth, but squandered a leadoff triple from Jack Riedel, failing to get him home. With the running run 90-feet away, the Owls fell by one run.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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1. It’s Time for a Devenny/Dukes Dialogue

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ON DECK | at USF (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball returns to win column with victory over TAMU-CC

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Rice Baseball snapped a lengthy losing streak by emptying the bullpen in a cathartic win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

Jacob Devenney set the tone with a resounding double to right center field, coming around to score two batters later on a single from Treyton Rank who, in turn, scored on a home run from Jack Riedel. In the span of minutes, Rice baseball had opened up a 3-0 lead against Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Wednesday night.

The Islanders took advantage of an error to get one run back the following inning against Rice starter Karl Ralamb, who would be lifted when he ran intro trouble in the third frame. In came Davion Hickson who ended the threat, setting the stage for Rank to double in two more runs the following half inning. Staked to a 4-1 lead, Rice turned to its bullpen to get 18 more outs.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball squanders lead vs Incarnate Word

Mark Perkins, in just his fourth appearance of the season, got 10 of those. Reed Gallant, in his third outing, picked up the save. The seldom-used tandem was part of a seven-man pitching performance that stymied the Islanders bats and led the Owls to a much-needed home win.

What it means | Urgency

Head coach Jose Cruz Jr. worked like a man tired of losing on Wednesday night. Avoiding a 10-game skid was paramount and he acted as such, making the bold move to deploy his best relief arm in the third of a two-run game.

Davion Hickson is, ostensibly, the Owls’ closer. But given the few save opportunities he’s been afforded in recent weeks, he’s become the go-to man in times of trouble. With runners on second and third and no out, it was a risky decision to burn his best bullpen arm, especially in the third inning. Cruz made the call. Hickson delivered, working three straight outs and escaping the jam without any further damage.

That’s the sort of urgency Cruz and company need to play with from this point onward. It’s not always going to work, but variance is your friend when you’re a club without a juggernaut roster that can roll through each and every opponent. Playing it safe hasn’t worked. Why not roll the dice? It might just end in a win.

ON DECK | vs Texas A&M CC, vs UAB (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Football 2024 Spring Practice Notebook 6: Wideout Roundup

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Wide receiver has been an interesting position to follow in Rice football spring practice. What have we learned from the relatively young room?

It’s been a spring of change for the Rice football wide receivers. Bobby Kennedy is the Owls’ only new position coach, taking over in the room for Mike Kershaw, who departed in the winter. Also on the way out is standout Luke McCaffrey, a likely NFL Draft selection in a few weeks. Where does that leave the rest of the room? In the midst of change lies an opportunity several have used to their advantage.

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Fresh eyes

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