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Rice Basketball: Dismal second-half dooms Owls at WKU

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Rice basketball played a great first half before all but disappearing after the break, falling to Western Kentucky on the road on Thursday night.

A tale of two halves might not even do true justice to just how disparate the two periods Rice basketball played against Western Kentucky on the road Thursday night. The Owls came out white-hot, converting on 51.5 percent of their shots from the field while draining seven threes. Then the bottom dropped out. Rice shot 29.6 percent in the second half and added just one triple to their eventual modest totals.

The Owls opponents actually shot worse from the floor in the second half than they had in the first. Where they found their edge was the charity stripe. Western Kentucky was 17-of-22 from the free throw line. Rice was 8-for-11. The Owls would go on to lose by nine.

Last Time Out : Rice Basketball pulls off thrilling upset of UAB at home

It’s not as if fouls determined this game, though. Rice basketball just wasn’t nearly as crisp after the halftime buzzer. Whether it was the right halftime adjustments made by Western Kentucky or a bad shooting slump for Rice — or both — the results were the same. A game that looked winnable at halftime slipped away.

The loss snuffs a short two-game winning streak that included perhaps the most impactful victory of head coach Scott Pera’s tenure at Rice, a home win over UAB. The Owls fall to 2-2 in Conference USA play.

Player Spotlight | Chris Mullins

Mullis has developed into a jack-of-all-trades for Rice basketball over the course of his career. Always known for his superb defensive ability, he added some well-timed buckets against the Hilltoppers. He tossed in a three-pointer to start off the second half on his way to a tie for the team-high in scoring with 13 points. He also added two rebounds and a steal.

Stat Corner | Don’t get dunked

Western Kentucky dunked seven times against Rice and scored 32 total points in the paint. 18 of those points came after halftime. They were a large part of what allowed Western Kentucky to run away with the game in the second half. The home team came out of the break on a 13-5 run. Six of those points came directly from dunks, the highest percentage shot you can take. Just three of them came from threes.

Three-pointers would help Western Kentucky maintain the lead down the stretch, but getting beat inside is what allowed the gap to manifest in the first place. The shots won’t fall every night. When they don’t, preventing easy buckets has to climb atop the priority list. Rice basketball didn’t do that very well on Thursday.

Final Box | WKU 80 – Rice 66

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice basketball closes out their brief road trip on Saturday with a visit to Marshall. The Owls bested the Thundering Herd in the Conference USA Tournament the last time these two squads met. After that they’ll return home for games against Old Dominion and Charlotte.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: Owls fall to WKU at home

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Playing in their first home game in almost a month, Rice women’s basketball fell at Tudor Fieldhouse to Western Kentucky.

For the second time since mid-December, Rice women’s basketball took the court in a regulation game. The Owls played one game last weekend — and even that contest was delayed — by a snowstorm, rather than COVID-19, at least. Back on their home court, the Owls squared off with Western Kentucky, one of two teams in Conference USA still unbeaten in conference play.

Like they did against Middle Tennessee last Friday, Rice came out firing in the first quarter. Rice jumped out to an 8-2 lead, with all the Owls points coming from the arms of Haylee Swayzee. From then on, both teams seemed to settle in.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball midseason State of the Program

A 15-15 first quarter gridlock turned into a 21-21 tie midway through the second quarter then a 29-29 stalemate in the final 90 seconds before the halftime buzzer. Things would turn south for the Owls shortly thereafter.

WKU came out of the break firing, outscoring Rice 7-1 to start the third quarter as they opened up an 11 point lead. Rice struggled from the field and committed six turnovers in the first six minutes of the quarter. “I think we did some good things and made some great runs,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said in the aftermath, “but then we did some a couple of silly things, we’d shoot ourselves in the foot and negate the run we just went on.”

The Owls would draw close on a few occasions in the fourth quarter, but wouldn’t tie it up again. Western Kentucky ran away with things late, turning what was a relatively close game into a one-sided affair in the final minutes.

Player Spotlight | Haylee Swayzee

It’s hard to believe, but the calendar is turning to mid-January and Haylee Swayzee, a team captain and one of the core pieces of this young team, played in her fourth game on Thursday against Western Kentucky.

“It’s great having her leadership out there, her ability to pull the team in in the huddle and remind them what we’re trying to do. I’m grateful to have her back,” Edmonds said.

Swayzee started strong but wasn’t able to add much to her point total down the stretch as her shots missed the mark. Still, she managed to tie for the team-leading in scoring with 14 points, adding four rebounds and two steals.

