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Rice Basketball outlasted by Tulsa

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A massive opening deficit proved too much to overcome as Rice Basketball fell to Tulsa for the second time this season.

The game was nearly over before Rice basketball made their first field goal. The score was 16-0 at that time, in favor of the visiting Tulsa Golden Hurricane who blanked the Owls through the first five minutes of regulation until Cam Carroll knocked down a three, the first signs of life from the Owls.

Tulsa would grow their advantage to 22 points in the first half and went into halftime with a comfortable 20 point lead. Even with a strong rally — and Rice would play much better after the break — that kind of advantage would be hard to overcome.

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Rice slowly trimmed the Tulsa edge from 20 down to five, rattling off an 8-0 stretch to bring the game back within reach. Massive days from Nick Anderson (18 points), Jalen Smith (24) and Trae Broadnax (21) kept the dream alive. The Owls would get within three, but not any closer. Tulsa fought off that final Rice charge, sweeping the season series.

Rice Basketball falls to 8-12 with the loss. The Owls are 5-6 at Tudor Fieldhouse this season.

Final Box | Tulsa 87, Rice 81

Key takeaway | Outclassed

Most metrics and ratings system tab Tulsa as the best team in the American Conference and the second best team Rice basketball has played this year, trailing only Tennessee. That includes perennial NCAA Tournament contender Memphis and a talented Oregon squad. For the most part, Rice held their own against those last two teams. Tulsa, not so much.

Tulsa routed Rice 97-48 in their first meeting on New Year’s Eve and looked to be on their way to a similar result before Jalen Smith got hot from three to keep the game from reaching another obscene margin in favor of the Golden Hurricane.

Both Saturday’s result and the previous meeting make it clear Rice isn’t on that level, even if a burst of second half successes did its best to offer some hope. Basketball has inherit volatility and anyone really can beat anyone when they play their best game. But that’s what it would take for Rice to beat an NCAA Tournament caliber team right now — their absolute best. Anything less will produce just another loss.

Up Next: at East Carolina (Wed, Jan. 28 at 6:00 pm)

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Rice Women’s Basketball Rolls past Tulane Green Wave

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Rice women’s basketball absorbs Tulane’s strong start before rolling to another convincing win to extend their streak to 12 straight victories.

A strong start from Kendall Sneed and Kanija Daniel kept Tulane in the mix in the early goings against Rice women’s basketball, but they proved unable to overcome another suffocating defensive effort from the hosts. The game was tied at 24 after the first half and then the shots stopped falling for the Green Wave.

Rice held Tulane to 13 points or fewer in each of the remaining three quarters. While the Owls’ own offense wasn’t perfect, it was more than enough to surge past a neutralized Tulane attack. Rice built a three-point halftime lead, stretching their advantage to double-digits for the first time in the third quarter. They would seize firm control of the outcome in the final frame.

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Dominque Ennis provided the dagger on a long-range three to go up by 14 with 5:22 to play. Rice made just one field goal after that, but steady free throw shooting from Shelby Hayes was more than enough to maintain a comfortable margin and close out yet another win.

With the victory, Rice women’s basketball improves to 17-3 on the season and remains a perfect 9-0 at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Final Box | Rice 70, Tulane 60

Key takeaway | Suffocating Defense

One of the chief reasons for continued optimism regarding the ceiling of this version of Rice women’s basketball has to be the level defensive intensity this team has played with this season, particularly in this recent stretch against some of the best teams the American Conference has to offer.

On Saturday, Tulane shot 56.3 in the first quarter. The Owls took a deep breath and dropped the hammer, choking out the Tulane scorers for the remainder of the contest. Tulane shot below 30 percent for the remainder of the game.

Right now, Rice women’s basketball is a team that can take your best punch and throw it right back at you. They’re playing well on both sides of the ball, but the defense makes

Up Next: vs Temple (Wed. Jan. 28 at 7:00 pm)

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Rice Basketball Rains Threes in Win over UTSA

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Rice Basketball started fast and never slowed down, rolling to a convincing road win over UTSA, courtesy of a blistering performance from deep.

Nick Anderson opened the scoring with a three. Jalen Smith added another. Then Broadnax. Then Smith. The first four field goals Rice basketball knocked down on Wednesday night in San Antonio all came from distance and propelled the Owls to a 12-3 lead, a distance that would linger for quite some time.

After Broadnax broke the three streak with a layup to go up 11, UTSA would be back within double-digits just one more time in the remainder of the first half. Rice led by as many as 19 before the break. The Roadrunners would close the half on a 13-5 run, making it clear the Owls would have to keep up their pace to maintain their lead.

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Keep up, they did. Rice matched every UTSA run of the second half with a volley of their own, never allowing their margin to dip below nine points, a mark the Roadrunners would reach on multiple occasions but never surpass. The Owls knocked down five free throws in the final two minutes, draining the clock before one last triple with 11 seconds to spare.

Rice Basketball improves to 8-10 with the victory. The Owls are 3-6 at Tudor Fieldhouse this season.

Final Box | Rice 89, UTSA 73

Key takeaway | Making it Rain

There are good shooting nights. There are great shooting nights. And then there’s the kind of performance Rice basketball put on display in San Antonio on Wednesday. The Owls seemingly could not missing, knocking down a season-best 16 three pointers.

Rice was equally dangerous from two, missing just nine field goals from inside the three point arc. When you shoot it at that well, even a solid 43.5 percent shooting night from the other side isn’t enough to slow you down.

That level of offensive success isn’t something that can be replicated on a whim, but it is proof of what’s possible. In a season with defensive struggles, the offense rounding into form was necessary, but few could have imagined the ceiling would be quite this high.

Up Next: vs Temple (Wed, Jan. 21 at 7:00 pm)

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Rice Women’s Basketball Dispatches UAB at Home

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Rice women’s basketball took care of business at home, riding a dominant fourth quarter to a win over UAB to maintain a perfect record at home.

It took less than five minutes of action for Rice women’s basketball to make it abundantly clear they were on a different level of the playing field from UAB. The Blazers were winless in conference play when they arrived in Houston and the Owls — the only squad not to drop a conference game thus far — has no intentions of swapping sides of the ledge on Wednesday night.

Rice raced out to an 11-0 lead before UAB could find their footing. The Blazers were able to battle back and make things competitive, closing the gap to a single score on a few occasions, but they were never able to force a tie, let alone threaten to take the lead.

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The Owls took an eight point lead into the fourth quarter and from there the rout began. Rice outscored UAB 24-12 across the final 10 minutes, led by a pair of morale crushing three-pointers from Dominique Ennis. The lead would grow to as many as 21 points before UAB’s final whimper from the free throw line resulted in a 20-point win.

With the victory, Rice women’s basketball improves to 15-3 on the season and remains a perfect 8-0 at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Final Box | Rice 76, UAB 56

Key takeaway | Finishing with Free Throws

For as good as Rice women’s basketball was on the boards on Wednesday night, their dominance on the free throw line was absolutely crucial in the outcome of this game. Shooting can be fickle and fouls can vary wildly from game to game, but free throws are just that: free. Rice knows that better than just about anyone else.

The Owls entered the game tops in the American Conference in free throw percentage, knocking down 81.3 percent of their attempts on the season. A perfect 12-for-12 evening from the charity stripe against UAB will only raise that number. That’s the kind consistency that pays dividends in March.

Up Next: at North Texas (Sat. Jan. 17 at 2:00 pm)

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Rice Basketball Comes Up Short vs Charlotte

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Rice Basketball came up one shot short, missing a potential game winner at the buzzer in a narrow home loss to Charlotte.

A layup from Charlotte’s Ben Bradford put the visiting 49ers just ahead of Rice basketball in the opening minutes of their trip to Tudor Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon. That proved to be representative of how the opening half would go, with Rice spending most of it just a shot or two behind Charlotte, but not much more.

There were five ties and two lead changes in the opening half, with Nick Anderson providing the bulk of the juice on offense for Rice, who would go into the break trailing by just two points. The game would remain close until the middle of the second half when the Owls’ shooting struggles helped contribute to a 10-0 Charlotte run. Rice suddenly found themselves trailing by 15 with the game all but out of reach.

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Rice did not go down without a fight, clawing back to within six points on a nine-point run. A late three from Eternity Eguagie got the Owls within two with 36 seconds remaining and Trae Broadnax made it a one point hole with a three-point play.

A heads up defensive play from Broadnax earned the Owls one final shot at the buzzer, but it would not go down. Rice Basketball falls to 7-10 with the loss. The Owls are 5-4 at Tudor Fieldhouse this season.

Final Box | Charlotte 74, Rice 73

Key takeaway | Defending Not Optional

While there has been no singular thread connecting all of the Owls’ losses this season, the step back in their defensive performance has been a frequent culprit. Now through four games of conference play, Rice ranks near the bottom of the league in opponent field goal percentage, a few ticks shy of 50 percent.

That, combined with a a sub-.400 shooting percentage, makes it hard to win basketball games, something Rice has found out all too often this season. This a team that doesn’t have one defining characteristic to hang their hats on when things get hard, which is quite the departure to the defense-first mantra head coach Rob Lanier preaches.

There are flashes of that top tier defense buried deep. Broadnax had a few plays in the closing minutes that came close to swinging the game, but from top to bottom, this roster doesn’t defend well consistently.

With the calendar approaching mid-January, this is likely what this version of Rice basketball is going to be. How the staff and the roster make the most of it will determine whether or not they can be competitive down the stretch or succumb to their maladies enroute to another disappointing finish.

Up Next: at UTSA (Wed, Jan. 14 at 7:00 pm)

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