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Rice Baseball edges Tech, falls to TCU, A&M at Shriner’s Classic

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Rice Baseball won one of three games at the Shriner’s Classic, taking down Texas Tech for their first ranked win of the Jose Cruz Jr. era.

FRIDAY | Rice 3 – Texas Tech 2

Parker Smith further solidified his status as a bonafide Friday starter this weekend, tossing a fantastic outing against No. 24 Texas Tech at Minute Maid. Smith struck out a career-high eight batters in six innings, allowing just three hits, one walk and zero runs. His efforts were bolstered by a two-run home run from Connor Walsh in the fourth inning to give Rice the lead.

Matthew Linskey struggled to find his command in relief, allowing Texas Tech to tie the game on a wild pitch and sacrifice fly in the seventh. Jack Riedel answered in the bottom half of the inning with a solo shot of his own which would prove to be the game winner, lifting Rice baseball to its first win over a ranked opponent in the Jose Cruz Jr. era.

SATURDAY | Texas A&M 13 – Rice 1 (7 inn.)

Texas A&M scored three runs in the first. They scored five runs in the second, chasing starting pitcher Mauricio Rodriguez in the process. Ryland Urbanczyk replaced him and was greeted with a rousing Ball-5 chant from the maroon-clad crowd.

The Aggies finished that second inning with an 8-0 lead. Rice stranded the bases loaded in the top half of the third, then watched Texas A&M tack on three more runs in the bottom half of the inning and another two runs in the fourth. After nearly two hours of game time, Texas A&M led 13-0 and the fifth inning hadn’t yet begun. It was that kind of night for Rice baseball.

SUNDAY| TCU 7 – Rice 0

The dwindling offensive numbers hit their bottom in the Sunday finale against TCU hurler Cam Brown, who had the Owls’ number from the start. He struck out eight in seven innings, allowing just three hits and the TCU bats did the rest. The Horned Frogs scored three on a home run in the second inning and another on a solo shot in the third. A sacrifice fly in the fifth and a two-run double in the eighth rounded out the scoring, more than enough to overcome the Owls’ bagel.

Rice was held to four hits for the afternoon. Starting pitcher Tom Vincent was relieved after 2.1 innings. Matthew Linskey was the only Rice pitcher that did not get charged with a run, while Cristian Cienfuegos, JD McCracken and Blake Brogdon were not as fortunate.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rice baseball concluded a stretch of seven consecutive games away from Reckling Park with a three-game stint at the Shriner’s College Classic. The Owls picked up one win in the process. Here are a few takeaways from the weekend.

1. Who’s next on the mound?

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ON DECK | vs UTRGV (Tues),  vs Texas A&M (Wed), vs Houston Christian (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Basketball fades down the stretch, falls to FIU

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Rice basketball ended the regular season with a thud, losing a halftime lead before falling at home on Senior Day to FIU.

Fans inside the confines of Tudor Fieldhouse were treated to an entertaining back-and-forth contest as Rice basketball and FIU wrapped up their regular seasons with vigor. FIU took a seven-point lead in the first half in the back of a 10-0 run only to see Rice immediately flip the script, countering with a 10-0 run of their own capped off with back-to-back threes from Travis Evee.

That’s how the game seemed to go from start to finish. Both teams shot well (Rice 50.8 percent — FIU 49.2 percent), making it feel like the game would be decided in the final minutes. In a way, it was, but not like many would have expected. With 4:33 remaining in the second half, Evee put Rice up three with a layup. Rice would not score from the field for the remainder of the game.

Two free throws, both from Evee, would interrupt a thunderous finish from FIU, who outscored Rice 12-2 from that point onward. The Owls had their chances, but turnovers and poor rebounding killed opportunities for a late rally.

Final Box | FIU 90 – Rice 83

Key takeaway | Sluggish second half

Rice basketball opened conference play 6-3. They would win just two of their remaining 11 games, falling from a potential first-round bye in the Conference USA Conference Tournament to a play-in game, stacking the deck against themselves in the process. For a team that showed so much promise early in the year, the regular season ends in a rather disappointing fashion.

As things currently stand, Rice looks likely to be the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament, pairing them with No. 11 seed UTSA in a potential first round game which would be played on Wednesday, March 8. The winner of that contest would go on to play No. 3 seed UAB.

Up Next: Conference USA Tournament, Round 1

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Rice Women’s Basketball caps off regular season with win at FIU

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Rice women’s basketball wrapped up a Sunshine state sweep on Saturday, defeating FIU two days after FAU to complete the regular season.

Rice women’s basketball finished off the regular season just like they started it — riding a lengthy winning streak. The Owls’ Saturday victory over FIU was the fifth consecutive win for Rice, which clinched a first-round bye in the upcoming Conference USA Conference Tournament in the process.

