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2021-2022 Rice Basketball Season Preview

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The 2021-2022 Rice basketball team returns to South Main with high expectations and plenty of confidence. Can the Owls soar even higher?

Perhaps it’s the infectious smile of starting guard Quincy Olivari or the multiple wins in the conference tournament last season under their belts, but the 2021-2022 Rice Basketball team enters the season with a renewed level of confidence, a swagger they didn’t possess at this point last year.

By head coach Scott Pera’s own admission. expectations have been raised. “We’ve put a lot of time and energy and effort into building this program into the words I’ve used: sustainable and winning,” he said in his remarks to the media before the season officially gets underway Tuesday night. “If there are never expectations put on you, that means you’re never any good. And so we’ve talked about embracing expectations, relishing the fact that now people have a respect for us and expect us to be better.”

Better means building off a strong returning core, integrating in a pair of grad transfers and climbing the conference standings. “We want to win and we believe we can win,” Olivari said. “Before it was just (to) not finish last or just make the conference tournament, (now) it’s make the conference tournament and compete for a championship. That’s the whole, overall message.”

Aiming higher than they ever have before, Rice basketball is looking forward to what promises to be an exciting year. And while the offense will get most of the accolades, it’s not the only thing this team has worked to amplify during the offseason.

To a man, Pera and several team leaders identified defense as the top priority. Pera called it “the number one emphasis,” because that phase of the game was “the area we need to improve the most.” If Rice can add an efficient defense to their high-fly scoring attack that was fourth in the conference last year with 73.9 points per game scored, this team could be dangerous.

The Coach – Scott Pera

Pera was given a contract extension this summer, keeping him at Rice through 2024, ane he earned it. Not only did Pera rebuild the roster on the fly, but he also increased the Owls’ winning percentage for the third consecutive season with players like future first-round NBA draft pick Trey Murphy to help him along the way.

As a part of his focus on making the program appealing to recruits and those outside the hedges, he also engineered the #GreenLightU mantra. “We let our guys play,” he said, alluding to the freedom he gives his players to take shots on the court.

Last Season Snapshot

With the roster gutted by transfers, things were up and down for Rice basketball last season. Non-conference play featured a handful of wins over lesser-know programs, but conference action saw Rice win four of their first five including a win over UTEP in El Paso.

The team would teeter-totter between short losing streaks and winning streaks for the remainder of the year before closing out the season with a memorable run in the conference tournament. Rice beat Southern Miss and Marshall in the conference tournament, setting the stage for what many around the program hope will be a deeper run in the season to come.

Key Question

Entering last season, Rice returned a meager 26.4 percent of their scoring from the season prior. This time around, Rice brings back 86.3 percent of it’s scoring. The continuity is not something lost on Pera, who called consistency something “that has become increasingly difficult” it today’s age of college basketball.

With several of the same faces back, the question moves from who will produce to this, in Pera’s own words: “How mentally tough are we? How are we going to deal with adversity?” Whether or not Rice is able to be resilient and respond under pressure will be a major factor in determining how high the ceiling can be for this team.

Rice Basketball Schedule | Key Games/Dates

Nov. 9, 2021 – Season opener vs Pepperdine at Tudor Fieldhouse
Nov. 12, 2021 – Owls visit Houston at the Fertitta Center
Nov. 22-24, 2021 – Gulf Coast Showcase Tournament
Dec. 22, 2021 – Non-conference finale at Texas
Jan. 1, 2021 – Conference USA first road game vs North Texas
Jan. 6, 2021 – Conference USA home opener vs Middle Tennessee
Mar. 8, 2021 – Conference USA Tournament

You can find the complete 2021-2022 Rice basketball schedule here.

Key Returners

Chris Mullins, Guard (Jr.)

Prior to the arrival of two grad transfers, Mullins was the old soul on this roster. He’s the only player on the roster than started at least 20 games for Rice in three consecutive seasons. Mullins is an aggressive defender with the speed to take the ball and finish at the rim. His experience in this system and productivity on both sides of the court will pay dividends for Rice.

Quincy Olivari, Guard (So.)

