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Rice Basketball routed by Florida Atlantic

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Rice basketball officially said goodbye to a first round bye on Thursday with a blowout loss to Florida Atlantic on their home court.

It wasn’t so much a slow start that doomed Rice basketball against Florida Atlantic on Thursday night — although they did fall behind 9-0 to start — it was the unrelenting onslaught from Conference USA’s preeminent team. Florida Atlantic had runs of 8-0, 13-0 and 10-0 in the first half alone, concluding with an emphatic 10 points run to complete the half.

Rice scored the first second points of the second half, but it fell on hollow ears following the 29-point deficit they faced at the break. A hole that size would have been hard enough to overcome against a mediocre opponent. Florida Atlantic proved they were far from that, responding to the most Rice rally and further lengthening their lead to as much as 36 points. Rice never came close.

Final Box | Florida Atlantic 103 – Rice 74

Key takeaway | Shooting spree

Rice basketball is now officially dead last in Conference USA in opposing field goal percentage allowed. They are 10th (out of 11 teams) in points per game allowed. The defense that seemed to be slowly building through nonconference play has been nowhere to be seen for the Owls over the past several weeks.

It doesn’t matter who Rice plays, allowing 100 points should never be acceptable. They held Texas, a Top 10 team, to 87 points including overtime. Florida Atlantic dropped 103 points on Rice on Thursday, and it could have been worse.

It’s not a new refrain, but it is an ever-growing chorus: if Rice basketball can’t play any semblance of defense, it won’t matter how many threes they can make. Florida Atlantic shot 53.4 percent from the floor and 47.2 percent from three. Sometimes teams get hot. When it keeps happening time and time again, it’s a trend. And Rice is running out of time to find solutions.

Up Next: vs FIU – Saturday, Mar. 4 at 2:00 p.m.

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Conference USA Basketball 2023: Final Weekend Watch List

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Conference USA Basketball is wrapping up its conference slate. Here’s where each team stands with two games to go in the regular season.

Team NET  KenPom Record
Charlotte 104 112 18-11 (9-9)
FAU 19 31 26-3 (16-2)
FIU 225 223 13-16 (7-11)
LA Tech 165 166 13-16 (6-12)
MTSU 110 121 18-11 (11-7)
North Texas 51 55 23-6 (14-4)
Rice 177 188 17-12 (8-10)
UAB 57 59 22-8 (13-6)
UTEP 193 193 13-16 (6-12)
UTSA 302 300 9-21 (3-16)
WKU 171 172 15-14 (7-11)
Kenpom, NET, and standings reflect games as of 2/26/2023

Key Storylines

Locked In

Following Saturday’s games, there are three teams locked into their Conference USA Tournament seeding regardless of how the final two regular season contests transpire. FAU has clinched the top seed and the regular season championship. North Texas will be the No. 2 seed. On the opposite end of the spectrum, UTSA will officially finish at the bottom of the league and has clinched the No. 11 seed.

Final jockeying

UAB and Middle Tennessee have secured a first round bye. UAB is in the driver’s seat for the No. 3 seed and controls its own destiny. If the Blazers do lose, though, there are some tiebreaker possibilities that would enable Middle Tennessee to sneak ahead of them should the Blue Raiders win out.

After the head-to-head record, the record against the next-highest-finishing conference opponent will be utilized. Should Middle Tennesee and UAB finish with the same record, Middle Tennessee would get the No. 3 seed as each program would be 1-1 against No. 1 seed FAU with Middle Tennesee being 1-1 against No. 2 seed North Texas while UAB went 0-2 against the Mean Green.

Then there’s the battle for the No. 5 seed. If Charlotte wins out, the No. 5 seed is theirs. Rice can get the No. 5 seed if one of two things happen:

  • Rice wins out and Charlotte loses out
  • Rice and Charlotte finish with the same record (either at 9-11 or 10-10) and Rice beats No. 1 seed Florida Atlantic in their upcoming game

There’s some fuzziness after that, but FIU is mathematically alive for the No. 5 seed, too. FIU would need to win out and have Charlotte lose out plus get some help from Rice and Western Kentucky too. More than likely the No. 5 seed will go to either Charlotte or Rice.

And more moving and shaking

There’s a two-game gap between the current No. 6 seed, Rice, and the current No. 10 seed, UTEP. That means that at this point, it’s nearly impossible to forecast who might be playing who in the first round of the tournament. We’ll know a lot more after the Thursday games and have some further analysis of the Conference USA Basketball Tournament field once it’s set at the end of the weekend.

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Rice Basketball sputters in road loss to Charlotte

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Rice basketball came out flat and was unable to rally, falling on the road to Charlotte and likely playing themselves out of a first round bye in the C-USA Tournament.

