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Rice Basketball 2021 Game Previews: Owls vs Southern Miss

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The Rice basketball hopes to right a losing streak with a set of home games against Southern Miss. Here’s how the Owls stack up against the Golden Eagles.

Rice Basketball

Time: Friday, Feb. 5 at 2:00 p.m. CT and Saturday, Feb. 6 at 2:00 p.m.
Venue: Tudor Fieldhouse
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: Friday – ESPN+ / Sunday – CUSAtv

Southern Miss 7-10 (3-7), Last 5 (1-4)

  • 64-59 (W) vs Middle Tennessee
  • 64-70 (L) at UTSA
  • 72-78 (L) at UTSA
  • 63-76 (L) vs Louisiana Tech
  • 62-65 (L) at Louisiana Tech

Southern Miss statistical leaders

  • Scoring | Tyler Stevenson – 14.2 per game
  • Rebounds | Tyler Stevenson – 7.4 per game
  • Assists | Tae Hardy – 3.0 per game
  • Steals | Tae Hardy – 1.4 per game
  • Blocks | DeAndre Pickney – 0.5 per game

Rice 10-8 (4-6), Last 5 (0-5)

  • 58-61 (L) vs Old Dominion
  • 68-78 (L) at UAB
  • 74-86 (L) at UAB
  • 74-69 (L) vs North Texas
  • 53-79 (L) at North Texas

Rice statistical leaders

  • Scoring | Travis Evee – 15.4 per game
  • Rebounds | Max Fiedler – 9.3 per game
  • Assists | Max Fiedler – 4.1 per game
  • Steals | Travis Evee – 1.3 per game
  • Blocks | Max Fiedler – 0.8 per game

Rice keys to victory

Southern Miss doesn’t shoot well, but they’ve become a fairly stout defense squad under the direction of head coach Jay Ladner. The Golden Eagles allow just 1.6 more points per game than the North Texas squad that gave the Rice guards fits all last weekend. The short bench and lack of free shooting space made for a long series against the Mean Green.

On the opposite side of the court, Rice should be able to grind things out. Southern Miss shoots 43.5 percent from the field and isn’t a particularly high volume shooting team. The Owls need to take it one possession at a time, create opportunities, and take advantage of them.

Rice Women’s Basketball Update

For the third consecutive weekend, Rice women’s basketball will be unable to compete because of COVID- and injuries. Their series against Southern Miss was postponed. The program remains on pause, with six games missed during the delays.

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Rice Basketball 2021 Game Previews: Owls vs North Texas

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The Rice basketball men fell at UAB last time out. The women remain sidelined, but the men return to the court next against North Texas.

Rice Basketball

Time: Friday, Jan. 29 at 2:00 p.m. CT and Sunday, Jan. 31 at 3:00 p.m.
Venue: Friday – Tudor Fieldhouse / Sunday – Super Pit
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: Friday – ESPN+ / Sunday – ESPN+

North Texas 7-5 (3-1), Last 5 (3-2)

  • 59-57 (L) vs Loyola
  • 77-70 (W) at UTSA
  • 69-77 (L) at UTSA
  • 63-33 (W) vs UTEP
  • 74-65 (W) vs UTEP

North Texas statistical leaders

  • Scoring | Jaylon Hamlet – 12.8 per game
  • Rebounds | Zachary Simmons – 6.1 per game
  • Assists | Jaylon Hamlet – 5.1 per game
  • Steals | James Reese – 1.3 per game
  • Blocks | Thomas Bell – 1.3 per game

Rice 10-6 (4-4), Last 5 (2-3)

  • 71-68 (W) at UTEP
  • 69-59 (W) vs Old Dominion
  • 58-61 (L) vs Old Dominion
  • 68-78 (L) at UAB
  • 74-86 (L) at UAB

Rice statistical leaders

  • Scoring | Quincy Olivari – 16.1 per game
  • Rebounds | Max Fiedler – 5.9 per game
  • Assists | Max Fiedler – 4.2 per game
  • Steals | Travis Evee – 1.4 per game
  • Blocks | Max Fiedler – 0.7 per game

Rice keys to victory

Head coach Scott Pera was assembling lineups on the fly last weekend against UAB. The absence of Travis Evee on Friday and others on Saturday saw the Owls use combinations they hardly employed at all in their first 15 games of the season. No matter who is available against North Texas, the Owls must find a way to gel on the defensive side of the court.

Rice has enough shooters to get by, especially if Quincy Olivari or Evee gets into a groove early on. What they didn’t showcase in either of the Owls’ games this past weekend was the ability to defend well when put in situations outside of their comfort zone. As COVID-19 and injuries continue to throw wrenches into the best-laid plans, this team is going to have to find some sort of happy medium in that area.

Rice Women’s Basketball Update

For the second consecutive weekend, Rice women’s basketball will be unable to compete because of COVID-19. The Owls announced a postponement to their series against North Texas earlier in the week as the program remains on pause.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: COVID-19 forces second pair of postponements

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Rice Women’s Basketball remains on pause, missing its second weekend of action. When can the Owls return and what is at stake when they do?

Last week marked the first time Rice Athletics had initiated a postponement for a scheduled competition. Now, the Rice Women’s Basketball has postponed their third and fourth contests, delaying this coming weekend’s series against North Texas. Because of the arrangement of the schedule, every weekend off bumps two games off the docket.

Rice (10-1, 6-0) enters the weekend atop Conference USA West in winning percentage (1.00) and wins (six). The Owls can’t fall behind in the percentage column without playing and suffering their first conference defeat, but not returning to the court in the somewhat near future could put their No. 1 overall seed in jeopardy.

Unlike the football championship, there are no established quotas to make the conference tournament field. UAB had to play one more game during the final week of the regular season to fulfill those requirements. Missing too many weekends won’t disqualify Rice from the tournament. But, seeding is not guaranteed.

According to a source familiar with the revised procedures, a team must play within four games of the average number of games completed by conference members during the regular season to be eligible for a first round bye.

Rice has played six league games to this point and 11 total games. Without playing this weekend they’ll be roughly two games behind both measures. That’s well within the window stipulated, but losing additional weekends could push the Owls’ closer to the line than they’d prefer.

No verdict has been given to this point on when any postponed games would be rescheduled. If football did indeed set a precedent, one would assume those added games would be decided in the next few weeks. There are only four more scheduled weekends of conference play once February arrives. Until then, we sit and wait, hoping for a safe return to competition and uncertain of what the future holds.

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Rice Soccer: Owls ready for 2021 spring season

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Rice Soccer was one of the sports bumped from fall to spring because of COVID-19 concerns. After a long layoff, the Owls are ready to get rolling. Here’s everything you need to know.

This past offseason has been one like no other for Rice soccer head coach Brian Lee and his team. For one there were no games played before Christmas, an oddity for what is traditionally a fall sport. For another, the vast majority of his team was on campus and ready to play.

Aside from one incoming freshman from England, Catarina Albuquerque, whose arrival was delayed with the unfortunate circumstances, the remainder of the freshman class has been on campus since the fall semester began. “The rest of our freshmen, as part of this delayed season, they don’t feel like freshmen the same way they would in the fall.” Lee said, “Those kids who are back with us, they feel like sophomores already.”

They’ll need all the capable options they can get if they’re going to navigate a shrunken season with the chance for postponed games and last-minute changes. One notable addition was recently announced, Serena Pham, a transfer from Alabama. While in Tuscaloosa, Pham she recorded the most assists by a freshman in school history. She’ll sit this spring but be eligible to play in the fall.

Notable games

Rice Soccer opens its season with an exhibition against Houston at Holloway Field on Jan. 30. After one tune-up game, the condensed season begins with a road trip to face McNeese State on Feb. 4.

Rice is scheduled to face UTSA twice, Houston once more in a regulation game, and five additional Conference USA opponents. Consecutive weekend games against HBU and Texas Southern (twice), round up the schedule, which finishes at home on Apr. 8 against UTEP.

The Conference USA Tournament, hosted by Rice, begins on Apr. 13. You can see the complete schedule here.

Preseason C-USA Poll

Rice was picked to finish second in the West, runners up to a North Texas program that knocked the Owls out of the conference tournament last season before going on to win it all. Here is the complete poll:

West Division
  1. North Texas
  2. Rice
  3. UTSA
  4. Louisiana Tech
  5. UTEP
  6. UAB
  7. Southern Miss
East Division
  1. Florida Atlantic
  2. Charlotte
  3. WKU
  4. Middle Tennessee
  5. Marshall
  6. FIU
  7. Old Dominion

Preseason All C-USA Team selections

Mijke Roelfsema and Delaney Schultz were both honored as preseason All-Conference selections. Rice was one of three teams with multiple selections. FAU (two selections) and North Texas (three selections) also received multiple nods. Here is the complete team:

  • Ambere Barnett, WKU
  • Kelsey Brann, North Texas
  • Allie Byrd, North Texas
  • Luisa Daikeler, FAU
  • Peyton DePriest, Middle Tennessee
  • Julia Patrum, Charlotte
  • Ellis Patterson, UTSA
  • Berklee Peters, North Texas
  • Caitlin Pierce, Southern Miss
  • Mijke Roelfsema, Rice
  • Delaney Schultz, Rice
  • Cassidy Wasdin, FAU
  • Autumn Woodard, Louisiana Tech

Offseason notes:

Rice Soccer was featured in part of our extended offseason showcase, featuring stories about the growth of the program under coach Lee, which players could step up in the future and how Rice is using the Transfer Portal to their advantage. You can check those five pieces out here.

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Rice Volleyball: 2021 season begins in thrilling fashion

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Rice Volleyball rallied from an early deficit to win its season opener, showcasing the kind of resiliency they’ll need to succeed this year.

In many respects, it was surreal for coach Genny Volpe and Rice Volleyball to just be back in action at Tudor Fieldhouse against Houston on Saturday. When the first serve landed it broke a streak of 471 days since the Owls played a game that counted on their home court. The primary driver for such a lengthy delay, COVID-19, hasn’t gone away, but the Owls have worked incredibly hard to get to this point. They’re not going to quit now.

“It was great to be back in the gym and just great for the team to be able to compete,” Volpe said in the aftermath. “They were loving every second of it. The good, the bad, the ugly, they were loving the competition.”

The first stanza of the new season provided an immediate test from their crosstown rivals. Houston came out swinging, capitalizing on the Owls’ mistakes, winning the first two sets 25-20 and 25-18. Rice hit just .053 and .103 in those frames, well under the .269 rate they hit at last season.

Volpe mentioned she spoke to the team for about a minute in the break between sets. “There was no magic stuff,” she admitted, praising the teams’ resiliency. “Volleyball. it’s a game of momentum, and we didn’t have it. And we found a way to grab it and never let go of it.”

From that point onward, Rice would settle in. They took the third set 25-22 and the fourth by a commanding 25-12 score. When push came to shove, the Cougars couldn’t match the Owls’ firepower in the final set. Rice prevailed 15-11, clinching the match with a kill from Nicole Lennon.

Lennon (18 kills) had a solid day, but Volpe herself called it a team effort, citing performances by Tia Grippo, Elizabeth Labue and Maddie Fowler. Freshman Nia McCardell, Danyle Courtley and Sahara Maruska shined, too.

“A lot of people played today,” Volpe said, “There’s a lot of people making contributions and I think, what I’m so excited about,  is how we have so many options.” Those options each made their marks, setting the stage for a promising season despite the challenges that loom ahead.

Rice will close January with one more game against Houston and a two-game set with SMU in Dallas. From there, it’s onto conference play. The Owls know it’s going to be a bumpy ride, but they’re committed to seeing it through. Expectations haven’t waivered. Volpe knows the Owls’ opponents will have to navigate through similar challenges.

Having the poise to push through the noise and stay ready, that’s what will separate this team from its challengers. “Once this whistle new and we started, it was natural, it really was,” Volpe said. And just like they had so many times before, Rice found a way to win.

📸 @LysakerPhotos
January 23, 2021 : during the match between the Houston Cougars and the Rice Owls at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas. Rice pulls from behind 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 2-2, 3-2 for the win. (Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics). Used with permission.
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