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Rice Basketball Rains Threes in Win over UTSA

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Rice Basketball started fast and never slowed down, rolling to a convincing road win over UTSA, courtesy of a blistering performance from deep.

Nick Anderson opened the scoring with a three. Jalen Smith added another. Then Broadnax. Then Smith. The first four field goals Rice basketball knocked down on Wednesday night in San Antonio all came from distance and propelled the Owls to a 12-3 lead, a distance that would linger for quite some time.

After Broadnax broke the three streak with a layup to go up 11, UTSA would be back within double-digits just one more time in the remainder of the first half. Rice led by as many as 19 before the break. The Roadrunners would close the half on a 13-5 run, making it clear the Owls would have to keep up their pace to maintain their lead.

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Keep up, they did. Rice matched every UTSA run of the second half with a volley of their own, never allowing their margin to dip below nine points, a mark the Roadrunners would reach on multiple occasions but never surpass. The Owls knocked down five free throws in the final two minutes, draining the clock before one last triple with 11 seconds to spare.

Rice Basketball improves to 8-10 with the victory. The Owls are 3-6 at Tudor Fieldhouse this season.

Final Box | Rice 89, UTSA 73

Key takeaway | Making it Rain

There are good shooting nights. There are great shooting nights. And then there’s the kind of performance Rice basketball put on display in San Antonio on Wednesday. The Owls seemingly could not missing, knocking down a season-best 16 three pointers.

Rice was equally dangerous from two, missing just nine field goals from inside the three point arc. When you shoot it at that well, even a solid 43.5 percent shooting night from the other side isn’t enough to slow you down.

That level of offensive success isn’t something that can be replicated on a whim, but it is proof of what’s possible. In a season with defensive struggles, the offense rounding into form was necessary, but few could have imagined the ceiling would be quite this high.

Up Next: vs Temple (Wed, Jan. 21 at 7:00 pm)

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Rice Women’s Basketball Dispatches UAB at Home

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Rice women’s basketball took care of business at home, riding a dominant fourth quarter to a win over UAB to maintain a perfect record at home.

It took less than five minutes of action for Rice women’s basketball to make it abundantly clear they were on a different level of the playing field from UAB. The Blazers were winless in conference play when they arrived in Houston and the Owls — the only squad not to drop a conference game thus far — has no intentions of swapping sides of the ledge on Wednesday night.

Rice raced out to an 11-0 lead before UAB could find their footing. The Blazers were able to battle back and make things competitive, closing the gap to a single score on a few occasions, but they were never able to force a tie, let alone threaten to take the lead.

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The Owls took an eight point lead into the fourth quarter and from there the rout began. Rice outscored UAB 24-12 across the final 10 minutes, led by a pair of morale crushing three-pointers from Dominique Ennis. The lead would grow to as many as 21 points before UAB’s final whimper from the free throw line resulted in a 20-point win.

With the victory, Rice women’s basketball improves to 14-3 on the season and remains a perfect 8-0 at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Final Box | Rice 76, UAB 56

Key takeaway | Finishing with Free Throws

For as good as Rice women’s basketball was on the boards on Wednesday night, their dominance on the free throw line was absolutely crucial in the outcome of this game. Shooting can be fickle and fouls can vary wildly from game to game, but free throws are just that: free. Rice knows that better than just about anyone else.

The Owls entered the game tops in the American Conference in free throw percentage, knocking down 81.3 percent of their attempts on the season. A perfect 12-for-12 evening from the charity stripe against UAB will only raise that number. That’s the kind consistency that pays dividends in March.

Up Next: at North Texas (Sat. Jan. 17 at 2:00 pm)

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Rice Basketball Comes Up Short vs Charlotte

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Rice Basketball came up one shot short, missing a potential game winner at the buzzer in a narrow home loss to Charlotte.

A layup from Charlotte’s Ben Bradford put the visiting 49ers just ahead of Rice basketball in the opening minutes of their trip to Tudor Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon. That proved to be representative of how the opening half would go, with Rice spending most of it just a shot or two behind Charlotte, but not much more.

There were five ties and two lead changes in the opening half, with Nick Anderson providing the bulk of the juice on offense for Rice, who would go into the break trailing by just two points. The game would remain close until the middle of the second half when the Owls’ shooting struggles helped contribute to a 10-0 Charlotte run. Rice suddenly found themselves trailing by 15 with the game all but out of reach.

MORE: Rice Basketball Midseason State of the Program

Rice did not go down without a fight, clawing back to within six points on a nine-point run. A late three from Eternity Eguagie got the Owls within two with 36 seconds remaining and Trae Broadnax made it a one point hole with a three-point play.

A heads up defensive play from Broadnax earned the Owls one final shot at the buzzer, but it would not go down. Rice Basketball falls to 7-10 with the loss. The Owls are 5-4 at Tudor Fieldhouse this season.

