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Rice Basketball wins School House Mania game over UIW

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Rice basketball fought through a slow start, riding Travis Evee’s second half burst to a win over Incarnate Word in the Owls’ School House Mania game.

Things got off to a bit of a bumpy start for Rice basketball in their annual School House Mania game. Playing host to Incarnate Word, the Owls found themselves trailing their visitors in the early minutes. UIW built a five-point lead before Rice finally got its footing.

Near the midpoint of the first, Rice thundered back with a 17-4 run. A deficit turned into a 10-point advantage as all the Owls on the court got involved in the scoring. They moved the ball well and started to knock down open shots, albeit still without much success from three.

Those failures from long range would create an opening for Incarnate Word’s Josiah Hammons who made a pair of long balls to quickly neutralize the Rice advantage. The Owls would go into halftime with just a three-point lead which disappeared entirely on the first UIW possession after the break.

Travis Evee would break the gridlock. The veteran guard connected on a trio of three-pointers in the span of a few possessions, turning a one-score game into another double-digit advantage for Rice. Incarnate Word would chip away down the stretch, but Rice was able to keep their opponents at arm’s length and ride Evee’s hot hand — he scored a game-high 29 points — to a much-needed win.

Evee notched his 1500th career point in that winning effort, becoming just the 10th player in program history to reach that mark. It was the defense, though, that drew some of his most effusive praise.

“I thought the communication on defense was really good today. There weren’t many self-inflicted wounds on defense. We made them make a lot of tough shots,” Evee said. “We made them take one shot, they didn’t get many offensive rebounds today. Our guys are boxing out. We were flying around with energy.”

Final Box | Rice 80 – UIW 57

Key takeaway | Defense?

Rice hasn’t proven itself to be a team that can play 40 minutes of excellent defensive basketball yet, but Wednesday was an encouraging sign things might be slowly moving in the right direction. While the offense struggled in the early goings, the defense managed to keep this team in the game, something Pera called out almost immediately in his postgame comments.

“I might start chanting defense, defense!” Pera joked. “I think for one of the first times in a long time our defense energized our offense. Whereas in the past, so many times our offense is what got our defense going. I’m happy about that and I think our effort in the second half was outstanding”

Rice held Incarnate Word to 33.9 percent shooting for the game and 24 percent shooting in the second half. The Owls crushed their opponents on the boards after the break, winning that battle 27-12. There have been signs of defensive growth over the past few weeks, but this was one of the better performances we’ve seen from this group so far. Getting a full 40 minutes is the next step.

Up Next: at Northwestern State – Dec. 16 (Sat.)

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Early deficit dooms Rice Women’s Basketball against Gonzaga

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Rice women’s basketball was unable to climb out of a massive early hole against Gonzaga, falling to the ranked Bulldogs at home.

The visiting Gonzaga Bulldogs were the No. 23 team in the country entering the game and gave every indication they belonged among the nation’s best from the star, opening their contest against Rice women’s basketball on a 15-0 run before Shelby Hayes broke their scoring streak nearly halfway through the first quarter.

Trailing by 15, the situation grew more dire as Zags shooter Eliza Hollingsworth delivered a career-best performance, matching her best-ever totals for points and three-pointers by the middle of the second quarter. That enabled the visitors to extend their lead to 21 before the Owls scratched the deficit down to 14 in the final minutes before halftime.

Rice was able to trim the hole to single digits in the final moments of the third quarter, leaning on a complete team effort on both sides of the court to get within seven points. After falling behind big early, to have the game in reach entering the fourth was encouraging, but the deficit would prove too big to overcome.

Gonzaga would do just enough offensively in the fourth quarter — including a pair of dagger three-pointers — to keep the game out of reach. Rice threatened, but could never close the gap, ultimately falling to 5-4 on the season.

