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2023 Conference USA Basketball Tournament: Men’s and Women’s Previews

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The 2023 Conference USA Basketball Tournament tips off in Frisco, TX this week. Here’s a preview of the action.

Conference USA Basketball – Men’s Tournament

The Favorite: Florida Atlantic

The nation’s No. 1 team, Houston, is the only program in the nation that has lost fewer games than Florida Atlantic. The Owls shocked many when they ran through Conference USA this season and are deservedly the clear frontrunner to win the conference tournament. An at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament seems probable but is by no means a sure thing at this point, so they should be plenty motivated to finish what they’ve started.

The Contender: UAB

UAB is a different basketball team when Jelly Walker is on the court. Since his return, UAB has lost a grand total of one game (on the road against a good North Texas team). The Blazers have depth, experience and a star. If FAU doesn’t cut down the nets, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see these preseason favorites take home the title.

The Sleeper: Middle Tennessee

The men’s field really feels shallow this season, at least in terms of teams outside the top three who could go on a run and win the tournament. Middle Tennessee might just be the sweet spot. The Blue Raiders were one of very few teams to beat No. 1 Seed FAU in the regular season and they play stingy defense, which always seems to grow in importance in the month of March.

Conference USA Basketball – Women’s Tournament

The Favorite: Middle Tennessee

The only nationally ranked team in Conference USA, Middle Tennessee has had one bad weekend since November. It’s possible they have an off day, but it sure doesn’t seem probable at this point. The Blue Raiders have three of the top 10 scorers in the conference and the conference’s No. 1 scoring defense. Weaknesses are far and few between.

The Contender: UTEP

If anyone can take down to Middle Tennesee, it’s probably one of the two teams to achieve the feat during the regular season. The Miners protect the basketball well and are among the conference leaders in assists per game. While they lack a singular dominant player, they do have a host of players that can score, making them a challenging matchup defensively.

The Sleeper: Rice

Aside from Middle Tennessee, no one has been better since the midpoint of January than the Rice Owls. After beginning conference play 1-4, Rice has won 12 of their last 15 and has won several of those with some of their top players in and out of the lineup. They’re trending toward being back near full strength by the time the tournament comes around, which should scare some of the rest of the pack.

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Rice Basketball fades down the stretch, falls to FIU

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Rice basketball ended the regular season with a thud, losing a halftime lead before falling at home on Senior Day to FIU.

Fans inside the confines of Tudor Fieldhouse were treated to an entertaining back-and-forth contest as Rice basketball and FIU wrapped up their regular seasons with vigor. FIU took a seven-point lead in the first half in the back of a 10-0 run only to see Rice immediately flip the script, countering with a 10-0 run of their own capped off with back-to-back threes from Travis Evee.

That’s how the game seemed to go from start to finish. Both teams shot well (Rice 50.8 percent — FIU 49.2 percent), making it feel like the game would be decided in the final minutes. In a way, it was, but not like many would have expected. With 4:33 remaining in the second half, Evee put Rice up three with a layup. Rice would not score from the field for the remainder of the game.

Two free throws, both from Evee, would interrupt a thunderous finish from FIU, who outscored Rice 12-2 from that point onward. The Owls had their chances, but turnovers and poor rebounding killed opportunities for a late rally.

Final Box | FIU 90 – Rice 83

Key takeaway | Sluggish second half

Rice basketball opened conference play 6-3. They would win just two of their remaining 11 games, falling from a potential first-round bye in the Conference USA Conference Tournament to a play-in game, stacking the deck against themselves in the process. For a team that showed so much promise early in the year, the regular season ends in a rather disappointing fashion.

As things currently stand, Rice looks likely to be the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament, pairing them with No. 11 seed UTSA in a potential first round game which would be played on Wednesday, March 8. The winner of that contest would go on to play No. 3 seed UAB.

Up Next: Conference USA Tournament, Round 1

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Rice Women’s Basketball caps off regular season with win at FIU

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Rice women’s basketball wrapped up a Sunshine state sweep on Saturday, defeating FIU two days after FAU to complete the regular season.

Rice women’s basketball finished off the regular season just like they started it — riding a lengthy winning streak. The Owls’ Saturday victory over FIU was the fifth consecutive win for Rice, which clinched a first-round bye in the upcoming Conference USA Conference Tournament in the process.

Early on it looked like reaching that fifth straight win would come easy for the Owls, who parlayed a strong start into a 45-30 halftime lead. It wouldn’t be quite that easy, though. FIU opened the third quarter on a 24-6 run, forcing five Rice turnovers in that stretch and turning what could have been a one-sided affair into a rock fight down the stretch.

Malia Fisher and India Bellamy fouled out. Destiny Jackson and Trinity Gooden did not play. Still, with the lineup shortened, Rice found a way. They weathered the FIU rally and answered with one of their own, pulling away late to prevent any opportunity for an FIU upset.

Final Box | Rice 96 – FIU 84

Key takeaway | Bye, bye, bye

Rice women’s basketball won’t be playing on Wednesday in Frisco. Their win on Saturday secured the Owls the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Conference Tournament. That entitles them to a first-round bye as they await the winner of the game between No. 6 seed UTSA and No. 11 seed UAB. It also cements a rather impressive Year 2 for head coach Lindsay Edmonds and her staff.

Edmonds went 14-13 (8-9) in her first season with Rice women’s basketball. She ends the 2022-2023 regular season 22-7 (13-7). That’s a sizable jump and has her program viewed as one of the favorites entering the conference tournament rather than the upstart underdog they were last season.

Up Next: Conference USA Tournament, Round 2

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Rice Women’s Basketball takes care of business at FAU

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Rice women’s basketball continued on their winning waves, closing out their penultimate regular season game with little drama against FAU.

Rice women’s basketball has been forced to juggle its lineup several times in recent weeks, but the end result has routinely been the same: winning. The Owls were without Trinity Gooden or Destiny Jackson on Thursday night against FAU but it never seemed to matter. The return of Malia Fisher helped smooth those concerns as well as a big day from Katelyn Crosthwait.

Crosthwait got the scoring started with a first quarter jumper, two of her 22 points on the afternoon. That helped spark and early Rice run which put them in front for good, never trailing in the eventual runaway victory.

Florida Atlantic would keep things within striking distance for a while, but Rice pulled away for good with a strong start to the fourth quarter, emphasized by a flurry of threes that turned a 14-point Rice lead into a 21-point advantage. It proved too much for FAU to overcome as Rice hung on to secure the win.

Final Box | Rice 76 – FAU 61

Key takeaway | Moving on up

By virtue of Western Kentucky’s win over UTEP and the Owls’ victory over the Florida-based Owls, Rice moves into the No. 3 overall seed in the Conference USA Tournament with the head-to-head tiebreaker over UTSA. Rice can secure that seeding by defeating FIU on Saturday.

Rice is a game behind Western Kentucky in the standings and doesn’t look to have a chance to pass them on the final weekend. Still, the Owls would be looking at a top-three regular season finish if things hold. That’s a solid result for a program picked to finish fourth in the preseason poll.

Regardless, Rice will finish above Charlotte and Louisiana Tech, two of the three programs picked to finish above them in October. That’s why you play the games.

Up Next: at FIU – Saturday, Mar. 4 at 1:00 p.m.

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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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