Olivari broke out in a big way last season, making the jump from a role player to one of the most lethal distance shooters in Conference USA. A preseason all-conference honoree, Olivari will be looking to build on his 16.3 points per game and 40.6 percentage from three he compiled last season. He’s quickly become one of the most vocal members of this team.

Max Fiedler, Forward (So.)

Fiedler also elevated his play significantly last season, doubling his playing time (12 minutes per game to 28 minutes), rebounds (4.1 per game to 8.8) and almost quintupling his scoring (2.7 points per game to 11.2). He’s more than just a big body in the middle. Fiedler has good feet and a keen eye. He’ll be a key facilitator, setting up the Owls’ outside shooters as defenses sag to stop him at the rim.

Travis Evee, Guard (So.)

Evee was cleared to play for Rice right before last season began, taking advantage of a waiver from the NCAA and becoming Olvari’s partner in crime from three-point land. Evee was named the C-USA Newcomer of the year, leading the team in steals (1.2 per game) while finishing second in scoring (13.7 per game). Another year of experience playing within this system with these teammates will only add to his impact on the court.

Cameron Sheffield, Forward (Fr.)

Sheffield is one of the most versatile players on the Rice roster, and although he might not be one of the five starters on any given day, he’ll certainly be one of the first off the bench. Pera identified him as one of the guys most likely to make a jump this year, saying “he’s a guy that just keeps getting better.” One of four Owls to play in all 28 games last year, Sheffield will be the ideal sixth man for this squad in 2021-2022.

Mylyjael Poteat,  Forward (Fr.)

Poteat might not be a household name yet, but he was the other player Pera identified as an up-and-coming producer. Poteat got his feet wet last year as a freshman, playing in 13 games, playing more than 15 minutes just once, a 17-minute outing against Southern Miss. He’s learned a lot this offseason and is someone Pera described as “a guy that has a huge ceiling.”

Riley Abercrombie, Forward (So.)

Riley Abercrombie is the only other returning player that played a meaningful role for this team on a game-to-game basis. He averaged 7.5 points per game, drawing 15 starts over the course of the season. He projects to be a reserve this year, but one that can shoot the three ball well (34 percent last season) and can rebound.

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Key Additions

Carl Pierre, Guard (Gr.) – Pierre trasfered from UMass where he was second all-time in career three-point field goals made. A high school teammate of Olivari, Pierre will join him in the starting five this season. He looked comfortable with the ball in his hands during the Owls’ exhibition against St. Edwards and figures to be a mainstay on the court this year.

Terrance McBride, Guard (Gr.) – McBride joins Rice after transferring from Cornell. Along with Pierre, McBride’s experience will be a boost to this team. Quincy Olivari cited McBride as someone that’s already made a difference with his leadership. Pera indicated he expects McBride to get upwards of 20 or so minutes off the bench on a regular basis.

More Names to Know

Jake Lieppert saw playing time off the bench last season, averaging 10.7 minutes per game in the 15 contests in which he checked into the lineup. Ben Moffat and Reed Myers are the only other returners that saw the court. They’ll each be rotation candidates this coming season, but minutes are going to be hard to come by.

Noah Hutchins was with the team last year, but injuries kept him off the court. Pera hopes to have him available at some point soon, possible as early as next week. Damion McDowell, Jaden Geron and Jackson Peakes are the newest freshmen signees from the most recent class. With so much depth and experience in place above them, they’ll have to fight for time in the rotation, but McDowell and Geron in particular stand out guys who could contribute down the road.

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Conference USA Football 2021: Week 10 C-USA Roundup

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Conference USA Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 10.

Team Week 10 Result Week 11
Charlotte vs Rice W, 31-24 (OT) at LA Tech
FAU vs Marshall L, 28-13 at Old Dominion
FIU vs Old Dominion L, 47-24 at MTSU
LA Tech at UAB L, 52-38 vs Charlotte
Marshall at FAU W, 28-13 vs UAB
MTSU at WKU L, 48-21 vs FIU
North Texas at Southern Miss W, 38-14 vs UTEP
Old Dominion at FIU W, 47-24 vs FAU
Rice at Charlotte L, 31-24 (OT) vs WKU
Southern Miss vs North Texas L, 38-14 at UTSA
UAB vs LA Tech W, 52-38 at Marshall
UTEP vs UTSA L, 44-23 at North Texas
UTSA at UTEP W, 44-23 vs Southern Miss
WKU vs MTSU W, 48-21 at Rice

Notable Week 10 results – Standings

30/31 – 24

Rice football now played three consecutive games with eerily similar scoring margins. They beat UAB 30-24, with a missed extra point keeping the winning team off the 31 point total. Then they dropped a 30-24 contest to North Texas with the final extra point not kicked because of overtime rules. On Saturday, they lost 31-24, with the extra point counting this time around because Rice wasn’t first to possess the ball. No matter how it happened, the last two close calls have stung.

