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Rice Basketball 2020: Men and Women ready for FIU on Saturday

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Rice Basketball is three games into conference play with the men 0-3 and the women 3-0. Each seeks a win on Saturday against FIU. Here’s a preview of both games.

Rice Basketball

Time: 2:00 p.m. CT
Venue: Tudor Fieldhouse
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: ESPN+ (If you don’t have ESPN+ you can access a free trial or subscribe here.)

FIU 11-5 (2-1), Last 5 (3-2)

  • 83-67 (W) at Stetson
  • 89-62 (L) at Minnesota
  • 69-67 (W) vs UTEP
  • 90-83 OT (W) vs UTSA
  • 74-56 (L) at North Texas

Rice 8-8 (0-3), Last 5 (1-4)

  • 103-70 (W) vs St. Thomas
  • 75-61 (L) vs Sam Houston St
  • 89-69 (L) at Marshall
  • 66-61 (L) at WKU
  • 81-76 (L) vs FAU

FIU players to watch

Devon Andrews will man the point of attack for the Panthers on Saturday. He’ll enter the game fourth in the conference in scoring, averaging 16.7 points per game. Andrews will be flanked  Osasumwen Osaghae, who is a rebound and a half shy of averaging a double-double this season. Osaghae leads C-USA with 68 blocks, 42 more than the runner up. Antonio Daye Jr will set the table at guard. He leads the team in assists.

Rice keys to victory

Rice has beaten themselves in their last three conference games just as much as their opponents have gotten the better of them. Playing 40 minutes of focused, controlled basketball has eluded this team. If Rice can keep things close and avoid a double-digit deficit at home, they’re capable of going on a few scoring runs and beating FIU. They’ll need to shoot better to do that; FIU leads C-USA in scoring with 80.4 points per game.

Rice Women's Basketball

Time: 1:00 p.m. CT
Venue: Ocean Bank Convocation Center
TV: C-USA TV

FIU 4-10 (1-2), Last 5 (1-4)

  • 58-56 (L) vs Austin Peay
  • 72-57 (L) vs Brown
  • 64-34 (L) at UTEP
  • 60-45 (L) at UTSA
  • 58-56 (W) vs North Texas

Rice 7-6 (2-0), Last 5 (3-2)

  • 54-45 (L) vs Virginia Tech
  • 54-52 (L) vs Georgia Tech
  • 81-43 (W) vs Marshall
  • 73-65 (W) vs WKU
  • 78-699 (W) at FAU

FIU players to watch

FIU is led by a trio of players: center Chelsea Guimaraes and guards Jiselle Thomas and Fujika Nimmo. All three are averaging roughly 10 points per game, with Guimaraes providing a steady presence inside. At 6-foot-3, she leads the team with 110 rebounds and 12 blocks.

Rice keys to victory

The FIU women rank dead last in the conference in scoring offense, averaging 53.1 points per game. If Rice plays their brand of basketball, they’ll keep FIU from putting up too many points. The real battle will be on the other side of the court where a middle-of-the-pack FIU defense will try to limit a Rice offense that has been streaky at times.

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Rice Basketball 2020: Furious rally falls short against FAU

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Rice Basketball overcame a 22-point deficit but faltered down the stretch, dropping their C-USA home opener to FAU to remain winless in conference play.

Five missed shots to start the game proved to be a bad omen for a Rice basketball team that has grown all too accustomed to playing from behind. Rice has faced double-digit deficits in each of its first two conference games. They were down by 11 in the first 10 minutes of their third C-USA contest.

Rice would trail by as many as 22 points after watching their nine-point halftime deficit balloon on a 15-2 FAU run to open the second half. It was at that point during the first media timeout of the second half that head coach Scott Pera stepped away from the huddle. The entire coaching staff stood aside while the team held an impromptu players-only meeting on the side of the court.

“This is their team. This is their program,” Pera said, “So if they get maybe punched in the mouth a little bit, they need to talk through it and be able to pull each other up together and hold each other accountable.”

Accountability sank in quickly. Over the span of the next half hour, Rice went on two big runs, whittling down the deficit to single digits before taking a 68-67 lead with 4:20 to play. This was the second time this season Rice had erased a 22-point deficit. The first came on the road against UC Santa Barbara. The Owls were able to hold on and win that game. They were less fortunate against FAU.