Stat Corner | Not all threes are created equal

Western Kentucky dominated Rice women’s basketball in transition from start to finish. Not only was their spacing on point, but they found the right shots to take. Western Kentucky shot 9-of-26 (34.6 percent) from three, but not all of their threes looked the same.

On at least four occasions Westen Kentucky thundered down the court and found a three-point shooter unguarded by several paces who drained the wide-open shot. It’s a lot hard to make those kinds of shots with a hand in your face. In Edmonds’ own words, “Giving up wide open threes is not who we are or what we’re about.”

Final Box | WKU 78 – Rice 61

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball will have the quickest turnaround they’ve seen in some time ahead of them. The Owls are scheduled to be back on the court on Saturday against Marshall. They’ll hit the road next week for games against Old Dominion and Charlotte.

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Rice Basketball slingshots upward following wild week

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Knocking off UAB was a big win for the Rice basketball program, but the Owls hope this wild week won’t be the end of their upward ascent.

Rice basketball is riding the tail end of one of a rollercoaster week that’s led them through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. They crested the peak of that eight-day stretch when they knocked off conference favorite UAB at Tudor Fieldhouse. That spectacular win will be remembered for quite some time at South Main, but those forty minutes were on Saturday were only part of what made the victory so special.

Rice Athletics staff scoured the record books to find a recent comparable. The best they could find? UAB was No. 38 in NET rankings entering their game against the Owls. Rice beat New Mexico, No. 32 in RPI, on the road in December of 2015. The Lobos would fall off down the stretch and finish a dismal 17-15 on the year. The last time Rice beat a team that was great from wire to wire? It might date back to their WAC days.

Given that context, the win might be even grander than it was initially assumed to be. Few could have seen it coming, especially with it coming a week removed from a 32 point drubbing at the hands of a North Texas squad that UAB had just defeated two days prior.

That loss was one of the most painful in recent memory. Rice has lost by 30 or more points to a conference foe on just one other occasion in the past three seasons. Oddly enough, that other blowout defeat came at the hands of Louisiana Tech in late February. One week later they upset Marshall in the Conference USA Tournament, arguably the best win of head coach Scott Pera’s tenure at the time.

What’s it like, going from the valley to the mountain in such a short time? “I’m tired. I’m emotionally spent,” head coach Scott Pera said after the game, still grinning before making his way to the locker room to celebrate.

By that point in the Zoom interview session, he’d already gushed about the significance of the win. He’d talked about what it meant to the program, to his players, to his staff. Praise had been allotted to everyone to which it was due. Pera was smiling, but he carried the weight of a season ravaged by COVID-19, complications which Pera has frequently referred to as the most grueling conditions he’s ever had to coach through.

That’s part of what made this win special. To fight through COVID-19 delays and struggle to get their feet back under themselves against North Texas was daunting. “That wasn’t us.” Pera said, defiantly, “That’s not who we are.”

And what exactly is that? Who is this new-look Rice basketball team that can topple the best the conference has to offer? And more importantly, what’s next?

Mentally (and emotionally) Pera and his team have already moved on. A tenuous stretch of some of the conference’s top teams awaits the Owls next weekend when they play at Western Kentucky and Marshall. That’s exactly where Pera hopes to go next.

His aim? “To compete for the upper half of this league,” he said. “To put ourselves in position on Tuesday, Wednesday in the conference tournament, maybe we don’t have to play.”

Who would have thought we’d be entertaining the possibility of a bye before the Conference USA Tournament a week removed from one of the most discouraging losses Pera has seen in his tenure as the Rice basketball head coach? Pera didn’t seem phased by the quick transition. Neither did guard Travis Evee.

“We said the whole summer we’re going to take the next step,” Evee said. “And I think today was a great win for us, a great win for the program and just shows all the work we put in.”

Perhaps that monumental win could indeed be a building block for the future. We’ll find out soon enough. Rice visits Western Kentucky on Thursday.

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Rice Football 2021: NFL Owls Regular Season Recap

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Rice Football is well represented on 2021 NFL rosters. Here’s the latest from the NFL Owls from this week and the season as a whole.

There are former Rice football players scattered across the NFL. Stay tuned each week for their game results and notables from each player.