And then there were two?

It’s not officially a two-horse race in the East, but there are two games remaining on the schedule that will, in all likelihood, decide the outcome of the division and both involved Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers took care of business against Middle Tennessee in Week 10 and Marshall beat FAU. That means the WKU/Marshall and WKU/FAU games are the most important games left in the race for the East.

Duel in the desert

Whether it was the release of any frustrations generated by their absence in the initial College Football Playoff rankings or simply UTEP falling back to earth, UTSA stormed into El Paso and left little doubt as to who the frontrunner in the West would be. The Roadrunners jumped out to a 30-9 lead at halftime and coasted to the win, improving to 9-0 on the season.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Bowl watch

Western Kentucky, FAU and Charlotte can each clinch bowl eligibility with a win next week. No teams in the East can reach the six-win plateau, but Rice, North Texas and Old Dominion will be playing to keep their postseason hopes alives. One more loss by any of those three would bump them out of bowl eligibility.

Intradivisional showdown

UAB and Marshall are each in the running in their respective divisions and face off next week in Huntington. Both teams have proven mortal this season, but they’ve still managed to stand a head above everyone in the conference not-named UTSA. Neither team has much wiggle room if they want to stay in their respective races.

Looking for No. 1

FIU and Southern Miss enter Week 11 as the only teams in Conference USA without at least one conference win. The Golden Eagles will have to upend UTSA to get their first one while FIU draws a Middle Tennessee game, that while feisty, has proven fillable on several occasions this season. This might be the Panthers’ best chance to get in the win column in conference play.

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Rice Football runs out of gas in overtime loss to Charlotte

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Rice Football had a two-score lead in the second half, but couldn’t hang on, dropping another overtime heartbreaker against a conference foe.

The road has been kind to Rice football in recent years. Some of the Owls’ biggest wins — their upset of Marshall last season and their victory over UAB earlier this year — have come away from Rice Stadium. That road rally did not hold true on Saturday. After falling behind in the first half, the Owls took control in the second stanza before watching Charlotte punch back to force overtime and eventually win.

Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Owls overcome a shaky start

The opening sequence went almost as well as could have been expected for Rice football against Charlotte. The Owls’ defense forced a punt, giving the offense possession just beyond the midfield stripe. A couple of crisp passes from Jake Constantine and powerful runs from Ari Broussard and Jordan Myers pushed them inside the Charlotte 20 yard line.

Rice had already converted on fourth-and-one in the drive, extending their fourth-down conversion streak to 10 in a row. But on fourth-and-one from the 17-yard line, Rice trotted out the field goal unit and missed, again. The miss was the third consecutive kick that did not go through the uprights for the Rice special teams unit, with blame attributable to everyone from the snapper, to the holder to the kicker himself.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week 

Second-guessing decisions that didn’t work out is the purest form of armchair quarterback that exists. And while it’s easy to say Rice should have done something else, it’s the decision-making process that’s puzzling.

If Rice had already shown themselves to be extremely adept at converting on fourth-and-short on that drive and they knew their special teams unit was struggling, was the 10-yard difference between the spot of that kick and the spot of their previous fourth-down conversion? Charlotte took over, drove the length of the field and took the lead.

If the short-yardage offense works and the kicking game doesn’t, perhaps that should impact how the Owls attack their opponents going forward. It noticeably did from that point onward.

What is the plan on special teams?

After that miss, Rice seemed more cognizant of their fourth-down decisions moving forward. The Owls would trust their offense rather than their kicking game on the next three similar decisions.

On fourth-and-six from the Charlotte 32, Jake Constantine found Jake Bailey for a 10-yard gain and a first down rather than lining up to try a 49-yard field goal.

