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Rice Basketball: Owls ready for next step in 2020 and beyond

March 27, 2020 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice basketball is headed in the right direction and Scott Pera has been tasked with turning that momentum into meaningful results in 2020 and beyond.

Seven. Thirteen. Fifteen. The gradual improvement of the Rice basketball team under head coach Scott Pera can be measured in a somewhat linear fashion. On the most rudimentary metric, wins, Pera’s squad has shown tangible improvement following his first year at Rice in 2017.

Rice finished 15-17 this past season, one win away from a .500 record. “I’m excited about where we’re going with this,” Pera said with passion, knowingly declaring a truth he believes runs much deeper than the win column could ever dictate. That’s because Pera came to Rice with the long game in mind.

Refusing to cut corners and committed to building things “the right way”, Pera has stuck to his guns this far. He’s endeavored to build a program rooted in players who love the challenge Rice affords, who know how to win and who are committed to working each and every day to get better. It sounds a bit like coach-speak, but there’s rich truth behind those ideals.

“Character counts in this business,” Pera declared, stressing culture and process over instant gratification. He believes that gratification isn’t far off.

“We’re close,” he said detailing the next few hurdles he sees in front of his team. For Pera, he views those next steps as establishing the program as a top-five finisher in the conference, one that always makes the Conference USA Tournament and routinely wins a few games in Frisco. Yes, a championship is the end goal, but Pera is committing to charting the course to get there, and then get back again, and again.

To get there takes building blocks that go beyond the box score. The maturity of the roster as a whole is something Pera routinely evaluates. He’s not afraid to step aside and let the leaders in the locker room lead. The Owls have reached a point in their development that Pera has full confidence they know the kind of self-talk they need to motivate themselves, even midgame.

More: Erica Ogwumike talks end of season, Rice career on The Roost Podcast

That resolve was put on display frequently. Erratic defensive performances put the Owls in double-digit holes throughout the season but Rice lost just four conference games by 10 or more points. They won five by double-digit margins. In nonconference play, they overcame a 22-point deficit to beat UC Santa Barbara on the road.

On the bad shooting days, Rice struggled to keep pace with their better opponents. Nevertheless, it was rare for the Owls to enter the final quarter of play without a fighting chance to win. The worse results came on the road with Rice losing only one game at home (vs Sam Houston State) by more than eight points. More often than not Rice was competitive and that energy has staying power.

The Owls were inconsistent, but they never lacked effort. At times, they were undisciplined but they never quit. Those are makings of a team with the right mental makeup to take another developmental step.

There’s no doubt seniors Ako Adams and Robert Martin made a tremendous impact. But the poise and influence of sophomores like Drew Peterson, Trey Murphy and Chris Mullins project a mentality Pera believes he can build on. Peterson emerged as a bonafide leader this season, one of several faces to turn to in times of struggle.

“It’s a process, it’s a growth, it’s a vision that now is really, really exciting. We enter Year 4 with this group coming back,” Pera said. “I’m looking forward to seeing these guys make the next step.”

By his own standard, Pera’s team should be a contender in Conference USA next season. Whether or not they reach that mantel will be determined by their effort and focus from now until November. Pera will put in the work. If he can get his team to maintain his level of focus, the future of Rice basketball could be as bright as he believes it to be. Only time will tell.

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Filed Under: Basketball, Archive, Featured Tagged With: Ako Adams, Chris Mullins, Drew Peterson, Rice basketball, Robert Martin, Scott Pera, Trey Murphy

Rice Basketball bids goodbye to pair of senior leaders

March 24, 2020 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice basketball retains a young core, but they’ll miss the leadership of Ako Adams and Robert Martin on and off the court next season.

Year 3 of the Scott Pera era of Rice basketball featured a young team growing into their collective ability. The nucleus of the Owls’ 2019-2020 squad consisted of three sophomore guards: Trey Murphy, Drew Peterson and Chris Mullins. Seniors Ako Adams and Robert Martin were the elder statesmen with some freshman and various role players filling out a developing rotation.

The team felt like a work in progress for much of the season. Yet somehow the tandem of Adams and Martin always seemed to keep them from veering too far off course. Their leadership will be miss even more than their talents on the court.

“The growth that they showed, through everything not being how they wanted it and being perfect, to hang in there and continue to do the right things [was important],” head coach Scott Pera said of his departing senior class.

