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Rice Women’s Basketball silences HCU in historic defensive performance

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Rice women’s basketball pitched a near-perfect defensive performance in their season opener against HCU, holding the Huskies to 38 points in the win.

The crowd filling the lower bowl of Tudor Fieldhouse hadn’t even had time to exhale from their raucous cheering at the opening tip before Rice Women’s Basketball had its first lead of the 2023-2024 season. Malia Fisher won the tip, got the ball to Destiny Jackson and watched as Owls’ senior leader drained a three to put Rice in front.

Those three points by themselves would nearly be enough to preserve the Owls’ advantage in the first half. Rice held Houston Christian to a meager 6.5 percent shooting mark from the field, holding the visiting Huskies to just five first half points, a school record.

“It’s definitely something that we’ve worked really hard on,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said of her team’s defensive performance, mentioning her team’s experience in her system. “They know exactly what I want and they know what the expectations are.”

It would prove to be the start of a historic defensive performance for the Owls. Just three times in the past 10 seasons had Rice held an opponent to fewer than 40 points. The program record is 28 points, set against Prairie View A&M in 1994. To even be in that conversation is impressive.

Houston Christian entered the fourth quarter with just 17 total points. With history in reach, Rice limited HCU to just 21 more, posting a 70-38 win in their season opener.

Rice women’s basketball didn’t secure a program-best defensive performance — at least not according to the record books — but Edmonds and company will take the win, soak in the strong defensive showing and get to work on tightening up the mistakes.

“Winning is hard. The expectations are set really high for this team and we’re striving for perfection,” Edmonds said. “I feel like tonight we showed in spurts who we are, but I don’t think we played a 40-minute game of Rice women’s basketball. I think there’s definitely some areas that we can clean up and improve in, but [we’re] 1-0 to start the season and I’m proud of them for that.”

Final Box | Rice 70 – HCU 38

Key takeaway | Don’t worry about the offense

Counting the exhibition, this was just the second game this team has played together against people wearing different color jerseys. If you’re going to have some growing pains, it’s best to get them out of the way against opponents the caliber of HCU before getting to the meat of the nonconference schedule — and that is coming — but for now, Rice is happy to take the win and plenty of teaching material.

The offense was never a serious concern for this program under Edmonds, not in the slightest. Rice led Conference USA in field goal percentage last season and would have ranked second by a few percentage points to AAC-leading USF. This team can shoot. The scoring will come.

“There’s going to be nights when the shot doesn’t fall,” Edmonds said. “But the two things that we can control is our defensive intensity and our rebounding effort.”

Rice won the battle of the boards 57 to 32. The defensive performance speaks for itself.

Scoring is volatile. Defense is more absolute. Either you can defend at a high level or you can’t. Monday’s debut game against Houston Christian suggests Rice might be pretty good in that respect. The baskets will come.

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2023-2024 Rice Women’s Basketball Season Preview

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The 2023-2024 Rice women’s basketball season is around the corner and the arrow continues to point upward for Lindsay Edmonds and her team.

Rice women’s basketball still managed to find ways to win while playing with a limited roster in head coach Lindsay Edmond’s first season on South Main in 2021-2022. Adding the conference’s top recruiting class to the mix last season propelled the Owls to an undefeated non-conference run for the first time in program history.

Faced with a new conference and elevated expectations, Edmonds is ready to see her program take the next step. “Last year was amazing,” Edmonds said during her media availability at American Conference Media Days.” But it was last year, right?”

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Rice Athletics AD Tommy McClelland shares goals, big dreams for Owls

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On Tuesday morning, Rice Athletics introduced Tommy McClelland as its new Athletic Director and gave him the opportunity to share his vision for the Owls.

News broke a few weeks ago that Rice Athletics had found its new Athletic Director. The University formalized the announcement soon afterward and on Tuesday, those expectations were fulfilled with the introduction of Tommy McClelland as the Owls’ new AD.

“I’ve always admired Rice from afar. The opportunity to join the university, one of the world’s elite institutions and a university and an athletics program that is on the rise, it’s truly unbelievable,” McClelland said. “Rice athletics has enormous potential to achieve even greater success while remaining true to its core values.”

McClelland made it clear he viewed this position as a destination job. He spoke of all the potential Rice had and stirred up the passions of those in the room, asking everyone to do their part in helping the university achieve those lofty aspirations.

The Roost Podcast: Soundbites and summaries from Tommy McClelland’s presser

As for his vision for the athletic department, McClleland leaned into the unique value proposition Rice University holds. “Athletics is not the most important thing on this campus, not by a longshot,” he admitted. “But our sports programs do provide the widest lens in which people get to view the global impact that is happening all over this campus.”

McClelland closed his initial remarks with a powerful value statement, further clarifying his goals for the athletic department “to use athletics as a mechanism to become a top-rated university in education, in research and in everything we do.” adding that he believes “we can utilize the platform in athletics to help amplify the success of the university. When one area of the university wins, we all win.”

You can view the entire press conference here.

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Rice Athletics: Tommy McClelland named Director of Athletics

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Rice president Reginald DesRoches announced that Tommy McClelland, currently the deputy athletic director at Vanderbilt, will be the Owls’ new AD.

In a statement released by the school on Sunday, Rice Athletics has named Tommy McClelland its next athletic director.

“We’re thrilled to be able to attract someone with Tommy’s breadth of experience and success,” DesRoches said. “He brings the values of academic excellence and deep integrity that define Rice, coupled with a passionate desire to compete successfully at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics. These attributes will be critical for Rice’s first season in the American Athletic Conference and the years to follow.”

“I am incredibly grateful to President DesRoches, the search committee and the Board of Trustees for the opportunity to serve as vice president and director of athletics at Rice University,” McClelland said. “My family and I are thrilled to join the Rice family and the Houston community.”

The news was initially reported on Saturday by Pete Thamel before being announced formally by Rice today.

McClelland is slated to begin duties on August 14, two weeks from today. In the meantime, senior associate director Tanner Gardner will serve as interim athletic director for the department.

The full statement is available to read here.

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Report: Rice Athletics targeting Tommy McClelland to be new AD

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Not long after the announced departure of Joe Karlgaard, Rice Athletics has reportedly focused its search on Tommy McClelland to be its new AD.

First reported by Pete Thamel, Rice Athletics is targeting current Vanderbilt deputy athletic director Tommy McClelland. According to Thamel, the deal is “expected to be finalized in the upcoming days.”

McClelland cut his teeth as an athletic director at McNeese State before moving to Louisiana Tech, where he served as the Bulldogs’ athletic director from 2013 to 2020 before departing for Vanderbilt. His particular penchant for fundraising, noted by Thamel and separately confirmed to The Roost, is one of his most distinctive traits.

The addition would be another step in a season of change for the entire Rice Athletics department and the university as a whole. Rice has recently installed a new president, Reginald DesRoches, moved to a new conference, the American Athletic, and now will be finalizing the addition of a new athletic director.

The hire would presumably enable Rice to have their card in order for the upcoming fall athletic season, which is quickly approaching. Rice football just completed media days last week and is set to open fall camp in the coming days. A new athletic year is poised to begin and it looks now as if the Owls have their man to lead them into an exciting new future.

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