The source for Rice sports news

Rice Basketball: Sizing up Owls vs Ohio in CBI

By

14-Seed Rice basketball takes on 3-Seed Ohio in the first round of the CBI Tournament on Saturday. Here’s everything you need to know.

How to follow

When: Sat. March 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Streaming: FloHoops ($)
Radio: RiceOwls.com
Stats: RiceOwls.com

Sizing up the Rice Owls

Rice basketball is playing in the postseason for the first time under head coach Scott Pera. The program has won at least one conference tournament game in each of the past two seasons and now gets its chance at a postseason berth.

More: Rice basketball accepts bid to CBI Tournament

The Owls have the edge on the offensive efficiency side, shooting 45.9 percent from the floor this season and 37.3 percent from three compared to the Bobcat’s 43.1 percent clip from the floor 34.0 percent from three. Rice has 500 assists on the season compared to Ohio’s 422,

Sizing up the Ohio Bobcats

Ohio reached the semifinals of the MAC Tournament where they fell to Kent State. A season ago, Ohio was a 13-seed in the NCAA Tournament where they upset 4-seed Virginia in the first round. They are led by guard Mark Sears, who is second in the MAC with 19.5 points per game.

The Bobcats protect the basketball well, averaging just 10.5 turnovers per game to the Owls’ 12.5 turnovers. They enter the game with a 24-9 record but picked up five of those losses in their last seven outings.

How Rice got here

By the time Rice basketball reached conference play and returned to full strength following a string of COVID cases that plagued the roster, it was early January. The team was 7-5 following a crushing defeat against North Texas. Then they started winning. More than that — they started looking the part.

Rice beat the eventual Conference USA Tournament champion and NCAA Tournament-bound UAB in a stretch of games in which they went 5-3. Then, in Pera’s own words “Quincy [Olivari] goes down and the whole season changes.” Rice would drop a close game to UTEP following Olivari’s wrist injury that ended his season. Then the Owls would lose six of their final seven regular-season conference games.

Why it matters

It’s been more than a month since Olivari’s injury. When Rice tips off against Ohio, Pera and his staff will have had 10 games to tinker and craft a gameplan that utilized the strengths that still remain. A win would be the first for the program since they won an opening-round game in the CBI in 2017.

A week ago Pera said this team would be “excited as heck” to get a chance to play postseason basketball. After all this team has been through, moving on in the postseason would speak volumes.

Rice has already reached 16 wins, the best of any season of Pera’s tenure, but the success feels somewhat muted because of just how successful many — Pera included — thought this team could have become. There have been a lot of bad breaks along the way. Players are hurt and the roster is thin. But the ball is officially in their court.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football 2022 Spring Practice Notebook 1: Introductions

By

Rice football has returned to the practice field with a few new coaches, some newly-health players and plenty of things to watch for this spring.

Spring ball is in the air and Rice football is back on the grass, well, on the artificial turf of the Waltrip Indoor Facility. The Owls’ opted to escape the brunt of the icy cold blast on the first day of practices which are scheduled to take place over the next several weeks leading up the Blue & Gray Spring Game set for April 16.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren met with the media on Tuesday to provide a few updates on the roster and make a few introductions. Beyond those announcements, there are a few position changes to relay and some additional notes (in addition to prior roster takeaways) as the Owls kick off practices this week.

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special updates like this are reserved for our subscribers. Get access to all practice notes, features and more insights like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Hot hitting continues as Rice Baseball blasts SHSU

By

Rice baseball has its first winning streak of the season, taking down SHSU at Reckling Park the night following a blowout win over SFA.

Following a 19-run outburst on Tuesday night against SFA, the Rice baseball bats were quick to prove it wasn’t a one-night show. The Owls were kept off the scoreboard in the first inning against Sam Houston on Wednesday before the offense started to heat up in the second frame.

Both Rice and Sam Houston would scratch across single runs in the second before Rice took a decent lead with a three-run fourth highlighted by an RBI triple from Nathan Becker. Sam Houston would sneak back one run in the fourth and another in the fifth, but Rice starter Thomas Burbank was largely able to work around opposing base runners. He finished with 4.2 innings pitched, three runs (two earned) on nine hits and three strikeouts.

Last Time Out : Pair of slams propel Rice baseball over SFA

Burbank would be relieved by Tom Vincent who got Rice out of the fifth with the lead, then the bats went back to work. The offense exploded for five runs, turning a close 4-3 game into a one-sided 9-3 affair. Sam Houston would get two back in the seventh against Alex DeLeon but Rice regained the six-run lead in the bottom of the eighth courtesy of two out RBI singles from Johnny Hole and Pierce Gallo.

DeLeon would bounce back with two strikeouts in the eighth, ceding to closer Matthew Linskey in the ninth. Linskey slammed the door, striking out the side and clinching the 13-5 victory. It marks the first time this season Rice baseball has won back-to-back games.