Final Box | Charlotte 74, Rice 73

Key takeaway | Defending Not Optional

While there has been no singular thread connecting all of the Owls’ losses this season, the step back in their defensive performance has been a frequent culprit. Now through four games of conference play, Rice ranks near the bottom of the league in opponent field goal percentage, a few ticks shy of 50 percent.

That, combined with a a sub-.400 shooting percentage, makes it hard to win basketball games, something Rice has found out all too often this season. This a team that doesn’t have one defining characteristic to hang their hats on when things get hard, which is quite the departure to the defense-first mantra head coach Rob Lanier preaches.

There are flashes of that top tier defense buried deep. Broadnax had a few plays in the closing minutes that came close to swinging the game, but from top to bottom, this roster doesn’t defend well consistently.

With the calendar approaching mid-January, this is likely what this version of Rice basketball is going to be. How the staff and the roster make the most of it will determine whether or not they can be competitive down the stretch or succumb to their maladies enroute to another disappointing finish.

Up Next: at UTSA (Wed, Jan. 14 at 7:00 pm)

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Rice Women’s Basketball Crushes Charlotte

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Rice women’s basketball completed a sweep in the Sunshine State, taking down Florida Atlantic a few days after knocking off South Florida on the road.

Rice women’s basketball has won a lot of games this year, but few of them were less eventful than the contest they played against Charlotte on Wednesday night. Even though Rice trailed by as many as six points in the early moments of the second quarter the red-hot shooting of Louanne Battiston made it clear the home team wouldn’t be behind for long.

When Rice finally regained the lead midway through the second quarter they were off to the races. An 11-point halftime lead snowballed to 27 as the third quarter began to wind down. By the time the fourth arrived, both sides knew the game way over.

MORE: Rice Women’s Basketball Midseason State of the Program

Most of the starters were off the floor by the final media timeout, save for Battiston who earned the right to finish the game after her tremendous 20-point outburst, which included four three-pointers plus a block and a steal.

With the victory, Rice women’s basketball improves to 13-3 on the season and 7-0 at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Final Box | Rice 84, Charlotte 59

Key takeaway | The Best Kind of Boring

Rice women’s basketball did not win a single game by double digits in their first six games. Granted, there were some tough opponents in that stretch, but even the games the Owls’ controlled were closer calls than they might have liked. That switch flipped in Puerto Rico, though.

Even with a one point loss to UCF accounted for, Rice has won seven of their last 10 games by 16 or more points, leading up to Wednesday’s 25-point blowout. They’ve won nine of 10 and look to be in cruise control for the first time this season.

Good teams find ways to win. Great teams never let the other team have a chance. The Owls are looking to prove they’re in the latter group. More wins like this will help that cause.

Up Next: vs UAB (Wed. Jan. 14 at 7:00 pm)

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Rice Basketball Hangs On to Beat Wichita State

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Rice Basketball never trailed in the second half, fending off a late rally to defeat Wichita State in the Owls’ first true road win of the season.

A flurry of threes put Wichita State in the driver’s seat early on in their game against Rice basketball on Wednesday. The Owls trailed for the first 15 minutes of the contest before they hit their first three of the night from Jalen Smith, tying the game at 19 apiece.

From there, Rice would prove to be the aggressor. The Owls took a three point lead into halftime and grew their advantage in the second half, doing most of their damage in the paint, using the long ball as an occasional exclamation point. Cam Carroll’s three with just over 11 minutes to go stretched the Rice lead to 13, the largest by either team.

MORE: Rice Basketball Midseason State of the Program

As has been the case in so many Rice games this year, the Owls’ opponents had a second half run in them. The Shockers rattled off a 12-2 burst to get right back in the game, eventually leveling the score at 56-all with 4:31 to play.

Even a seven point lead with 41 seconds to play wasn’t safe. Wichita State was able to get back within three, force a turnover and come dangerously close to a foul on a made three point shot. The officials ruled the foul on the court and Rice escaped with the win.

Final Box | Rice 66, Wichita State 64

Key takeaway | Finding a way on the Road

Entering Wednesday, Rice basketball was 1-6 away from Tudor Fieldhouse. It’s not as if they hadn’t played close games, but those games had too often slipped out of reach by the time the final buzzer sounded. Finishing has been a problem for this team all season and one, which made this rigorous 40-minute battle all the more important.

Veteran guard Trae Broadnax, who was limited to four points in the first half, came alive down the stretch, making several key shots late in the game to keep Wichita State at bay. The team was able to overcome Wichita State’s late rally, and while they did briefly lose the lead, Wichita State never led in the second half. Finally, Rice basketball had finished and just as important, proved that they can.

Up Next: vs Charlotte (Sun, Jan. 11 at 1:00 pm)

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