Final Box | Gonzaga 80 – Rice 72

Key takeaway |  When the threes don’t fall

Rice women’s basketball is 4-1 when making at least eight threes this year and 1-3 when they don’t (they made three today on 18 attempts).  Their lone victory when they didn’t shoot the three particularly well came against Houston Christian, a team the Owls should be more than capable of handling regardless of how well their outside shooting fairs — Rice made 32.2 percent of their threes (6-for-21) in that game.

The Owls have had some career performances from long-range this year. Maya Bokunewicz tied the school record with seven triples against Saint Mary’s. Dominque Ennis had a personal best six threes against Texas Southern. When someone wasn’t lights out from deep, though, this team has struggled to find its groove offensively.

Finding a solution to that problem is becoming increasingly more important and Saturday’s third quarter might have served as one of the most tangible signs of progress yet. When Rice took possession for the first time in the period, they trailed by 16 points. They made just one three but entered the fourth quarter down by just nine.

It took some strain to get there, but Rice was able to attack the rim, get to the line a couple of times and make their foul shots. That’s a recipe for success, regardless of what’s happening from long range and it’s one Rice might need to lean on again in the near future if the cold streaks from three continue.

Up Next: vs Prairie View A&M (Sat. Dec 9)

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Rice Basketball falls to Houston for eighth straight time

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Rice basketball trade blows with crosstown rival Houston in the early goings, but couldn’t sustain it for 40 minutes against the No. 3 Cougars.

Wednesday night’s battle of intracity foes started off with an exchange of long-range shots. Houston connected on the first three. Then Travis Evee drained one for Rice basketball. Then Houston hit another and the Owls responded with a pair, one apiece from Alem Husenovic and Mekhi Mason, to take their first lead of the evening. It wouldn’t last long.

Trailing 9-8, Houston went on a 22-4 run in the middle portions of the first half. The Rice defense had held its own early, but offensive turnovers and foul trouble for Max Fiedler put the Owls in peril rather quickly.

With Fiedler on the bench, Houston went on the attack. The Coogs took a 16-point lead into the half and opened the second frame on a 9-2 run. Their advantage continued to balloon from that point onward, cresting to 39 points at one point, unofficially putting this game far beyond the Owls’ reach.

Houston entered this game as the No. 3 team in the nation. It was going to take a perfect game to have a chance for Rice to keep pace with this team. The Owls didn’t come close.

Final Box | Houston 75 – Rice 39

Key takeaway | Max or Bust?

It’s possible no college basketball player means more to their program at this very moment than Max Fielder does to Rice basketball. The veteran big man is one of the best facilitators in the sport and the key cog that makes the Owls’ offense go. So when he picked up his third foul midway through the first half — a half in which he only played six minutes — alarm bells had to be sounding in head coach Scott Pera’s head.

The offense without Fiedler on the floor was not nearly as effective. That’s to be expected, but it’s also something Rice probably needs to have a better solution for moving forward. Rather than funneling the ball through the top of the key, movement was pushed toward the edges and it felt like Rice was settling for shots rather than taking the most opportune chances.

Frankly, the simple reality could be this team probably isn’t nearly as dangerous when Fiedler is off the court. But given the number of shooters they have and the players capable of creating opportunities for others, that doesn’t feel like it out to be the case. The offense might be different, but it should still work. For better or worse, Rice basketball got some practice with that scenario Wednesday night.

Up Next: vs Incarnate Word – Dec. 13 (Wed.)

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Rice Basketball thunders back to avoid upset vs HCU

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Rice basketball fell behind early before thundering back, riding their defense rather than their shooting to a win over Houston Christian.

Alem Huseinovic opened the game with a jumper that drew applause from the assembled crowd at Tudor Fieldhouse, but onlooking fans wouldn’t have much to cheer from for the next several sequences up and down the court. A brief Rice basketball lead evaporated and the Owls quickly found themselves playing catch up on their own court.

Houston Christian pounced on Rice from that first shot, climbing to a 25-12 lead at the under-eight media timeout and putting some pressure on the home team to find a way to settle down and avoid a disastrous loss.

Down by 13 on a day when they shot just 25 percent from three, Rice made three of the five triples they would convert for the entire game over the course of the next six minutes. A large deficit turned into a tie game, opening the door for a second-half rally.

Rice went on a 22-8 run to start the second half, leaning on their defense rather than their shot making ability to flip the script and build a double-digit lead of their own. HCU would climb back within five, but a few clutch shots from Huseinovic, Max Fiedler and Keanu Dawes kept them at bay and allowed the Owls to secure a hard-fought home win.

Final Box | Rice 65 – HCU 56

What They’re Saying

“I’m really happy to get the win. A good word to use for this game is sloppy. Offensively, we just couldn’t get any rhythm going. That’s a credit to (Houston Christian’s) defense. But, the good news is, we would not have won that game in the past. We won with our defense. They shot 35 percent from the floor and 18 percent from three. Any chance you do that, you’re going to give yourself a chance to win. So I’m really proud of that. That’s back-to-back pretty good defensive performances by us.” – Head coach Scott Pera

Key takeaway | The defense is in there somewhere

Despite promises that this would be the season when Rice basketball found its footing on the defensive end of the court, nothing consistent or impactful truly materialized through the first seven games of the season. There were flashes here and there, but nothing nearly as impressive as the performance the Owls put on display Saturday afternoon — and they needed every little bit of it to get past HCU.

As Pera mentioned postgame, the defense was superb. Rice also forced 14 turnovers and only allowed their opponents to get to the free throw line 15 times.

Imperfect rebounding did lead to more defensive opportunities than should have been absolutely necessary, but at the end of the day, holding any team under 60 points is a solid start for this program right now. Over the past two seasons, Rice is 4-0 when holding their opponent below 60 total points.

Rice basketball probably isn’t ever going to turn into a defensive juggernaut, but they have the makings of a team that can play enough defense to get by, provided the offense holds up its end of the bargain. It has to be encouraging then that the offense was rather uninspiring by its standards on Saturday and the Owls still found a way to walk away with a win

Up Next: at Houston – Dec. 6 (Wed.)

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Rice Women’s Basketball rolls past TAMU-CC on the road

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Rice women’s basketball started fast and never let up, rolling past Texas A&M Corpus Christi on the road to improve to 5-3 on the season.

Before Texas A&M Corpus Christi had exhaled from the opening tip, Rice women’s basketball had a 9-0 lead. The visiting Owls wasted no time announcing their presence on the Islanders’ court, jumping out in front quickly thanks to the return of Malia Fisher and well-placed shots from Dominque Ennis and Shelby Hayes.

Staked to a near-double-digit lead, Rice expanded their cushion in the second quarter in which they shot 67 percent from the field including a trio of three-pointers. That lengthened the Owls’ advantage over the Islanders by a ten spot and sent Rice into halftime with a 56-28 advantage.

Both teams traded baskets after the break, but the result of the game was never really in doubt thanks to the Owls’ tremendous opening effort. Not only did Rice never trail in this game, they spent the majority of the second half with the game well out of reach. It was a dominant effort away from home and an extremely encouraging showing near the midway point of nonconference play.

Final Box | Rice 84 – Texas A&M Corpus Christi 56

Key takeaway | Winning away from home

The road had not been kind to Rice Women’s Basketball in this young season. The Owls sludged through a victory at Abilene Chrisitan in their first game away from Tudor Fieldhouse before dropping successive away contests, the first at TCU and the second at SFA.

This is a very similar team to the one that went undefeated in nonconference play a season ago, so the ability to win away from home is clearly there, but for whatever reason, it wasn’t clicking. Saturday’s performance against Texas A&M Corpus Christi served as a powerful reminder that the Owls still have what it takes to go into someone else’s gym and walk away with a win.

As cliched as it is, winning on the road is hard. The Owls were effective on offense, rebounded well and made their free throws. The defense was stingy, too. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but it was a respectable one and one that will be good enough to get the job done, more often than not.

Up Next: vs Gonzaga (Sat. Dec 9)

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