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MBB: Owls’ hope visit to Charlotte will be first CUSA road win

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Rice basketball has hit a rough patch. If the Owls want to get back on track they must take down Charlotte away from home.

With both programs sitting at 1-4 over their last five games, something’s got to give. Either the Charlotte 49ers three-game skid will snap or Rice will earn their first road victory in conference play. Both programs are teetering on the edge of the bottom spot in the conference standings, making a win on Thursday all the more important.

The game is not scheduled for TV broadcast but will be available on CUSA TV. Radio is available via the Stretch Internet Portal.

Charlotte 5-15 (2-7), Last 5 (1-4)

  • L, 57-53 @ UTEP
  • L, 88-43 @ UTSA
  • L, 76-70 vs Old Dominion
  • W, 55-40 vs Louisiana Tech
  • L, 64-60 vs Southern Miss

Rice 8-13 (3-5), Last 5 (1-4)

  • L, 89-86 vs UAB
  • W, 79-68 vs MTSU
  • L, 76-75 @ North Texas
  • L, 65-64 @ UTEP
  • L, 95-79 @ UTSA

Charlotte players to watch

It’s all senior Jon Davis or bust for the 49ers. His 21 points per game rank second in CUSA. He’s a talented player, but history says Charlotte can’t win very often on his hand alone. Freshman Malik Martin and Brandon Younger have had their moments, but outside of Martin’s 1.4 steals per game and Younger’s 35.6 clip from three, there hasn’t been much assistance for the 49ers’ veteran star.

Rice keys to victory

Making the extra pass has been a philosophy preached by head coach Scott Pera over the past several weeks. Getting his players to pass up the open shot for a more open look has paid dividends, with his team scoring 75 or more points in three straight games including 86 points in their loss to UAB, the second-most points they’ve scored in a conference game this season.

Charlotte owns the worst scoring offense in the conference. At 59.2 points per game the 49ers aren’t likely to outshoot the Owls — they’ve never scored more than 66 points in a victory this season. Continuing to ride the hot hand, whether it be Trey Murphy, Chris Mullins, Jack Williams or someone else should be enough to power Rice past Charlotte.

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MBB: Stock up and stock down

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Rice basketball is nearing the end of a hard-fought month of January. Buy stock in Trey Murphy and sell the Owls’ streak of bad luck.

Stock up – Trey Murphy

Freshman guard Trey Murphy had never scored more than 13 points in his collegiate career prior to the Owls’ Jan. 19 game against North Texas. In fact, he’d scored 10 or more points four times in 18 games. He’s averaging 20 points and 3.3 rebounds per game over the last three games, leading the team in scoring and draining 13 three-point shots. He’s one of the hottest hands on the team right now.

Stock down – unforced errors and turnovers

Rice has averaged 12.3 turnovers per game in conference play, a mark which puts them right in the middle of the pack. Giving away extra possession has been amplified by the Owls’ own inability to take the ball away. Their 3.6 steals per game ranks last in conference play. They’ve won a few in spite of the mistakes, but playing more disciplined basketball will open up more opportunities to win.

Stock up – second half intensity

The first outing against North Texas gave a glimpse of what this team might be capable of doing in CUSA play. After leading by double-digits, a woeful second half performance resulted in a 103-87 defeat. Finishing was a problem against UTEP and North Texas, too. Since then, though, Rice has strung together encouraging second half performances against Middle Tennesee and UAB. This team is learning to finish on the fly.

Stock down – Luck

“I don’t know too many teams in certainly my 28 years of coaching have gone through what we’ve gone through the last two Saturdays”, Scott Pera said almost incredulously following the Owls’ win over Middle Tennesse. Continuing on to Ako Adam’s missed three-point attempt in the final second against UAB or looking back to the unfortunate end sequences against UTEP and North Texas, the ball hasn’t bounced the Owls’ way in recent weeks. Their three most recent losses have come by a combined five points.

Stock up – Tudor Fieldhouse

The road has not been kind to Rice this season. Sitting at 1-8 away from their own gym, a 75-67 win over UTRGV in December is the Owls’ only road victory. That contrasts sharply with the Owls’ 7-5 record at home, including a 3-2 mark against conference opponents. A 3-point loss to UAB and a squandered first half lead against North Texas have been the only blemishes on what has largely been a strong showing at home.

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WBB: Owls stake claim as one of nation’s hottest teams

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Rice women’s basketball just keeps winning. Their latest pair of wins have put them in the driver’s seat for the top seed in the Conference USA Tournament.

The calendar is quickly approaching February, and Rice Women’s basketball hasn’t lost a single game in 2019. For the Owls, Conference play tipped off on Jan. 3 against Southern Miss. Since then they’ve won seven-straight, compiling the only perfect record in Conference USA. With nearly half of the conference slate complete, Rice 16-3 (7-0) now sits at the top of CUSA in lone possession of first place.

After starting out 0-2, the Owls have thundered out to a 16-1 record over their next 17 games including their current nine-game winning streak. The only program to beat Rice during that time, North Carolina, upset No. 1 Notre Dame this week.

Meanwhile, the team’s most recent games may have been their most impressive performances yet. Rice beat Middle Tennessee and UAB in a pair of road contests. Those two programs had combined to lose three games on their own courts so far this season prior to Rice besting both of them in the span of a few days.

Middle Tennessee entered their game against Rice 15-5 and 6-0 in conference play. They, too, were undefeated in 2019. Rice beat them 60-45 behind a season-best 20 points from center Nancy Mulkey who blocked a school-record eight shots and grabbed seven rebounds.