What it means | Back-to-back-to-back-to-back

Turning baserunners into run has been one of the biggest challenges Rice baseball has faced this season. The Owls have finished close enough in the hit column in many of their games, but a combination of messy fielding and minimal clutch hits have turned those games into uncompetitive contests.

One need to look no further than their 10-1 defeat to Texas Tech in which the Red Raiders collected nine hits to the Owls eight or even their 15-1 loss to Texas in which Texas had 10 hits and Rice had six. Four hits shouldn’t be the difference in 14 runs, but it was more often than not early on in the season. That’s what makes this shift seem so dramatic.

In the fifth inning against SHSU, four consecutive Rice batters collected an RBI. The final two batters did so with two outs, including an RBI double from Dustin Woodcox and an RBI single from Guy Garibay. Rice seemingly couldn’t get hits with runners in scoring position for weeks. On Wednesday they collected them in droves and had 10+ hits in back-to-back games for the first time this year.

It’s not all going to change overnight, but we’ve now got a few games in a row as evidence this team can get those big hits. Next, they’ll focus on doing so consistently.

ON DECK | UAB

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Baseball: Pair of grand slams highlight win over SFA

By

The offense exploded and the pitching was crisp for Rice baseball as the Owls cruised to a comfortable midweek win over SFA.

Rice baseball wasted no time in their first of two midweek games this week, taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning off a Jack Riedel RBI single. The Owls’ opponent, SFA, would answer with a pair off runs from a pair of extra-base hits in the second inning, but that was their only real offensive contributions of the evening against Rice starter Brandon Deskins

Deskins would go 4.0 innings, allowing just two hits and two runs while striking out seven. His command wasn’t perfect — three walks, one hit by pitch, and one wild pitch — but he didn’t have to be with how the Owls were swinging the bats behind him.

Last Time Out : Takeaways from Rice Baseball 3-0 series loss to Texas Tech

Guy Garibay gave Deskins plenty of breathing room with a Grand Slam in the bottom of the second inning. Garibay had another RBI on a single to right field in the fourth, followed by an Aaron Smigelski homer to give Rice a 9-2 advantage.

From there, Deskins would give way to Mark Perkins, who would do his part in keeping SFA at bay. Meanwhile, the offense added eight more runs in the fifth to break the game wide open, including the Owls’ second Grand Slam of the night, this time courtesy of Nathan Becker. By the time the dust settled, Rice had a runaway, 19-3 victory.

What it means | Getting right

Even though Rice baseball lost all three games against Texas Tech this past weekend, head coach Jose Cruz Jr. could sense a change in his ball club. “The last couple days have been different,” he said, referring to the two final games against the Red Raiders, both of which were well within reach following a one-sided Fright night affair.

“Everything is starting to fall into place at the right time,” Cruz Jr. continued. “Especially since conference is about start.”

Rice wouldn’t even have to wait for conference play, thumping SFA in their most decisive victory of the season. The offense was great. The pitching was great. Even the defense, which had just turned in its first error-free game of the season on Sunday, was sturdy. Everything was in sync.

One win won’t guarantee the Owls anything. There was no magic button pressed or formula concocted. But they do look different. They feel different. Perhaps something has clicked and they’ve found that missing component that will enable them to play better baseball. That makes the next few days all the more interesting with Sam Houston and UAB up next.

ON DECK | Sam Houston, UAB

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football Recruiting: 2023 QB Chase Jenkins commits to Owls

By

The first player in the 2023 Rice Football recruiting class is a quarterback. Alief Taylor signal-caller Chase Jenkins has committed to the Owls.

On the week of National Signing Day last month, the offer list for the 2023 Rice Football recruiting class saw a major uptick in volume. Rice extended a fresh wave of new offers throughout that week, including a host of local players, including Chase Jenkins, quarterback at Alief Taylor High School. After mulling the offer for a few weeks, Jenkins has committed to the Owls and become the first member of the 2023 class.

“Being the first member is something special and I’m thankful,” Jenkins told The Roost. “I’ll definitely be active in recruiting in however I can. I love football, I’m all about team and brotherhood so I’m all in.”

Jenkins chose the Owls over other offers from Lamar and Jackson State. Following a run of transfer players at the position in previous classes, Jackson will continue the recent trend of high school passers Rice has brought into the fold in recent classes. Rice signed Reedy (TX) quarterback AJ Padgett in the 2022 class following the addition of Florida quarterback Shawqi Itraish in 2021.

For Jenkins, being a part of a family, a home away from home, played a crucial role in his decision. “Going to school and playing football can be done at different places,” he said. “Doing it where it feels like a home away from home was important to me.”

Premium: Rice Football Recruiting Offer and Commitment Tracker

There’s a ton to like when it comes to his on-field prowess as well. Jenkins prides himself on the “behind the scenes work”, digging into film and preparation however he can. It shows on the film. He’s accurate, polished and can make plays off schedule. His ability to get the ball where it needs to be at the right time is exciting. Jenkins can throw players open, an uncommon trait for high school passers.

Become a Patron!
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts