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Rice Basketball runs out of steam at UTSA

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Rice Basketball traded punches with UTSA in the first half but couldn’t keep pace with the Roadrunners’ offense which ran away with the game in the second half.

What began as a defensive slugfest on Sunday night between Rice basketball and UTSA at the Convocation Center in San Antonio, TX was a far cry from the offensive firefight between these same teams that happened at Tudor Fieldhouse in mid-January. Both teams were held below 40 percent in the first half this time around, trading meager leads throughout the opening portion of the contest.

UTSA was the first to amass a two-score lead when Marcus Millender hit the fourth three-pointer of the evening with a little less than three minutes remaining before the halftime buzzer. The Roadrunners snagged the first meaningful a few minutes later, scoring 12 of the final 14 points from the field in the first half to take an eight point advantage into halftime.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Offense

Rice would keep things relatively close for the opening portions of the second half until UTSA started to connect from long range. The Roadrunners’ Primo Spears knocked down a trio of consecutive three pointers to get their advantage to double-digits for the first time. Rice, which had only made 1-of-14 threes to that point, found itself in a sizable hole.

The lead only ballooned from there. Shortly thereafter UTSA took charge in earnest with an emphatic 16-3 run, rendering signs of life from three-point range largely moot. Rice basketball has now lost six of its last seven games.

Final Box | UTSA 84, Rice 56

Key takeaway | Scouting the Standings

March is officially here and the conference tournament is right around the corner. With the shrinking calendar and the mounting losses, Rice basketball is running out of time to avoid a potential first round game pitting the bottom two teams in the conference standings.

Rice (4-13) and Charlotte (3-13) hold those positions at this point. The Owls had been just above the line, but this loss to UTSA, which moves the Roadrunners just above them in the standings. Rice has one game remaining against Wichita State, capping the Owls’ conference win total at a maximum of five.

If Rice win that game and Tulsa loses to Temple and Wichita State, Rice would escape the opening round game, but the Owls have reached the point of the season where they need help after failing to help themselves often enough during the year.

Up Next: vs Wichita State (Thr, Mar. 6)

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Rice Women’s Basketball overwhelmed in second half by Temple

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Rice Women’s Basketball led at halftime but couldn’t keep up the pace, falling by double-digits on the road at Temple on Friday.

Temple hit the first few shots, but it was Rice women’s basketball that set the tempo on Friday night in Philadelphia. After falling behind 5-0 in the first quarter, the Rice rallied to take the lead four minutes later and quickly surged ahead on the aggressive offensive play of Aniah Alexis, who paced both teams with a game-high 12 first quarter points.

Rice maintained a multiple-possession lead through the second quarter but never grew their advantage to double digits. Temple just wouldn’t go away, eventually pulling even again midway through the third quarter on a 9-2 run that brought the score to a deadlock at 42 points apiece. That’s when the momentum began to swing in favor of the hometown Owls in earnest.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Defense

After leading for the better portion of two quarters, Rice found itself trailing at the onset of the fourth quarter, falling even further behind when Temple opened the period with six straight points to go in front by 10, the largest lead be either side at that point in the contest. The onslaught wouldn’t stop there.

Interrupted by one layup from Trinity Gooden, Temple went on a fresh 9-0 run, ballooning the lead to 17 points and putting the game on ice before stretching their advantage to as many as 22 points. After controlling much of the early moments of this game, Rice would be outscored 50-25 in the second half, falling to 7-10 in AAC play and 14-15 overall.

Final Box | Temple 83, Rice 63

Key takeaway | Battle on the boards

One statistic doesn’t often tell the full story, but the Owls’ second half slump coincided quite clearly with a shift in their success rebounding, or lack thereof. For all their struggles this season, Rice had out-rebounded their opponents in 14 of their 16 conference games to date. That level of consistency appeared to be on track after the first half with Rice winning the rebounding battle 25 to 19 at halftime.

