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“Tough Cards”: Rice Women’s Basketball forced to deal with extremely thin roster

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Rice women’s basketball has endured a challenging month and the road ahead promises to be equally grueling, in part because of the limitations of an extremely thin roster.

Head coach Lindsay Edmonds isn’t one to make excuses, but she couldn’t avoid discussing the state of Rice women’s basketball’s current roster following a tough home loss to Western Kentucky last week. The game was the first home contest for the Owls since December 11, more than a month ago. Part of the reason for the lengthy delay was the sheer quantity (or lack thereof) of bodies the program had available to put on the court.

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Rice women’s basketball faces severe depth issues, further amplified by two recent injuries. Alexis Stover tore her ACL and had surgery last week. She will miss the remainder of the season. Katelyn Crosthwait will have surgery on her meniscus this week and will be out for at least four weeks. There’s some optimism she’ll be able to return by late February or early March. At a minimum, she’ll miss the majority of the Owls’ remaining season.

“We looked over at Western Kentucky warming up…

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Conference USA Basketball 2022: Mid-January Roundup

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Conference USA Basketball is midway through the month of January. What have we learned so far and where does each team stack up against the rest?

Team NET  KenPom Record
Charlotte 141 195 9-5 (2-0)
FAU 196 193 8-8 (1-2)
FIU 251 257 10-7 (0-4)
LA Tech 81 73 15-3 (6-0)
Marshall 247 205 7-10 (0-4)
MTSU 126 153 11-6 (2-2)
North Texas 55 72 11-4 (4-1)
Old Dominion 209 181 7-9 (2-1)
Rice 157 164 10-6 (3-2)
Southern Miss 324 311 5-11 (1-3)
UAB 42 45 15-4 (4-1)
UTEP 174 168 9-8 (2-3)
UTSA 340 325 7-11 (0-5)
WKU 127 112 10-7 (2-2)
Kenpom rankings and standings as of 1/16/2022

Key Storylines

One above the rest, sort of

On the court, it’s hard to argue any Conference USA basketball team has been more impressive this season than Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs boast a sterling 15-3 record and are one of two unbeaten programs in league play — they’ve also played four more games than Charlotte.  But they’re still behind both North Texas and UAB in KenPom and NET, partly because their best C-USA win came over 10-7 WKU. They’ll have the opportunity to change that this coming weekend with a home tilt against UAB.

Big movers

Two programs have seen big movements in their KenPom ratings since our last Conference USA basketball update, Marshall and Middle Tennessee. The Thundering Herd have toppled 50 spots from 155 to 205 thanks to an 0-4 start in league play, Meanwhile, Middle Tennessee is u 47 slots despite their 2-2 start. Wins against Florida Atlantic and FIU aren’t too impressive, but at least their losses (North Texas and Rice, both on the road) are excusable, all things considered.

Every other program is within 25 spots of where they were ranked two weeks ago.

COVID continues

Although last season was expected to face the strongest headwinds from COVID-19, this campaign has been almost equally challenging for some squads. While Louisiana Tech has gotten six conference games in over the span of three weeks, eight of the remaining 13 teams have played four or fewer games. For most, that meant multiple conference games have been postponed. Who plays whom and when could have a bearing on the standings down the road. If nothing else, it will be something to monitor closely.

 

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Rice Basketball outshoots Marshall with career-night from Carl Pierre

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Rice basketball outshot Marshall behind a career-night from Carl Pierre, weathering a late run before pulling away late.

From start to finish, Rice basketball found ways to put the ball in the basket, typically from long range. The Owls had struggled to find a rhythm from three in recent games but snapped out of that funk with an emphatic barrage of triples to take down Marshall on the road.

Marshall took an early 4-3 lead but Rice would take over from there. Travis Evee and Carl Pierre would combine to hit 11 of the Owls’ 12 three-pointers, pushing the Rice lead to double-digits just after the midpoint of the first half.

Last Time Out: Rice Basketball falters down the stretch at WKU

Marshall wouldn’t go quietly. The Thundering Herd cut the Owls’ 12-point advantage midway through the second half to a 58-58 tie with 8:35 to play. Rice didn’t panic. A layup from Max Fiedler followed by a triplet of threes from Evee and Pierre gave Rice a fresh lead before the Owls pushed it back to double-digits with under two minutes to play.

“We weren’t perfect,” head coach Scott Pera. “It’s not always going to be perfect. But every time they made a run, we responded.”

The win moves Rice to 3-2 in conference play, trailing division leader Louisiana Tech by two games.

Player Spotlight | Carl Pierre

Pierre was lights out on Saturday, scoring a career-high 30 points and tying the school record with eight made three-pointers in the game. He always seemed to have an answer to a Marshall run, keeping the Owls at least one step ahead throughout the duration of the contest.

Stat Corner | Sharpshooters

Rice basketball combined two aspects of their three-point shooting game they hadn’t been able to sync up in quite some time. They hit more than eight threes for the first time since December 16 against Incarnate Word and topped 50 percent from three for the first time since December 4 against Jarvis Christian. The Owls would have happily taken the efficiency or the quantity. Getting both in the same game meant trouble for Marshall.