Early on it looked like reaching that fifth straight win would come easy for the Owls, who parlayed a strong start into a 45-30 halftime lead. It wouldn’t be quite that easy, though. FIU opened the third quarter on a 24-6 run, forcing five Rice turnovers in that stretch and turning what could have been a one-sided affair into a rock fight down the stretch.

Malia Fisher and India Bellamy fouled out. Destiny Jackson and Trinity Gooden did not play. Still, with the lineup shortened, Rice found a way. They weathered the FIU rally and answered with one of their own, pulling away late to prevent any opportunity for an FIU upset.

Final Box | Rice 96 – FIU 84

Key takeaway | Bye, bye, bye

Rice women’s basketball won’t be playing on Wednesday in Frisco. Their win on Saturday secured the Owls the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Conference Tournament. That entitles them to a first-round bye as they await the winner of the game between No. 6 seed UTSA and No. 11 seed UAB. It also cements a rather impressive Year 2 for head coach Lindsay Edmonds and her staff.

Edmonds went 14-13 (8-9) in her first season with Rice women’s basketball. She ends the 2022-2023 regular season 22-7 (13-7). That’s a sizable jump and has her program viewed as one of the favorites entering the conference tournament rather than the upstart underdog they were last season.

Up Next: Conference USA Tournament, Round 2

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Rice Women’s Basketball takes care of business at FAU

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Rice women’s basketball continued on their winning waves, closing out their penultimate regular season game with little drama against FAU.

Rice women’s basketball has been forced to juggle its lineup several times in recent weeks, but the end result has routinely been the same: winning. The Owls were without Trinity Gooden or Destiny Jackson on Thursday night against FAU but it never seemed to matter. The return of Malia Fisher helped smooth those concerns as well as a big day from Katelyn Crosthwait.

Crosthwait got the scoring started with a first quarter jumper, two of her 22 points on the afternoon. That helped spark and early Rice run which put them in front for good, never trailing in the eventual runaway victory.

Florida Atlantic would keep things within striking distance for a while, but Rice pulled away for good with a strong start to the fourth quarter, emphasized by a flurry of threes that turned a 14-point Rice lead into a 21-point advantage. It proved too much for FAU to overcome as Rice hung on to secure the win.

Final Box | Rice 76 – FAU 61

Key takeaway | Moving on up

By virtue of Western Kentucky’s win over UTEP and the Owls’ victory over the Florida-based Owls, Rice moves into the No. 3 overall seed in the Conference USA Tournament with the head-to-head tiebreaker over UTSA. Rice can secure that seeding by defeating FIU on Saturday.

Rice is a game behind Western Kentucky in the standings and doesn’t look to have a chance to pass them on the final weekend. Still, the Owls would be looking at a top-three regular season finish if things hold. That’s a solid result for a program picked to finish fourth in the preseason poll.

Regardless, Rice will finish above Charlotte and Louisiana Tech, two of the three programs picked to finish above them in October. That’s why you play the games.

Up Next: at FIU – Saturday, Mar. 4 at 1:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball routed by Florida Atlantic

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Rice basketball officially said goodbye to a first round bye on Thursday with a blowout loss to Florida Atlantic on their home court.

It wasn’t so much a slow start that doomed Rice basketball against Florida Atlantic on Thursday night — although they did fall behind 9-0 to start — it was the unrelenting onslaught from Conference USA’s preeminent team. Florida Atlantic had runs of 8-0, 13-0 and 10-0 in the first half alone, concluding with an emphatic 10 points run to complete the half.

Rice scored the first second points of the second half, but it fell on hollow ears following the 29-point deficit they faced at the break. A hole that size would have been hard enough to overcome against a mediocre opponent. Florida Atlantic proved they were far from that, responding to the most Rice rally and further lengthening their lead to as much as 36 points. Rice never came close.

Final Box | Florida Atlantic 103 – Rice 74

Key takeaway | Shooting spree

Rice basketball is now officially dead last in Conference USA in opposing field goal percentage allowed. They are 10th (out of 11 teams) in points per game allowed. The defense that seemed to be slowly building through nonconference play has been nowhere to be seen for the Owls over the past several weeks.

It doesn’t matter who Rice plays, allowing 100 points should never be acceptable. They held Texas, a Top 10 team, to 87 points including overtime. Florida Atlantic dropped 103 points on Rice on Thursday, and it could have been worse.

It’s not a new refrain, but it is an ever-growing chorus: if Rice basketball can’t play any semblance of defense, it won’t matter how many threes they can make. Florida Atlantic shot 53.4 percent from the floor and 47.2 percent from three. Sometimes teams get hot. When it keeps happening time and time again, it’s a trend. And Rice is running out of time to find solutions.

Up Next: vs FIU – Saturday, Mar. 4 at 2:00 p.m.

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