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Rice Basketball 2024 Roster Tracker

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The Rice basketball roster is in the midst of complete retooling with the coaching staff changes. Stay tuned here for updates.

Roster churn has become a part of college sports as we know and Rice basketball is not immune to the ebb and flow of players coming in and out. With the 2023-2024 season in the books, this page will serve as a running tracker regarding the roster for the upcoming season as it currently stands. The last official roster is available here.

More: What is Rice basketball getting in coach Rob Lanier?

Feel free to bookmark it and refer back to it from time to time as players announce their intentions throughout the offseason.

Coaching Changes

Rob Lanier was formally introduced as the next head coach for Rice Basketball on March 26. A week later he has named three men to his coaching staff, all of whom are following Lanier from his staff at SMU: Chris Kreider, Josten Crow and Andre Owens.

Departing with Eligibility (9)

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Rice Basketball News

Rice women's basketball

2025-2026 Rice Women’s Basketball Season Preview

Posted: October 17, 2025

Fifth-year head coach Lindsay Edmonds leads a Rice women’s basketball squad with high expectations that is looking to rebound from a rocky season a year ago. The 2025-2026 Rice Women’s Basketball will look to quickly step past what was largely a disappointing season a year ago, one which began with NCAA Tournament aspirations only to […]

Rice Basketball, Rice Basketball Recruiting, Alex Leeth

Rice Basketball Recruiting: F Alex Leeth commits to Owls

Posted: September 12, 2025

The 2026 Rice Basketball recruiting class is off to a strong start. Forward Alex Leeth has committed to the Owls. The future is bright on South Main, with new talent on the way in the form of an initial wave of commitments joining the 2026 Rice Basketball recruiting class in recent weeks. The Owls’ upcoming […]

Rice Basketball, Rice Basketball Recruiting, Jaxson Thompson

Rice Basketball Recruiting: G Jaxson Thompson commits to Owls

Posted: August 31, 2025

The first commitment of the 2026 Rice Basketball recruiting class is on the board. Guard Jason Thompson has committed to the Owls. Once head coach Rob Lanier and his staff had retooled the existing roster they were able to turn their attention to the upcoming 2026 Rice Basketball recruiting class in earnest. They scoured the […]

Rice Football

What’s Next: Rice Athletics and the House Settlement

Posted: June 27, 2025

The House Settlement sent shockwaves through college sports. This month’s subscriber Q&A focuses on what it means for Rice Athletics. College sports won’t be the same as they once were following the House Settlement earlier this summer, which introduces the first organized attempts at direct payments to college athletes. Every university is approaching the changes […]

Rice Football, NCAA

Judge Approves Historic House v. NCAA Settlement

Posted: June 6, 2025

Following a lengthy process, a federal judge on Friday granted final approval of the House v. NCAA Settlement, paving the way for schools to pay athletes directly. In a landmark decision that will alter the landscape of collegiate sports, Judge Claudia Wilken of the Northern District of California approved a far-reaching settlement of the House […]

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Rice Baseball swept by Wichita State

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Easter weekend began with a gut-punch for Rice baseball, who dropped all three games at Wichita State to fall to 1-5 in league play.

THURSDAY | Wichita State 7 – Rice 5

In an effort to keep Parker Smith and JD McCracken on regular rest, Rice baseball turned to Tucker Alch in the series opener, hoping to use him as an opener to bridge a few innings to other members of the bullpen. He went three innings, allowing four runs, ceding work to Ryland Urbanczyk who gave up three runs in 3.1 innings before Tom Vincent finished the game.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball drops Silver Glove Series to Houston

The Rice bats were able to help the arms out in this instance, rallying from a 4-0 deficit in the first inning to take a 5-4 lead by the middle of the fourth inning. Eric Correa was instrumental in the comeback bid, knocking in the first run in the second and authoring his first collegiate home run in the fourth to put the Owls in front. Wichita State tied it in the bottom of the inning before going ahead for good in the seventh on a two-run single off Vincent.

FRIDAY  | Wichita State 10 – Rice 3

Parker Smith labored through six innings, including a damaging four-run third inning that put Rice in a 5-1 hole from which they would never recover. Smith was able to give the Owls length despite the down outing, but four more runs allowed by the bullpen and limited offensive production made the hopes of a comeback shortlived.

Rice got solo home runs from Ben Royo in the seventh and Jack Riedel in the ninth, but it wouldn’t make up for the pair of crooked numbers Wichita State put on the board, costing Rice the series.

SATURDAY | Wichita State 15 – Rice 3

Rice struck first, taking a brief lead in the finale with a two-run first inning. Wichita State responded with a three-run home run in the bottom of the inning, tacking on a fourth run against JD McCracken in the second.