According to Rice, this marks the first time Rice has made at least 60 percent of its three-pointers in a game since Nov. 19, 2016 at Omaha.

Final Box | Rice 87 – Marshall 77

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice basketball split their brief two game road trip against Western Kentucky and Marshall. Next weekend they’ll return home to Tudor Fieldhouse where they’ll host Old Dominion (Thursday) and Charlotte (Saturday).

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Rice Women’s Basketball: Early lead slips away as Owls fall to Marshall

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Once again, Rice women’s basketball came out strong but couldn’t stay in step through four quarters, falling to Marshall at home.

Rice women’s basketball couldn’t have asked for a much better start at home against Marshall. The Owls hit five of their first six shots to take an 11-0 lead over the visiting Thundering Herd. The offense would cool off, but not by much. Rice shot 60.9 percent in the first half, weathering Marshall runs with more buckets of their own.

Once Marshall regained their footing toward the end of the second quarter the two teams traded small leads throughout the next frame. Destiny Jackson and India Bellamy delivered crucial baskets in the third quarter to keep Rice in the mix heading into the fourth.

Last Time Out: Rice Women’s Basketball falls short at home vs WKU

The tight battle tilted away from Rice when the fourth quarter began. Marshall went on a 15-0 run to start the period. Rice made just one field goal in the 10-minute span, faltering down the stretch as the short bench and the second game in two days seemed to prove too much to overcome.

Player Spotlight |  Destiny Jackson

Jackson came up one rebound shy of what would have been her first career double-double. On a day when most Owls struggled from the field, Jackson connected on four of her five shots, adding two points from five free throws. She finished with a +9 plus/minus, the only player on the team to finish in the positive differential.

Stat Corner | Not locked in at the line

There are a myriad of external factors that have not fallen in the Owls’ favor this season. But the reality is those challenges — both expected and unforeseen — happen to some degree to every team in every season. That makes it all the more imperative for this team to control what they can control, and that starts with free throws.

Rice women’s basketball went 8-of-18 from the line against Marshall, leaving 10 points on the board. Five of those misses came in the second quarter when the Owls could have kept a double-digit lead but allowed the gap to close. Free throws won’t fix everything, but it’s a good place to start.

Final Box | Marshall 66 – Rice 53

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball goes back on the road after their brief two-game homestand. Next week they’ll play a set of games against Old Dominion and Charlotte.

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Rice Basketball: Dismal second-half dooms Owls at WKU

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Rice basketball played a great first half before all but disappearing after the break, falling to Western Kentucky on the road on Thursday night.

A tale of two halves might not even do true justice to just how disparate the two periods Rice basketball played against Western Kentucky on the road Thursday night. The Owls came out white-hot, converting on 51.5 percent of their shots from the field while draining seven threes. Then the bottom dropped out. Rice shot 29.6 percent in the second half and added just one triple to their eventual modest totals.

The Owls opponents actually shot worse from the floor in the second half than they had in the first. Where they found their edge was the charity stripe. Western Kentucky was 17-of-22 from the free throw line. Rice was 8-for-11. The Owls would go on to lose by nine.

Last Time Out : Rice Basketball pulls off thrilling upset of UAB at home

It’s not as if fouls determined this game, though. Rice basketball just wasn’t nearly as crisp after the halftime buzzer. Whether it was the right halftime adjustments made by Western Kentucky or a bad shooting slump for Rice — or both — the results were the same. A game that looked winnable at halftime slipped away.

The loss snuffs a short two-game winning streak that included perhaps the most impactful victory of head coach Scott Pera’s tenure at Rice, a home win over UAB. The Owls fall to 2-2 in Conference USA play.

Player Spotlight | Chris Mullins

Mullis has developed into a jack-of-all-trades for Rice basketball over the course of his career. Always known for his superb defensive ability, he added some well-timed buckets against the Hilltoppers. He tossed in a three-pointer to start off the second half on his way to a tie for the team-high in scoring with 13 points. He also added two rebounds and a steal.

Stat Corner | Don’t get dunked

Western Kentucky dunked seven times against Rice and scored 32 total points in the paint. 18 of those points came after halftime. They were a large part of what allowed Western Kentucky to run away with the game in the second half. The home team came out of the break on a 13-5 run. Six of those points came directly from dunks, the highest percentage shot you can take. Just three of them came from threes.

Three-pointers would help Western Kentucky maintain the lead down the stretch, but getting beat inside is what allowed the gap to manifest in the first place. The shots won’t fall every night. When they don’t, preventing easy buckets has to climb atop the priority list. Rice basketball didn’t do that very well on Thursday.

Final Box | WKU 80 – Rice 66

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice basketball closes out their brief road trip on Saturday with a visit to Marshall. The Owls bested the Thundering Herd in the Conference USA Tournament the last time these two squads met. After that they’ll return home for games against Old Dominion and Charlotte.

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