The second half was an entirely different story, though. Temple outrebounded Rice 17-11 in the second half and instead of losing this fight rather handily as the first half had suggested, actually matched Rice on the boards, 36 to 36. That changed the entire complexion of the game, disrupting the Owls’ offensive flow and thwarting any chance of a second half comeback.

Rice women’s’ basketball is 3-6 this season when losing the rebounding battle.

Up Next: vs North Texas (Tues, 3/4)

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2025 Rice Football Schedule Announced

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The 2025 Rice Football schedule was released by the American Conference on Friday, including a full 12-game slate.

Opponents have been known for some time, but now we have dates. All of a sudden the 2025 Rice football season is starting to take shape following an announcement by the conference office on Friday that laid out the full slate of games the Owls will undertake this fall.

The AAC released this statement concurrently with the schedule

The nonconference portion of the schedule features seven games against teams ranked in the top 25 of the final Associated Press poll of 2024, including four games against teams that reached the College Football Playoff.

Teams from The American will play eight nonconference games against opponents from the Sun Belt, seven against the SEC, five against the ACC, four each against the Big 12 and Mountain West, three against the MAC and two each against the Big Ten and Conference USA. American teams will additionally face Notre Dame, Washington State and Oregon State among others.

So, here it is, the 2025 Rice Football schedule:

DateOpponentH/A
Aug. 30, 2025LouisianaAway
Sep. 6, 2025HoustonHome
Sep. 13, 2025PVAMUHome
Sep. 18, 2025Charlotte (Thr)Away
Sep. 27, 2025NavyAway
Oct. 4, 2025Florida AtlanticHome
Oct. 11, 2025UTSAAway
Oct. 18, 2025— OFF — —
Oct. 25, 2025UConnHome
Oct. 31, 2025Memphis (Fri)Home
Nov. 8, 2025UABHome
Nov. 16, 2025— OFF ——
Nov. 22, 2025North TexasHome
Nov. 29, 2024USFAway

Note: There was a misprint in the conference release. The Louisiana game is on the road, not at home.

Full Conference Schedule

Rice Football News

Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting, David Kasemervisz

Rice Football Recruiting: WR David Kasemervisz commits to Owls

Posted: May 6, 2025

A Texas product is returning home as a member of the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class. Former Stanford wideout David Kasemervisz has committed to the Owls. The recent run of pledges to the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class, serving as the final additions to the roster before the season arrives this fall, maintained its momentum […]

Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting, Artis Cole

Rice Football Recruiting: WR Artis Cole commits to Owls

Posted: May 4, 2025

The 2025 Rice Football recruiting class just picked up more offensive reinforcements. Former Louisiana-Monroe wideout Artis Cole has committed to the Owls. The spring additions to the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class have come from near and far with several new faces taking multiple stops along their college football journey before arriving on South Main. […]

Rice Football Recruiting, Rice Football

Rice Football Recruiting: Khary Crump’s path to the Owls

Posted: May 2, 2025

The most recent addition to the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class, corner Khary Crump has taken an eventful journey to South Main. Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more. Recent Posts The Winding Road: Jack Ben-Shoshan’s circuitous path to the top of the Rice Baseball bullpen Rice Baseball inches […]

Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting, Khary Crump

Rice Football Recruiting: CB Khary Crump commits to Owls

Posted: May 2, 2025

The 2025 Rice Football recruiting class fills a significant need in the secondary with this latest addition. Houston Christian corner Khary Crump has committed to the Owls. A swathe of graduations and injuries made it abundantly clear that the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class would need help in the secondary this spring, most specifically at […]

Rice Football 2025 Spring Practice Notebook 8: Defensive Takeaways

Posted: April 30, 2025

Now led by defensive coordinator Jon Kay, the Rice football defense made strides this spring. Here are a few things that stood out the most. The Rice football defense lost a lot of leaders to graduation this offseason. Having a familiar face in Jon Kay take over as the coordinator helps, but there was still […]

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Rice Baseball falters late against Arizona

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Rice baseball was able to trade blows with Arizona early but ran out of steam late, dropping the midweek bout to the Wildcats by an 11-8 final score.