On a day when Rice basketball needed to be at their best, the Owls never really seemed to find their footing. Once again the troubles began with a slow start. Rice shot 28.6 percent from the field in the first half and made two threes (on 14 attempts). Despite the offensive struggles, Rice was able to hang around for a while, keeping the margin with a couple of possessions for most of the first half. Charlotte would close the half on a 7-3 run to go up by 11, their largest lead of the game at that point.

The second half was all 49ers. Following a layup from Travis Evee and two more Rice free throws, Charlotte opened the game up with a 9-0 run that gave them an 18-point lead. The margin would fluctuate from that point onward, but Charlotte was able to deny the final Rice push with a string of threes in the final minutes, finishing off a 5-for-9 mark from deep in the second half and preventing any chance of a late Rice rally.

Final Box | Charlotte 70 – Rice 54

Key takeaway | Coming in cold

Coaches always talk about getting their teams to play their best basketball in March. The calendar still technically reads February, but Rice basketball is decidedly not bringing their A-game into the most important month of the season. With two games to go, Rice has all but played itself out of a first-round bye in the Conference USA Tournament. Charlotte now holds a one-game lead over Rice with two games to play.

Rice basketball has lost six of its last eight games. If they’re going to make a run in the conference tournament, they’ll have to win a few in a row. Rice has shown an ability to reel off a nice winning streak, but the Owls haven’t won back-to-back games since January. It’s going to be March when they take the court for the next time. It’s not too late to get hot, but the Owls are certainly on the verge of running out of time.

Up Next: at Charlotte – Saturday, Feb. 25 at 3:00 p.m.

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Rice Women’s Basketball storms past Charlotte on Senior Day

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Rice women’s basketball never trailed on Senior Day, leading wire-to-wire in a convincing victory over Charlotte at home.

There wasn’t a hint of distraction that lingered from Senior Day festivities for Rice Women’s Basketball at home against Charlotte on Saturday. The Owls scored first, scored often and never trailed on their way to their third straight win in conference play.

Destiny Jackson opened the scoring with a layup, two of just four points on the day, which showcased the Owls’ defense as much, if not more so, than their scoring ability. Rice held Charlotte to just 20 points in the first half on 32 percent shooting from the floor. The 49ers couldn’t get anything going on offense until the third quarter after the Owls had taken a 21-point lead.

Charlotte’s most concentrated run came following the final media timeout of the game. They reeled off eight straight points, but it was only good enough to trim an 18-point deficit to a 10-point hole. Rice was able to regain its footing and close the game out with relative ease.

Even when accounting for the minor fourth-quarter slump, head coach Lindsay Edmonds was proud of her team’s ability to finish and how well the program has played over the lat few weeks. “We’re really close,” Edmonds said, referring to playing their best basketball down the stretch. “We’re clicking on a lot of cylinders. Our defense has stepped up. Our offense is scoring the ball really at a really high clip. I’m excited about where we’re at, but we can keep pushing to get better.”

The victory essentially clinches a first round bye in the Conference USA Tournament. The Owls can improve their seeding next weekend in a two-game road finale against FAU and FIU, respectively.

Final Box | Rice 64 – Charlotte 52

Key takeaway | For the seniors with the future

India Bellamy and Ashlee Austin have been core producers for Rice Women’s Basketball over the last few weeks. Each finished with a double-digit scoring effort on Saturday, but neither led the team. That honor went to freshman Shelby Hayes, who stole the show on Senior Day with her first career double-double.

“Shelby was awesome. She came in and gave us a spark off the bench,” Edmonds said. “She was big time on offensive rebounds. She put the ball in the basket. Shelby is just someone that does whatever it takes to make the team better and I just think that she got rewarded tonight and I’m so proud of her.”

Hayes came off the bench in relief of Bellamy, who ran into some early foul trouble, and quickly made her presence felt. Hayes scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, including a staggering 10 offensive boards. It was an impressive performance and served as a reminder that the up-and-coming wave of Owls has plenty to bring to the table, too.

Up Next: at FAU – Thursday, Mar. 2 at 6:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball 2023 Roster Tracker

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The Rice basketball roster will grow and change between the end of the regular season and the start of the next. 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 2022-2023 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: 2023 Rice Basketball State of the Program

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

Departing with Eligibility (4)

  • G Quincy Olivari
  • F Seryee Lewis
  • G Jaden Geron
  • G Mason Jones

Departing Seniors/Graduates (3)

  • G Reed Myers
  • G Jake Lieppert
  • F Ben Moffat

Incoming High School Signees (3)

Incoming Transfers (3)

Current Expected Remaining Roster (10)

  • F Andrew Akuchie
  • G Travis Evee
  • F Max Fiedler
  • G Alem Huseinovic
  • G Mekhi Mason
  • F Damion McDowell
  • F Jackson Peakes
  • F George Perkins
  • F Cam Sheffield
  • C Ifeanyi Ufochukwu

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