As usual, Erica Ogwumike came on strong registering a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Rice held Middle Tennessee to 36.2 percent shooting from the field; their 46 points was the fewest they’ve scored in conference play this season.

After snuffing out the Blue Raiders, Rice did the same to UAB. The Blazers scored just 43 points on 28.3 percent shooting. Once more, Mulkey once again had eight blocks and the team combined for 40 rebounds, 10 of which were snared by Mulkey, herself. Nicole Iademarco picked knocked down five field goals, tying with Mulkey for the team lead with 14 points.

Like Middle Tennesse, UAB was never able to get going on offense. The Owls’ suffocating defense has held all of their conference opponents to 54 points or fewer. The offense has averaged 67.9 points per game over that time period.

The Owls have been playing their best basketball of the season so far in 2019. Mulkey was named Conference USA Player of the week for her efforts over the past two games. If the team can maintain their top position through February and into March they’ll secure the No. 1 seed in the Conference USA Tournament with eyes set on an NCAA Tournament bid.

Rice has played in the WBI and the WNIT in the past two seasons but hasn’t appeared in the NCAA Tournament since 2005. A victory in the Conference USA Tournament would clinch an auto-bid for the school.

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Owls key in on remaining targets for 2019 class

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The 2019 Rice football recruiting class is almost in the books. Here are a few names to keep an eye on as National Signing Day approaches.

The Owls signed 17 players in the early signing period. Since then they’ve picked up commitments from three players — Atascocita linebacker Myron Morrison, Duncanville defensive tackle De’Braylon Carroll,  Harvard grad transfer Tom Stewart. That brings the 2019 Rice football recruiting class up to 20 players. Rice has 26 spots this year, which leaves six spots to fill.

A quick note on eligibility

As the Owls hone in on their final few names there are a few players who Rice would love to take who won’t be academically eligible. Out of respect to the individuals, I won’t be sharing any names, but keep that in mind when culling through the potential pool of candidates.

There are high academic standards at Rice. That will always be a part of the calculus when it comes to building the Owls’ yearly recruiting classes. Football is an important part of the equation, but every athlete has to have the grades too.

Grad transfers

As previously noted, Center Brian Chaffin and fullback Reagan Williams remain near the top of the priority list for Mike Bloomgren and his staff. Defensive lineman Mike Hinton from Columbia and offensive lineman Justin Gooseberry from Ouachita Baptist are two more players to watch. Both players will on campus this weekend, the final official visit weekend for Rice in the 2019 recruiting cycle.

Hinton was a team captain at Columbia last season. He started every game at defensive tackle where he racked up 3.5 sacks and 29 tackles. Hinton has experienced at defensive end, playing on the edge in both seasons prior to 2018.

Gooseberry was named a DII All-American and anchored an Ouachita Baptist line which allowed just 15 sacks all season, a mark which would rank in the top 11 nationally among FBS teams. For reference, Rice quarterbacks were sacked 24 times last season.

High school targets

Jovoni Johnson remains the clear-cut target at quarterback in this cycle. Stewart has only one season remaining, making replenishing the pipeline behind Wiley Green and Evan Marshman a focal point of this class.

If Rice can secure Johnson’s commitment and sign a few of those grad transfer targets they’ll be running out of space in the 2019 class. For example, Johnson plus three more grad transfers would put the class at 24 players, leaving room for two more high school players. The math is fairly simple, what’s less clear is who is going to get the last few spot(s).

Corner Kenyon Reed and wide receiver Ardell Brown are two interesting names to keep an eye on. Reed also offers from Iowa State and Kansas State but has built in a strong relationship with the Rice coaching staff. Brown’s offer list might be less decorated, but his speed would be a great addition to the offense.

Don’t Miss: Full list of Rice football 2019 signees and commits

At this point it’s not looking likely any of the former Houston signees will be a part of this class, but if there are one or two guys the Owls could make a late run at it would be corner Isaiah Essissima and receiver Ife Adeyi. Both have publically announced they were leaving UH. A few other names might be in the mix, but those would two of the most probable candidates.

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Quarterback Tom Stewart commits to Owls

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For the second year in a row, Rice football adds a notable grad transfer quarterback, securing a commitment from Harvard passer Tom Stewart.

Having an experienced voice in the quarterback room was a priority during the 2019 recruiting cycle. Shawn Stankavage transferred from Vanderbilt last year, and in addition to serving as a mentor to underclassmen Wiley Green and Evan Marshman, he started the majority of the Owls’ games.

Rice went a bit farther north this year, earning the commitment of Harvard transfer Tom Stewart. He saw sparse action during his first three seasons with the Crimson before earning the starting job in 2018. Stewart threw 14 touchdowns and two interceptions. He was knocked out of the game against Yale with a hip injury, but has since made a full recovery.

Stewart will battle with Marshman and Green and incoming freshman Jovoni Johnson for the starting spot in 2019. With Green and Marshman one year wiser, he’ll have his work cut out for him to win the job. For now though, he’s going to get a shot with the ever-present guidance from coach Mike Bloomgren that the players that earn playing time will be on the field this fall.

Rice hoped the addition of Stewart would lead to one more Crimson addition. Stewart’s former wide receiver Justice Shelton-Mosley would eventually opt for Vanderbilt over Rice. Landing another playmaker would have been huge, but Stewart’s importance to this class shouldn’t be understated.

Stewart fills a void in the Owls’ depth chart and the locker room. He’s a veteran among a host of freshman and sophomores. His experience plus his ability make him a meaningful addition to the 2019 Rice football recruiting class.

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