More: Erica Ogwumike talks end of season, Rice career on The Roost Podcast

Although he’d never draw attention to himself, Ako Adams leaves Rice basketball as one of the program’s most decorated players. He finished his career as the all-time program leader in three-point attempts, three points made, free throw percentage and games played. He finished 12th in assists, 17th in three-point field goal percentage and 28th in scoring.

Adams’ ability to understand the rhythm of the offense and flow within it might have been his most impressive skill. He didn’t rack up his record-breaking numbers with sheer volume. He shared the basketball and waited for good shots. All the while he was confident enough to step into big moments. Adams was never afraid to put a shot up from anywhere on the court.

Martin found his home as the Owls’ sixth man, averaging 11.8 points per game off the bench. He shot 34.4 percent from three and finished second on the team with 4.8 defensive rebounds per game.

That duo, along with occasional cameos from Tim Harrison, Addison Owen and Tommy McCarthy formed a senior class that was instrumental to the growth of the Rice basketball program.

“That’s kind of what I told the seniors in the locker room after the [Conference USA Tournament] game. [I told them] how much I appreciated how they helped this program grow,” head coach Scott Pera said. “They were part of the beginning blocks of building this program.”

Pera’s program has continued to take small steps in the right direction. He credits players like Adams and Martin with setting the course for the growing team. Pointed in the right direction, it will be up to their teammates to stay the course. The Rice seniors gave all that they could.

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

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Filed Under: Basketball, Archive, Featured Tagged With: Ako Adams, Rice basketball, Robert Martin, Scott Pera

Rice Basketball: Making sense of an up and down season

March 23, 2020 By Matthew Bartlett

From its rocky start to awkward ending, the 2019-2020 Rice Basketball season was a roller coaster ride. Coach Scott Pera believes the best is yet to come.

Rice basketball ended their 2019-2020 season sooner than they’d hoped. The Owls fell to the FIU Panthers in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament on Wednesday, March 11th. Rice boarded the busses and headed home.

Less than 12 hours later on Thursday, March 12, every other team in C-USA followed suit.

“It was obviously weird, bizarre,” head coach Scott Pera said of the sudden shutdown. “I didn’t see it heading this way quickly and that’s what happened.”

Safeguards against the coronavirus had forced the suspension of the NBA season while Pera’s team was still on the court, battling for what they believed was their season. Pera is still processing that.

“You wanted to be mad you lost, but it didn’t matter if you won… But if we had won the game, then it’s all like well, what if? What if? And I don’t want to feel any of that stuff either.”

More: Erica Ogwumike talks end of season, Rice career on The Roost Podcast

The weird end to the year parallels an up and down season. Rice basketball finished the year 15-17 (7-11), one victory shy of a .500 record. The Owls boasted a few impressive program firsts along the way.

Rice took down Penn, UCSB and ECU in non-conference play. The win over ECU was the program’s first over an AAC opponent. When conference play began, the Owls won on the road against UAB and Middle Tennessee for the first time in program history. They also topped C-USA regular season champion North Texas at Tudor Fieldhouse. Meanwhile, Ako Adams smashed through the Rice record books, leaving Rice with the most games played in program history.

Although the team was a touch more consistent than they had been in previous seasons, the low points were seemingly just as frequent. Rice went 0-3 against C-USA Tournament 11-Seed UTEP. Losses to Southern Miss and UTSA in the regular season pushed them into the bottom pod for bonus play.

After taking time to collect his thoughts after the season’s whirlwind finish, Pera is able to walk away with some sense of closure. “We played we lost. We had finality,” he said of the conference tournament.

Panning out further toward the season as a whole, Pera takes a more optimistic vantage point. “I have one major goal and purpose, and that is to continue to grow the program. That goal, in my mind, I think was undoubtedly accomplished,” Pera remarked. “Could we want a few more games? Sure, we could have… but it’s all part of the growth. I feel like we took a necessary step.”

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

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Filed Under: Basketball, Archive, Featured Tagged With: Ako Adams, Rice basketball, Scott Pera

Rice Basketball: Owls drop another heartbreaker, this time to UTSA

January 26, 2020 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice basketball made plenty of big shots, but missed their last attempt. That lead to a crushing last-second UTSA layup and the Owls’ fifth straight loss.