Guard Cornelius Taylor had a career-high 34 points, seven of which came after Rice had taken their brief lead. To come back from that far and not find a way to finish was heartbreaking for a young team still trying to find its way.

Pera didn’t mince words. “It hurts and you want to hurt. It’s gotta hurt. Because if it doesn’t hurt, then then it doesn’t matter enough,” he said, “I want them to feel it. I feel it, my staff feels it. We’re competitive people.”

Rice basketball has competed well this season but their consistency leaves much to be desired. The Owls have not been shooting well of late. When the shots aren’t falling, the defensive effort seems to loosen. Bad becomes worse just as quickly as good becomes better. Pera notices the same thing, citing a lack of maturity that is slowly being built over time. On nights like Thursday, that process is more painful to swallow.

Final Stats

Player of the game – Drew Peterson

The development of Drew Peterson has been a bright spot this season. “I just feel really comfortable out there,” he said, crediting his growth to the belief his teammates have in him and the work he put in during the offseason. The results have been encouraging. He led the team on Thursday with 15 points, despite shooting just 5-of-14 from the field and 1-of-7 from three. He was a bit more erratic with the ball than he needs to be, but his willingness to push his teammates helped jump-start two important Rice rallies.

Up Next

Rice hosts Western Kentucky on Saturday. The Hilltoppers entered conference play 8-3. The Owls last faced WKU in the Conference USA Tournament, beating them in a tightly contested game, 64-57.

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Rice Basketball 2020: Men and Women set to take on FAU

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Rice Basketball is two games into conference play with the men 0-2 and the women 2-0. Both face a new test on Thursday against FAU. Here’s a preview of both games.

Rice Basketball

Time: 7:00 p.m. CT
Venue: Tudor Fieldhouse
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: ESPN+ (If you don’t have ESPN+ you can access a free trial or subscribe here.)

FAU 10-5 (2-0), Last 5 (4-1)

  • 84-35 (W) vs Tampa
  • 65-50 (W) at Mercer
  • 60-58 (L) at USF
  • 70-64 (W) vs UTSA
  • 59-56 (W) vs UTEP

Rice 8-7 (0-2), Last 5 (2-3)

  • 96-84 (W) vs HBU
  • 103-70 (W) vs St. Thomas
  • 75-61 (L) vs Sam Houston St
  • 89-69 (L) at Marshall
  • 66-61 (L) at WKU

FAU players to watch

Cornelius Taylor leads the team in scoring (10.4 points per game) with Michael Forrest right behind him (9.9 points per game). Forrest has been in a bit of shooting slump of late, but his tremendous work from the charity stripe has made him a valuable offensive asset. Madiaw Niang (4.8 per game) and Jailyn Ingram (3.9 per game) are the top rebounders.

Rice keys to victory

FAU is an extremely balanced team. They’ve had four leading scorers in five games, but have one 20-point individual performance since their season opener. Unlike other team’s Rice will face in C-USA, that the Owls will have to key in on more than others. Nevertheless, standing tall on defense has to be the priority. Rice is 5-1 when holding their opponent to 70 points or fewer, with that lone loss coming last weekend to WKU.

Rice Women's Basketball

Time: 6:00 p.m. CT
Venue: FAU Arena
TV: ESPN+ (If you don’t have ESPN+ you can access a free trial or subscribe here.)

FAU 7-6 (1-1), Last 5 (2-3)

  • 72-54 (L) vs Central Connecticut
  • 69-63 (L) vs Furman
  • 69-51 (L) vs Harvard
  • 80-53 (W) vs UTSA
  • 96-65 (L) vs UTEP

Rice 7-6 (2-0), Last 5 (3-2)

  • 77-55 (W) vs Prairie View A&M
  • 54-45 (L) vs Virginia Tech
  • 54-52 (L) vs Georgia Tech
  • 81-43 (W) vs Marshall
  • 73-65 (W) vs WKU

FAU players to watch

Crystal Primm has cooled down since conference play began, but her 31-point performance against Little Rock earlier this year is proof of how dangerous she can be. She’s the top scorer for FAU this season, averaging 13.7 points per game, also registering three double-doubles along the way. Lotta Vehka-Aho is the key distributor, averaging 3.2 assists per game, top 10 in C-USA. Juliette Gauthier and Astou Gaye round out the rest of the key pieces.

