Rice Basketball head coach Rob Lanier is 1-0. The Owls’ stingy defense and clutch shooting powered them past FIU in their home opener.
Shortly after winning the opening tip, Caden Powell knocked down the first basket of the Rob Lanier era for Rice basketball. The 6-foot-10 transfer from Wyoming had five straight points to kickstart the Owls’ scoring which would come from a host of different players, still coalescing into the team they hope to be.
Reaching that point will require growth that can only be attained through court time against others who are not sporting blue and gray. No sooner had the Owls taken the lead did they see it slip away, victims of an 8-0 FIU run that offered the team their first true test which they passed quickly, rallying back with a 10-0 spurt of their own soon after to retake the lead. The game was on.
Tied at 21, the Owls leaned on a dominant defensive effort to create some separation. Rice outscored FIU 17-6 in the final seven minutes of the first half, holding their opponents to just 29 percent shooting in the first frame.
More: Rice Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview
While the defense held the line, the offense started to heat up. An 11-point halftime lead for the Owls grew to as many as 17 in the second stanza, providing plenty of breathing room when FIU hit threes on the ensuing three possessions. The margin stayed tight from that point onward.
Powell, who registered a double-double with a team-high 17 points and 11 rebounds, made his presence felt again down the stretch, scoring each of the Owls’ last three field goals before both teams gave way to foul shots.
“Just get one kill, gotta get three stops in a row. Gotta seal the deal, just take care of the ball,” he said of the team’s focus in those final minutes. “Once we get those stops just take care of the ball and we’ll be good.”
Powell finished off his double-double and gave way to free throw attempts for his teammates. Rice shot 38 free throws, the most attempts at the stripe for the program since Nov. 22, 2019, against Milwaukee. Had the team been more efficient from the line — they made just 23 of those shots (61 percent) — this one could have been a blowout.
“We really couldn’t find an offensive rhythm. We weren’t moving the ball. We weren’t doing what we practice, offensively. We look scattered and a little hot potato there. Just stagnant,” head coach Rob Lanier summarized afterward. “Which is a good sign that we still scored 77 points and we played terrible on offense, from an execution standpoint and we missed a lot of free throws. So the pace wasn’t bad, but the efficiency wasn’t what we aspired to.”
Final Box | Rice 77, FIU 70
FINAL | @RiceMBB 77, FIU 70
Owls win their home opener and are 1-0 under head coach Rob Lanier. pic.twitter.com/fx5KeS3kP6
— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) November 6, 2024
What They’re Saying
.@RiceMBB head coach Rob Lanier reacts to the Owls' season-opening win over FIU. pic.twitter.com/0TmEZRPHOL
— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) November 6, 2024
Key takeaway | Real, genuine defense, for a half
Playing great defense was something Lanier banged the table for all offseason. He guaranteed his teams would play with an intensity on that side of the ball that would be noticed. Early on, those proclamations seemed like premonitions. Rice held FIU to 28 percent shooting in the first half, suffocating their offense.
FIU shot 36.5 percent for the game, but it was a second-half split which included 50 percent from three that proved the most vexing.
“It’s a process,” Lanier said. “They’re a well-coached team. They’re going to make some shots, whatever. But the resistance wasn’t as great, the feeling, determination on defense to continuously get stops. We allowed the scoreboard to dictate our intensity. That’s part of our growth.”
Lanier noted there were some first-game jitters, calling parts of the operation “choppy”, but when asked if there was one thing about this game he’d like to replicate moving forward, his answer came with a grin: “the outcome”.
Up Next: Florida State (Sat)