While the bats stayed silent, McCracken ran into further trouble in the fifth, loading the bases before being lifted to Tyler Hamilton, who allowed all three inherited runners to score. Things would only get worse in the sixth. Wichita State sent 12 men to the plate, scoring seven runs, including two runs by bases-loaded hit batsman. Down by 12, the game would be called before reaching the originally scheduled nine innings.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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1. Self-inflicted wounds

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ON DECK | at Houston (Tues), vs Memphis (Fri-Sun)

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What is Rice Basketball getting in Rob Lanier? March 2024 Q&A

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Rice Basketball has a new head coach. Rob Lanier “won the press conference”, but what will he bring to the Owls on the court?

Introductory press conferences are always exciting days. New coaches bring with them new energy and excitement. That was true for Rice basketball and its new headman Rob Lanier on Tuesday. But what does Lanier bring on the basketball court? That was the nature of our Patreon question we’re focusing on for this month’s Q&A.

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Q: Rob Lanier’s introductory press conference was exciting, but what exactly is he going to bring to the table as a coach? Are we sure he can win like he said he would?

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Rice Baseball falls to SHSU in midweek bout

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Rice Baseball saw a five-game winning streak over Sam Houston snapped on Tuesday, falling in Huntsville by the score of 6-2.

The first two Rice baseball hitters reached base on Tuesday against Sam Houston, but only one of them came in to score with the second stranded at third base. That inability to push runs across despite having chances would prove to be the theme of the night in a game that was low-scoring until the home team broke things open in the middle innings.

Rice led 1-0 after one inning. It wasn’t until the fourth frame that Sam Houston was able to tie the game on a throwing error on a dropped third strike. Things slowly began to unravel from there. The Bearkats scored two in the fifth and three in the sixth, doing the bulk of their damage against Garrett Stratton and Tom Vincent after start Robert Fernandez was charged with three unearned runs in 4.2 innings of work.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball wins one of three against Tulane

Trailing 6-1 after six, the Owls didn’t have much of a response. Brendan Cumming tacked on an additional run in the ninth to narrow the deficit by a slim margin but the result was the same, a loss, which snapped a five-game winning streak for Rice in their all-time series against Sam Houston.

What it means | Converting Opportunities

It’s hard to boil an entire game down to one statistic, but on Tuesday night there was one glaring gap in the numbers that had an outsized impact on the game. Sam Houston hit .143 on the night, but a staggering .429 (3-0f-7) with runners in scoring position. Two of those three big hits came in the sixth inning when Sam Houston hung a three spot on the board, doubling their lead and putting Rice away.

In comparison, Rice hit an equally uninspiring .188 for the game but just .143 (1-of-7) with runners in scoring position. Looked at another way, Sam Houston converted two more run-scoring opportunities than Rice did and Sam Houston won the ball game. Rice stranded seven base runners, including two in the sixth, two in the eighth and one in the ninth.

Both sides had their chances. The one that took advantage of them won.

ON DECK | at Wichita State (Thr-Sat)

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Rob Lanier checks every box for Rice Basketball

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Rice Basketball has its next head coach, officially naming Rob Lanier to the position on Tuesday after a whirlwind search that concluded rapidly.

Twelve days ago Athletic Director Tommy McClelland met with assembled media and announced Rice basketball was making a leadership change, embarking on a national search immediately. Interviews began as the shortlist was whittled down. Then a curveball came: Rob Lanier “became available”. Two days later he and McClelland were in contact. On Tuesday, he was introduced.

The last week has been a blur. Lanier admitted as much, but the end result might just be a tremendous advance for everyone involved. “I didn’t see this coming,” Lanier said of his dismissal at SMU. “But there’s a reason why I was attracted to this as soon as the name was mentioned. I didn’t imagine it would happen, but I couldn’t have been happier that it did.”

McClelland quickly came to the same conclusion, summing up the hiring on Tuesday like this: “One thing became very clear to be during these conversations, that Rob Lanier the right fit, the right person, the right coach and the right visionary leader we had been looking for from the very beginning.”

Lanier will bring with him top assistant Chris Kreider, who previously served as an assistant at Rice from 2017 to 2019 before joining Lanier’s staff at Georgia State and eventually moving with him to SMU. Lanier’s son, Emory, will also join the team for his final season of eligibility. Emory was one of eight players to play in every game for the Mustangs last season.

As for the decision to pull the trigger and hire Lanier, McClelland acted with intentionality. He made a list, he said, the day the search began. He disclosed the items on that list on Tuesday, describing what his ideal candidate would look like:

  • A person of high integrity
  • A driven leader with an intensity for developing winning culture
  • A coach with a clear identity regarding style of play
  • An emphasis on community involvement, campus, alumni and Houston
  • Proven head coach experience
  • A program builder
  • Texas ties
  • Private school experience

As he sums it up, “These qualities and attributes aligned with coach Lanier, his character, how he leads his program and what he has accomplished in his career has led me to this day,” the announcement of Lanier as the program’s next head coach.

A few additional segments of the press conference are featured below. The full version is available here:

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