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Rice Basketball falls to Charlotte in AAC Tournament

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No. 12 Seed Rice Basketball took an early lead but couldn’t hang on, falling to No. 13 Seed Charlotte in the AAC Tournament.

The opening game of the AAC Tournament started out at a modest pace with Rice Basketball and Charlotte trading baskets in the early minutes of the first half. The 49ers held a modest lead before the Owls started scoring in earnest. Trailing by one midway just past the midpoint of the half, Rice would go on a 15-3 run jumping out to a big lead. They’d hold an 11 point advantage at the break and looked to be in control, but Charlotte wasn’t done just yet.

The 49ers came out of the break with furious intensity, getting the game back within three with a 10-2 burst to open the second half. Rice would hold the edge for some time past that, but the margin would never reach double digits again. Instead, Charlotte drew level, tying the game at 52 with 4:41 to play.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Offense

Once again, Rice basketball found itself with the game on the line in the final moments. Free throws were exchanged and Rice had the ball down by one with 13.3 remaining. A jumper from Trae Broadnax bounced off the rim, Charlotte grabbed the board and just like that the Owls’ season was effectively over.

Rice ends its season with a finale record of 13-19.

Final Box | Charlotte 64, Rice 61

Highlights

What They’re Saying | Press Conference

Key takeaway | Learning to close

This marks the 13th straight defeat for Rice basketball in games decided by six points or fewer. Bad luck plays into any such streak that disastrous in nature, but the clear inability to close out games is unmistakable. Credit is due to coach Rob Lanier, who addressed his team’s most glaring flaw head on.

“It’s kind of been the same story for us throughout the year. We’ve been in a lot of these close games and haven’t found a way to win it, Lanier said. “I told them that I’ll take responsibility for my part in that, and going forward the guys who come back, they have to share in that responsibility so we can grow and we can change the face of what this program is all about.”

Even though this kind of result isn’t new, the emotions post game were still very real.

“No, there’s no less pain,” Lanier said.

Likewise, guard Trae Broadnax opened up about the growing weight of the team’s struggles in those clutch situations this season. “I think when they don’t go the right way, I think there’s a lot of anxiety that rises up just because we haven’t got over the hump in so many of those close games down the stretch,” he said “You can turn the entire thing around in terms of results so that you can get that monkey off your back, but we never got to the point where we could do that.”

Broadnax has an additional year of eligibility remaining and indicated he’s looking forward to joining Lanier in rectifying the Owls’ biggest flaw. The 2024-2025 season is in the books. That work can start right now.

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Rice Women’s Basketball soars past Temple in AAC Tourney Semis

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No. 9 Seed Rice Women’s Basketball never looked like the underdog, blowing past No. 4 Seed Temple to advance to the AAC Tournament Championship Game.

Rice women’s basketball looked much more like the defending American Conference Tournament Champs than the Cinderella their seed suggested they should be. The No. 9 Seed Rice Owls absorbed the first blow from No. 4 Seed Temple, closing the first quarter on a 13-4 as they took the lead and started to grow it.

Rice held Temple to just four field goals in the second quarter, stretching their advantage to as many as 10 points in the first half. Temple did not hit a three in the first half — they were shutout from deep in the second half, as well — and lost the rebounding battle before break, a focal point for the underdog Rice all season long.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Defense

The onslaught continued after halftime. Rice opened the third quarter with seven straight points, catapulting the lead back to double-double digits, where it would stay for the remainder of the game. Temple trailed by 15 after three quarters and by as many as 20 points midway through the fourth. Temple was never able to claw back because they weren’t able to score.

Temple finished below 50 points for just the second time all season, the first coming in December against No. 15 West Virginia.

“Our defense was incredible. We hung our hat on our defense,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said,.” [We] held them to 31 percent [shooting]. They’re a great team, but I think it just shows how great our defense was tonight.”

Malia Fisher, the MVP of the 2024 AAC Tournament, led all scorers with 18 points and had nine rebounds. Aniah Alexis continued her strong postseason performance with another double-digit scoring output, adding 14 points of her own to the cause.

Final Box | Rice 67, Temple 49

Highlights

What They’re Saying | Press Conference

Key takeaway | Saving Their Best for Last

Rice women’s basketball has won three straight games in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, defeating UAB, UTSA and Temple in successive days to improve to 7-0 in this tournament in program history.

Despite the Owls’ success in Fort Worth dating back to last year, this season’s squad never won more than two consecutive games against conference opponents in the regular season. To think they’ve be able to do this, and do it in such emphatic fashion, is extraordinary.

A season ago, Rice benefited from someone else defeating the No. 1 seed and beat then No. 3 Seed Temple by three. This time Rice took down the top seed and they followed it up by No. 4 Seed Temple by 18.

“I about how we’ve been here before and knowing that we’re very capable of doing what needs to be done,” Malia Fisher remarked, referencing how she and the team stay focused during such a strenuous run. “We just built off each other’s energy,” Aniah Alexis added.

This sets the Owls up for a winner-take-all game tomorrow with the chance to reach consecutive NCAA Tournaments for the first time in program history. The method has certainly been unconventional. This entered the season as a top pick in the conference standings before limping into March. Coach Edmonds certainly hopes they have one more win in them.

“I think we just keep doing what we’re doing right now. We are playing with a lot of energy. We’re playing with a lot of emotion. We’re playing like we’re not ready for it to be over with,” she said. “It’s great to get to the championship but now we have one more that we got to be able to get in order to be getting back into the big dance, and that’s obviously the goal.”

Up Next: AAC Championship vs Winner of No. 2-Seed North Texas vs No. 3-Seed South Florida

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TAMU-CC hands Rice baseball tenth straight loss

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The early season tailspin continued for Rice baseball on Monday night, falling 9-2 at home to Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

In what has become a recurring nightmare, Rice baseball stepped into the batters in the bottom of the first inning trailing. Visiting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which until two seasons ago was 0-20 against the Owls all time, put up a three-spot in the first frame and forced opening pitcher Blaine Brown from the ballgame.

The Islanders tacked on one more in the second, two in the third and another in the fourth to go in front 7-0. Rice would score twice in the fourth, the first on an RBI single to left from Brown and the next on a sacrifice fly from Treyton Rank. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi got both runs back in the sixth and maintained that seven-run advantage into the ninth.

Last Time Out: Rice baseball swept by Yale

Rice got two runs back in the ninth on an RBI single from Cole Green, one of several freshman having a remarkably encouraging season despite the circumstances. It would be too little, too late as Rice fell again, stretching their losing streak to 10 consecutive games.

What it means | When it rains, it pours

It’s been a perfect storm for a disastrous start for Rice baseball. A rough week against some of the nation’s best teams at the Astros Foundation College Classic marked the beginning of a stretch of nine games across 11 days.

Add in short outings from starting pitching and a bullpen leaking runs by the inning and you get the makings of a skid. Multiply that by so many games in such a short period of time and you get a 10-game losing streak and a 2-14 record.

More: First reports from Rice Football Spring Practice

Rice baseball has done plenty to shoot itself if the foot this season. Coaches and players alike have taken their fair share of the blame. But on nights like tonight, the totality of the misery is hard to overlook.

ON DECK | vs Houston Christian x4 (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Women’s basketball upsets UTSA, on to AAC Semis

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Rice Women’s Basketball remains undefeated in AAC Tournament games, improving to 6-0 all time with an upset of 1-Seed UTSA.

After playing UTSA close in a pair of regular season contests, Rice women’s basketball entered their AAC Tournament quarterfinal with hopes that the third time would be the charm. While the Roadrunners led for most of the first quarter, the Owls rattled off a 9-0 run early in the second quarter to take a four-point lead into halftime.

Rice would maintain that advantage throughout the third quarter, leaning on a couple of well-timed threes from Dominque Ennis to keep UTSA at arm’s length. A free throw from Sussy Ngulefac pushed the Owls’ lead to nine, their largest of the afternoon to that point, in the closing moments of the third.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Defense

UTSA collected themselves in the changeover before the final frame began, opening the scoring with eight straight to claw back within a single point. Onlookers collectively drew in deep breaths, wondering if a fourth quarter collapse was looming or if the resilient March-tested version of Rice women’s basketball would emerge in a do-or-die moment. It was the latter.

A jumper from Aniah Alexis, sandwiched between a pair of threes from Victoria Flores turned a one-score game upside down. Up by nine points with 1:41 to play, the Owls were able to lean on their defense, knock down a few free throws, and walk away from the court with the biggest upset of the AAC Tournament thus far.

Final Box | Rice 62, UTSA 58

What They’re Saying | Post Game Press Conference

Key takeaway | Tournament Owls

Rice is undefeated in AAC Tournament games. That streak will end at some point, probably. UConn managed never to lose an AAC Tournament game, but barring historic dominance, a loss in the AAC Tournament will come. Rice is just hoping that eventual defeat holds off a while longer.

“There was a different aura about us, a different walk about us, a different talk about us,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said, reflecting on her program’s ability to flip a switch and play their best basketball in these do-or-die moments. “So “maybe it is a thing. Whatever it is, I want to bottle it up and I want to keep going for two more.”

Or, more succinctly in the words of an assistant coach to the team this week, “The Tournament Owls are back.

The version of Rice women’s basketball that took the court against UTSA on Monday afternoon sure looked like the one that was promised months ago. The team that talked about seedings and NCAA Tournament expectations had the talent and the swagger to take down a team that was receiving votes in the NCAA Top 25. But for whatever the reason, that team hasn’t shown up very often this season. Not until now.

“I think winning [the conference tournament- last year, we’ve taken a lot of that mentality. We know how to win. We know what it takes to come from the bottom and finish on the top,” she said. “We’re trying to bottle up that experience and take it with us now and finish with a ring.”

It might have been easy to look past the version of Rice women’s basketball that struggled through January and February. However, nobody is looking past the Owls right now who stand two wins away from an improbable return to the Big Dance.

Up Next: AAC Tournament Winner of 12-Seed Charlotte vs 4-Seed Temple

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Rice Baseball suffers sweep by Yale

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The losses continue to mount for Rice Baseball, which suffered a series loss to Yale, dropping the Owls’ overall record to 2-13 on the season.

FRIDAY | Yale 8, Rice 3

Rice baseball starter Davion Hickson found himself in early trouble on Friday night when a hit by pitch and an error thrust him into a jam. Yale would capitalize, striking for two in that inning before threatening in the second and breaking through in earnest in the third. Yale made it 5-0 after three, taking advantage of free passes and defensive errors to force Hickson out of the game before the fifth inning.

Last Weekend: Rice Baseball winless at Astros College Classic

The Rice bats got three back but two more runs charged to Von Baker made it 8-3 heading to the sixth. Even with an impressive four-inning, no-hit, six-strikeout showing form Garrett Stratton in relief, the deficit proved too large to overcome with the Owls falling in the series opener by a final score of 8-4.

SATURDAY | Yale 11, Rice 8

JD McCracken got Rice off to a much improved start on Saturday afternoon, mowing down Yale batters through six scoreless innings before the Bulldogs finally got to him with a solo home run to open the seventh. Even with the blemish, McCracken had done enough to put the Owls in a position to win, along with 3 RBI from Michael Zito and Graiden West’s first career home run at the plate.

“He was spectacular. He was amazing,” Rice baseball head coach Jose Cruz Jr. said of McCracken’s showing. “He does set the tone. And he pitches to contact. There’s a lot of action out there. We’re happy to have him. As long as he’s healthy, he’ll be out there as long as he can go.”

McCracken’s brilliance would fizzle quickly when he left the mound. It didn’t matter who came through the door, Tucker Alch, Jackson Blank and Caleb Williams were each responsible for runs that turned a significant Rice lead into an agonizing loss as Yale scored 11 in the final three innings. Rice would get three back, but it wouldn’t be enough to salvage the game.

SUNDAY | Yale 7, Rice 4

Yale struck first in the series finale, getting two runs in the first and two more in the second, forcing Rice starter Robert Fernandez from the game early on. This time, the Owls’ bats offered some resistance, though. Rice scored three in the bottom of the first, one run via an error and the final two coming on the first home run from freshman Blaine Brown.

More: 2025 Rice Baseball Season Preview

Trailing 4-3 after two innings, both bullpens kept the game close until Yale broke through in the seventh with one insurance run and two more in the eight. Down 7-3, Brown added another RBI on a single in the eighth but that would prove to be the end of the scoring for both teams on the weekend and Rice dropped the final game 7-4.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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