Team NFL Owl(s) Week 17 Result Next
LA Chargers Christian Covington (DL) at Las Vegas (SNF) L, 35-32 (OT)  —
Denver Calvin Anderson (OL)
Bryce Callahan (CB)		 vs Kansas City L, 28-24  —
Pittsburgh Chris Boswell (PK) at Baltimore W, 16-13 (OT) at Kansas City
Detroit Jack Fox (P) vs Green Bay W, 37-30  —
Tampa Bay Nick Leverett (OL) vs Carolina W, 41-17 vs Eagles
Indianapolis Andrew Sendejo (Saf) at Jacksonville L, 26-11  —
Falcons Austin Trammell (WR) vs Saints L, 30-20  —
New York Jets Austin Walter (RB) at Buffalo L, 27-10  —

Offense

Calvin Anderson – OT, Broncos

Anderson was placed on injured reserve following a leg injury suffered in the Broncos’ Week 13 loss to the Chiefs. He did not play in their Week 18 game against the Chiefs. He made three starts this season.

Nick Leverett – OT, Buccaneers

Leverett was inactive for the Bucs’ Week 18 game against the Panthers. He’d been active in recent weeks and saw action against those same Panthers in Week 16. He’ll be ready should he be needed in relief in the playoffs after making two appearances in the regular season.

Austin Trammell – WR, Falcons

Trammell was active once again this week after being elevated to the active roster from the practice squad. In a seemingly related move, the team released Marvin Hall earlier in the week, clearing room for Trammell to see the field. Trammell played six special teams snaps, a career-high after registering just one official play in his Week 17 debut.

Austin Watler – RB, Jets

With most of the running back room healthy this week, Walter was kept off the stat sheet after totaling a career-high 49 rushing yards in Week 17. He finishes the season with 101 rushing yards on 26 caries and two receptions for nine yards. He scored his first carer touchdown in Week 7 against the Texans in Houston.

Defense

Bryce Callahan – CB, Broncos

After missing the Broncos’ Week 17 game because of a short stint on the COVID-19 IR, Callahan returned for the season finale against the Chiefs, finishing with four tackles, three of which were solo takedowns. He finishes the season with 29 total tackles, three tackles for a loss and four passes defended.

Christian Covington – DL, Chargers

Covington’picked up two tackles in a wild Sunday Night Football loss at the hands of the Raiders. He finishes the season with 52 total tackles, three tackles for a loss and one quarterback hit.

Andrew Sendejo – S, Colts

Sendejo was placed on the COVID 19 list, forcing him to miss the Colts’ Week 18 game. He finishes the season with 40 total tackles, two tackles for a loss and two passes defended.

Special Teams

Jack Fox – P, Lions

Fox punted twice against the Packers, including a long punt of 67 yards. He also attempted one pass, which fell incomplete. He finishes the season with 65 punts with an average of 49.2, the second-best mark in the NFL. He booted a 70-yard punt against the Bears, his career-long.

Chris Boswell – K, Steelers

Boswell was perfect once again, including the game-winning field goal in overtime to lift the Steelers over the Ravens and ultimately send his team to the playoffs. He was 3-for-3 on the day with his field goal attempts and made his lone extra point try as well.

Boswell finishes the regular season 36-of-40 on field goals with a long of 56 yards. He made 8-of-9 kicks from 50+ yards and contributed 135 total points.

More Owls in the NFL

Former Rice football alums Justin Hill and James Casey are on the coaching staff of the Cincinnati Bengals, who play the Raiders in the Wild Card Round.

From practice squads to current free agents, there are other Owls on the cusp of returning to active rosters. Find more detail on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

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Rice Football Recruiting Director Alex Brown hired by SMU

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Rice Football Recruiting Director Alex Brown to be named Director of Scouting at SMU, The Roost can confirm.

First reported by Yahoo’s Pete Thamel, The Roost can confirm that now-former Rice football director of recruiting Alex Brown is leaving to take a position at SMU. Although his work was mostly behind the scenes, the impact Brown had on this program was tremendous. Initially hired away from Houston, Brown revamped the full scope of recruiting operations at South Main.

Brown was with Rice football from the spring of 2019 through the 2022 Early Signing Period. Rice signed some of its most highly-rated recruiting classes under his tenure. Beginning with the 2019 signing class, Brown helped Rice land four consecutive Top 6 classes in program history. The last Rice recruiting class to rank inside the Top 10 all-time was the 2015 class.

Signees like Gabe Taylor, DJ Arkansas and Jake Bailey all rank among the Top 10 signees in program history. Fellow signees Rawson MacNeil, Sean Fresch and Davion Carter round out three more from the Top 20 players ever signed by the Owls.

The results on the field didn’t always live up to the level of talent being brought to campus, but as far as Brown’s role was concerned, there was never a lack of playmakers on the way in. Replacing his contributions to the Rice football recruiting operation will be challenging. Fortunately for the Owls, the structure and strategies he put in place should pay dividends for many classes to come.

No formal announcement has been made by Rice football at this time regarding a replacement. Recruiting assistant Daniel Clements will handle duties in the interim.

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