The next drive, on fourth-and-three from the Charlotte 26, Constantine couldn’t hit Cedric Patterson on a fourth-down pass and Rice turned it over on doubts. The alternative would have been a 43-yard field goal.

Then, with 22-seconds before the halftime whistle, Constantine dropped a ball into the waiting arms of August Pitre who couldn’t hang on in the endzone as he hit the turf. Rice turned it over on downs rather than settle for a 47-yard field goal from the Charlotte 30.

It wouldn’t be fair to question the lack of fourth down aggression at the beginning of the game and then bemoan unsuccessful attempts from that point onward. Constantine’s pass to Pitre should have been held on to for what would have been the game-tying score. The process was fine. But that does beg one more question. How close does Rice need to be to trust their kicker?

Can Rice convert a 40-yard field goal if they have to? Right now, it’s hard to know for sure.

Rice has its running back

Ari Broussard has gotten more and more involved as the season has progressed, and for good reason. Broussard entered the game leading all Rice running backs with a healthy 4.3 yards per carry. He set a career-high on the ground two weeks ago when he rumbled for 65 yards on 16 carries. He almost outdid that mark on one drive against Charlotte, gaining 57 yards on one second-quarter drive.

Good blocking helps. Exhibit A: Broussard’s first career touchdown run.

But even though the line did seem to have a better day than they did last week against North Texas, Broussard kept finding a way to get the extra yard and fall forward. After carrying the Owls the bulk of the way, Rice turned to him with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. He delivered a 17-yard run. When he left the field, Rice was quickly forced to punt.

Broussard had 97 yards before halftime. He finished with 186 yards on 20 carries and two touchdown runs. Handing him the ball 30 times a game probably isn’t a viable long term solution, but it’s hard to imagine anyone else out-carrying him down the stretch. He’s been that good.

Running out of time

The transitive property does not apply to college football. Yet after seeing Charlotte get dusted in each of their two previous games, there was nothing leading into their game with Rice that made this challenge seem insurmountable. And coming on the heels of an overtime loss to North Texas, Rice needed this.

Sitting at 3-5 with four games to play, a bowl game berth was in reach. And although this wasn’t mathematically a make-or-break contest to get Rice to six wins, it sure felt like one.

Consistency has been the elephant in the room for Rice football this season. Resiliency has been their calling card. With their backs against the wall in need of a bounce-back once again, this team responded, but they couldn’t hang on. Now they have to win their final three games (vs WKU, at UTEP, vs Louisiana Tech) to reach the postseason. That’s a tall task, and now they’ve lost their margin of error.

Special teams needs a lot of work. The defense bent and eventually broke. The offense has to improve in the redzone, but has the horses (Constantine, Bailey, Broussard) to get the ball down the field with regularity. There’s a lot to do and Rice football is running out of time.

Digging deeper

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Is the front seven heating up?

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Rice Football: Jake Bailey’s breakout only just beginning

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Jake Bailey had a breakout performance for Rice football in their overtime loss to North Texas, but for him, those heroics could be just the beginning.

Everyone looks great in the offseason. Guys always seem to be in “the best shape of their career” and coaches rave about the “mental reps” their players took during the offseason. Those narratives are swiftly put to the test when the season arrives and sooner or later, reality happens.

Rice football wide receiver Jake Bailey was “that guy” this offseason. It was hard to leave practice without someone — either a Rice football staff member or one of his teammates — making sure to mention just how good Bailey looked on the field. During media days, team captain Jordan Myers called Bailey an “even better replacement for Austin Trammell.”, former Rice captain and current NFL player with the Atlanta Falcons. High praise, indeed.

Then Bailey took the field and quietly began to prove his coaches and teammates right. After a modest start, Bailey had seven catches for 65 yards in the team’s first win, a victory over Texas Southern. He had five grabs for 83 yards and his first touchdown of the season a week later against Southern Miss.

On Saturday against North Texas, Bailey exploded for a career-best 10 receptions and 143 receiving yards. Austin Trammell’s career-best receiving day? 143 yards.