Rice keys to victory

FAU doesn’t force many turnovers and ranks 12th in C-USA in assist/turnover ratio. Rice is going to get extra possessions on Thursday and they’ll need to take advantage of them. Turnovers have been an issue for Rice lately, including 20 last time out against WKU. Taking care of the basketball on both ends of the court will go a long way toward Rice coming home with a victory.

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2020 Rice Football schedule released: Opponents and dates finalized

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The 2020 Rice Football schedule has been set. Now we have the dates and the opponents the Owls will face in the season ahead.

Broadcast information will slowly be released as we get closer to the season. Right now it’s probably safe to assume the Owls will have games on a variety of ESPN properties, the NFL Network and CBS Sports Network, just like last season. For now, here’s what we know about the 2020 Rice Football schedule.

Week 1   | Sat. Sep. 5 | at Houston
Week 2   | Sat. Sep. 12 | vs Army
Week 3   | Sat. Sep. 19 | vs LSU (at NRG Stadium)
Week 4   | Sat. Sep. 26 | vs Lamar
Week 5   | Sat. Oct. 3 | at Marshall
Week 6   | Sat. Oct. 10 | vs UAB
Week 7   | Sat. Oct. 17 | BYE
Week 8   | Sat. Oct. 24 | vs MTSU
Week 9   | Sat. Oct. 31 | at Southern Miss
Week 10 | Sat. Nov. 7 | vs UTSA
Week 11 | Sat. Nov. 14 | at Louisiana Tech
Week 12 | Sat. Nov. 21 | at North Texas
Week 13 | Sat. Nov. 28 | vs UTEP

Early Thoughts

Last year Rice opened the season with a pair of Friday night games. The Owls will stick to Saturdays for the duration of the 2020 campaign. This year that includes Halloween night — be sure to bring your Owl costumes to Hattiesburg.

Most notably, Rice won’t have nearly as rigorous of a nonconference schedule as they did in 2019. Their 2019 opponents included Army, Wake Forest, Texas and Big 12 runner up Baylor. 2020 Features Houston, Army, LSU and Lamar. Swapping out two Power 5 teams for a cross-town rival and an FCS squad is huge, particularly in the context of postseason expectations. All four teams could be breaking in brand new starting quarterbacks. The best part? All four games are in Houston.

On the Conference-USA front, things set up extremely well. Rice gets to of their presumably tougher opponents right out of the gate, Marshall and UAB. After the Week 7 bye, Rice only plays two teams who finished better than .500 last season, Southern Miss and Lousiana Tech. The Rice defense, which returns the vast majority of its contributors, held both of those explosive offenses at bay.

More: 2019 Rice Football Season superlatives

Three of the other four games after the bye are at home, the other is against a North Texas team replacing Mason Fine and a large chunk of their coaching staff.

It’s early, but this doesn’t look like a murder’s row. For the most part, the 2020 Rice football schedule looks very manageable.

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Detroit Lions sign punter Jack Fox to futures contract

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Following the end of the regular season, former Rice football punter Jack Fox has signed a futures contract with the NFL’s Detroit Lions

Former Rice football punter Jack Fox has been swept up into the churn of NFL life. After going undrafted, Fox signed a free agent deal with the Kansas City Chiefs and was cut prior to the regular season. He was on and off the Chiefs’ practice squad during the season, eventually being signed to the practice squad by the Detroit Lions.

It looks like Fox will be in Detroit for at least a little while longer. At the end of the regular season, Fox agreed to a futures contract with the Lions.

What is a futures contract?

NFL teams don’t practice between the end of the season and training camp, thus eliminating the need for practice squad players. Even though they weren’t on the official roster, teams still want to make sure they can keep many of those players in the fold for the upcoming season when the rosters expand from 55 players to 90. And thus futures contracts were born.

Essentially a futures contract is a low-cost commitment between the player and the team to keep a player from signing elsewhere during the offseason. Futures contracts take effect at the start of the new league year (Mar. 18, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. ET).

What’s next for Fox?

It’s unlikely Detroit would have brought Fox in if they didn’t intend to give him a shot to compete for a spot on the active roster next season. The Lions’ current punter Sam Martin is eligible for free agency, leaving a potential opening at the position. Detroit also signed free agent Matt Wile who appeared briefly for the Falcons this season and was the full-time punter for the Vikings in 2018, averaging 45.2 yards per punt.

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