A smattering of loud extra-base hits against Rice baseball starter Maddox Keo saw the Owls fall into a 3-0 hole against the visiting Arizona Wildcats on Wednesday evening. Keo would be lifted in the third for Tucker Alch, who allowed a run of his own in the third before the Rice bats got going in earnest.

Gunnett Carlson got the Owls on the board with an RBI single in the second before Barrett Eldridge deposited his first home run of the season over the left field wall, leveling the score at four runs apiece.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball splits wire-to-wire series with USC

The back and forth would continue, with only one scoreless inning registered between the teams, a quiet fifth inning, before Arizona broke the game open in the seventh. Jackson Blank put two men on for Matt Zatopek, who allowed a bases-clearing double. He’d be lifted for Reed Gallant who allowed another multi-RBI double shortly afterward.

At that point, the damage had been done. Arizona tacked on another insurance run in the eighth to take an commanding 11-7 lead. Rice would pick up one final run on a wild pitch, but didn’t have enough juice to mount a large comeback, falling at home.

What it means | Thin-pen

The back end of the bullpen had already been identified as eyebrow-raising issue for Rice baseball this season, so it’s not entirely surprising to see what felt like a winnable game derailed by that aspect of the team, but the degree to which this contest imploded was shocking.

After lifting Alch in the sixth, it took five relievers for Rice to cobble together the next 2.1 innings. Garrett Stratton faced one batter and escaped a jam, so he gets a pass here, but the parade of relievers who combined to walk six while allowing just four hits were responsible for six of the Wildcats’ 11 runs.

More: 2025 Rice Baseball Season Preview

As is always the case with baseball, it’s a team effort. More offensive production and better fielding — Rice committed three errors — certainly would have helped, but the evidence is starting to stack up. If the pen can’t throw strikes, it’s going to be a long year for that unit regardless how talented it might be on paper.

ON DECK | Astros Foundation Classic (vs Mississippi State (Fri), Tennessee (Sat), Texas A&M(Sun))



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Rice Basketball falters late at Memphis

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Rice Basketball battled Memphis to the very end but couldn’t make the key plays down the stretch to shift the result, falling to the Tigers on the road.

The first five shots Rice basketball took Wednesday night against a ranked Memphis squad on the road were off the mark. An early deficit would prove to be the fruit of a slow start with the Owls finding themselves down 10 points before they made their first field goal to cut the Tigers’ lead to 13-5 with nearly six minutes of action in the books.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Offense

Given time to get their footing and fire back, Rice would mount a counteroffensive midway through the half, ripping off a 12-2 run to get back within two points and force a Memphis timeout. The Tigers would grind out some breathing room before the end of the half, but Rice had managed to turn the would-be rout into a competitive game at the break.

Rice would tie the game up at 46 in the early minutes of the second half and although they would keep the game close from that point onward, any leads proved elusive. The Owls’ final rally tied the game at 70, but free throw woes, turnovers and missed opportunities saw that close game evaporate in a matter of seconds. Memphis closed the game on a 14-2 run to seal the win.

Final Box | Memphis 84, Rice 72

Key takeaway | Make them earn it

Several weeks ago Memphis made 10 three-pointers in a fire fight at Tudor Fieldhouse that ended with Memphis outscoring Rice in a thriller. Memphis has made at least five threes in every game so far this season and averages 8.1 threes per contest. On Wednesday night, Memphis made two.

For the most part, the explosiveness of the Memphis offense was neutralized by a defensive game plan that made the Tigers work for every basket, forcing them to work inside and take contested shots. For 38 minutes, that plan seemed to work. Memphis couldn’t lengthen their lead quickly, allowing the Rice offense to keep pace.

The plan gave the Owls a chance, a one possession game with two minutes left in regulation against a ranked foe on the road is a step forward from where this program has been. But as so many of these close losses leaded up to this, it’s clear there’s more work to be done.

Up Next: at UTSA (Sun, Mar. 2)



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