The Roost Podcast: Debriefing Rice football vs North Texas and C-USA news

Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren didn’t link Bailey directly to Trammell, but he did make sure to call out the impact No. 11 has had this season. “He’s showing me the ability to make plays, no matter when he’s covered or not,” Bloomgren said of Bailey. “Heck of a player, still developing but really filling a lot of those roles we had hoped in the slot and beyond.”

Bailey admitted he wasn’t even keeping track of all those receptions as it was happening. “I wasn’t aware of the touches and the yards,” he said. “I’m thinking about winning the game. How can I help my team?”

Against North Texas, Bailey helped by being the go-to option for quarterback Jake Constantine in crunch time. Bailey caught a touchdown to tie the game on the Owls’ first possession of the fourth quarter. Then, trailing by seven with under two minutes to go, Bailey made a diving, fingertip grab on fourth and long that gained 36 yards and helped spark another game-tying score.

When Rice football needed a play, Bailey was there to help. “Every single day we talk about strain, giving that extra inch, extra fight,” Bailey said. “We always have a little more to give and that that’s all that was, just in that moment trying to do everything, anything I could to help my team win.”

Rice didn’t win this time but had it not been for Bailey’s heroics, they don’t even make it to overtime in the first place. Now that Bailey’s flashed his potential, he’ll continue to be asked to come through in the clutch time and time again. That’s a big responsibility, but so is being the go-to guy on fourth down with the game on the line.

“It’s pressure,” Bailey admitted, “but it’s definitely invited. When there’s pressure in the situation that means you’re doing something important. That means you’re doing something where people have to look at you, expect from you. It’s always a great place to be. I think pressure is a privilege.”

In this case, with that privilege come accolades. Bailey was named to the Pro Football Focus National Team of the Week for his efforts, slotting in alongside Heisman Trophy hopefuls like Oklahoma’s Caleb Williams and Michigan State’s Kenneth Walker.

If Bailey has put his name on a list with talents of that caliber — all the while his coach hints that we might have only scratched the surface of what Bailey can become — what’s next?

Never one to seek the attention for himself, Bailey defected the spotlight, focusing instead on the entire Rice football receiving corps. “I just can’t wait to see what we can do,” He remarked. “Hopefully, we answer when our number’s called.”

Operator, Jake Bailey, please. We’d like an encore.

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Rice Football 2021: Charlotte presser quotes, updates and depth chart

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Rice football plays Charlotte next in a battle of 2-2 C-USA foes. Here’s what Mike Bloomgren had to say about the matchup, injury updates and depth chart notes.

This is the first of a couple of updates coming this week as Rice football prepares to take on  Charlotte. We’ll include updates from head coach Mike Bloomgren’s midweek press conference, then dig further into the details on the depth chart and what the team looks like on the field headed into the weekend.

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Rice football will be forced to make a quarterback change once again. We’ll dive into the move from Wiley Green to Jake Constantine and how this impacts the Owls this week. First, the quotes:

Press Conference Quotes

“I was really proud of how the guys attacked it (in practice). Thought they were locked into the game plan. And I was disappointed to see it not fully translate on Saturday. There were parts of it that were good. They were individual players that were really good, but certainly thought we had opportunities in every phase that we could have played better and probably would have been able to win the game had we played better.” – Mike Bloomgren on the North Texas loss

“Obviously, Wiley [Green’s] injury on our first offensive drive of the game was tough. It was tough for everybody. It was tough for me. It was tough to see Wiley hurting. He’s one of our rocks and I don’t think there was anybody on our team who wasn’t rocked by his injury. It took us a little bit of time to get past that. We eventually did. We worked through it as a team and we started playing football again.

“An update on Wiley; he will be out this week. I did talk to him. He is in great spirits. His message to the team was to go do what we said we were going to do, which is go earn an opportunity to play in a bowl game. That’s what we’re going to try to do for him.” – Mike Bloomgren on Wiley Green

“Moving forward with Jake Constantine as our starter, I thought that, again, once he got settled in, he played some good really good football. He had a great me-to-you factor with Jake Bailey and I thought Jake made some tremendous plays for us. Staying alive and then making plays when the ball was in the air to keep some drives alive and to help us end up in the box. So that was great.” – Mike Bloomgren on Jake Constantine

Depth Chart

The Rice football depth chart has one minor tweak this week, and one rather large one:

Rice Football

Quarterback changes, again

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