Trailing 13-5 after barely five minutes of game time had elapsed, Rice basketball was on the verge of another lopsided defeated. Not only did the Owls manage to avoid that pain, they thundered back from the eight-point deficit, outscoring UTSA 14-2 over the next five minutes to take a 19-15 lead. Game on.

The energy and strain Rice exuded in their narrow loss to UTEP on Thursday galvanized this team to keep fighting. They did not execute perfectly, but their will to battle through eight lead changes was noticeably different from where they’d been even a week ago.

It was Rice that jumped out to the double-digit lead in this one. Josh Parrish pushed the lead to 10 midway through the first half. Trey Murphy made it 11 with a three, one of a season-high 18 three-point baskets the Owls made during the contest. Rice hadn’t made that many threes in a game since November 29, 2013, an overtime loss to Rider.

Like the Rider game, the Owls’ hot hand eventually cooled. With the game tied at 88, Rice had the ball and a chance for the go-ahead bucket. Not only did they miss the shot, UTSA corralled the ball and dashed down the court for a layup of their own. A halfcourt heave fell short, dooming Rice to another strenuous defeat. Midway through C-USA play, Rice sits in last place.

Final Stats

FINAL BOX | UTSA 90 – RICE 88 pic.twitter.com/QWV8Jr79Ck

— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) January 26, 2020

Player of the Game – Ako Adams

Ako Adams had 21 points, 18 of which came from six three-pointers. The senior’s final trey pushed his career total to 201, officially the most in school history. His timely shots, three assists and four rebounds continued to will Rice back into the game. Thanks to Adams’ resolve, this was a slugfest that Rice very much could have won.

Up Next

Rice basketball will get a brief respite after playing five games in the last 10 games. They won’t play on Thursday, returning to the court for the next time on Saturday, Feb. 1 at Tudor Fieldhouse against North Texas.

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

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Filed Under: Archive, Basketball Tagged With: Ako Adams, game recap, Josh Parrish, Rice basketball, Trey Murphy

Rice Basketball: Mixed nonconference play shows modest improvement

January 1, 2020 By Matthew Bartlett

It’s been an up and down start to the Rice basketball season. Moe on the good, the bad and the path forward for the Owls this season.

Rice basketball has secured a winning record in nonconference play for the first time in the Scott Pera era. In Pera’s first year, the Owls were 3-10 prior to C-USA action. Last season they improved to 5-8. At the end of 2019, Rice is 8-5 with conference play set to start on Thursday.

The emergence of Trey Murphy has been an important development for this team. He missed the Bahamas Showcase with an injury suffered during the Houston game but has since returned to form. He leads the team in scoring, averaging 13.8 points per game.

Ako Adams is keeping a clean handle on the ball and distributing well, opening up opportunities for guys like Robert Martin and Drew Peterson, who’s on pace to have the best season of his young career.

Freshman Max Fiedler, Zach Crisler and Quincy Olivari have become core pieces of the rotation. Fielder is third on the team with 51 rebounds and Crisler is shooting a cool .529 from the field.

Room for improvement

It hasn’t been all roses. In fact, it’s been more of a roller coaster than expected. A 4-1 start and a 2-for-3 showing in the Island of Bahamas Showcase were the high points. A narrow loss to Houston at home and a gutpunch defeat to Sam Houston in the nonconference finale were the low points.

Discipline remains a noticeable sticking point with this team. It’s hard to wrap your head around how a Rice team that made quick work of a good Penn team could flounder against Lamar and also erase a 22-point deficit to knock off UC Santa Barbara on the road. The best of Rice can hang with an elite Houston team. The worst was blown out by Arkansas by 48 points.

The team is still young, and their collective experience has produced positive moments. If they can pull together enough of those, they should be able to take another step forward as conference play begins.

The path forward

Five of the Owls’ first seven conference games are away from home. They’ll tip off against Marshall on Thursday, January 2 and make the short trip to Western Kentucky on Saturday, January 4. Then they return home for games against Florida Atlantic (Jan. 9) and FIU (Jan. 11)

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

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Filed Under: Basketball, Archive Tagged With: Ako Adams, Drew Peterson, Max Fiedler, Quincy Olivari, Rice basketball, Robert Martin, Trey Murphy, Zach Crisler

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