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Rice Women’s Basketball: SMU upset sours Nancy Mulkey’s record game

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A record-setting outing by Nancy Mulkey was not enough to stave off upset-minded SMU who were able to hand Rice Women’s Basketball their first loss.

Nobody said it would be easy. After rolling through their first two opponents (Nicholls St and Little Rock), Rice Women’s Basketball hit the road to take on SMU. The Mustangs weren’t supposed to the big test — that was to come on Sunday against Texas A&M. But the Owls found out the hard way that every opponent they’ll face is going to be primed for an upset.

Rice started slowly, going 1-for-11 from the field with nine turnovers in the first quarter. Their ever-ready defense kept the Owls in the game, holding SMU to 10 points in the first frame. Then the Owls fired back, outscoring the home team 18-7 in the second quarter, including a 14-0 run to close out the half.

The two teams traded punches throughout the second half. Neither team had a great shooting day, with both teams finishing below 30 percent from the floor. SMU would make the ones that counted the most, including a pair of rim-rattling free throws to extend their lead to 50-43 with 43 seconds to play. The Owls had nothing left in the tank, falling on the road by a final score of 55-43.

Player of the Game

Nancy Mulkey put together a record-breaking performance in defeat. She single-game record with 11 blocks on her way to becoming the second Rice women’s basketball player to ever record a triple-double. In addition to the 11 blocks, Mulkey also tallied 11 rebounds and 15 points.

Mulkey and Ogwumike combined for 11 of the Owls’ 14 made baskets and 32 of the team’s 43 points. The supporting cast didn’t offer much support on a disappointing night for a program that had set much higher expectations for themselves than this.

Up Next

The Owls don’t have any time to feel sorry for themselves. They’ve got plenty still to play for, including their biggest game of the year upcoming. On Sunday, they host No. 5 Texas A&M at Tudor Fieldhouse. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. A win in that game would quickly put this loss in the rearview mirror as they prepare for a full schedule ahead of them.

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2019-2020 Rice Women’s Basketball Season Preview

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The 2019-2020 Rice women’s basketball season is fast approaching. Here’s a rundown of the Owls’ squad bent on returning to the NCAA Tournament this season.

The last time the Rice women’s basketball team took the court they left it with a sour taste in their mouths. The Owls led Marquette in a first round NCAA Tournament game by nine points with minutes left in regulation. Rather than advance to the next round, a rematch with the Texas A&M Aggies, the Owls faltered and saw their storybook season end in overtime.

There has been plenty of time for soul searching since that game. A new season is right around the corner, one which this team hopes will end much later in March than the last. Here’s a bit more on the coach, the players, the roster, and what to expect from this team in 2019 and beyond.

The Coach – Tina Langley

Upon the completion of last season, Rice signed Langley to a five-year extension. The reigning Conference USA coach of the year led the Owls to their first-ever ranking in the AP and Coaches Poll, a perfect regular season in conference play and set program records with 21 consecutive wins and 28 total victories in a season.

Rice women’s basketball has been on the upswing since Langley took over prior to the 2015-2016 season. The Owls have seen their overall win total and conference win totals increase each subsequent season, finishing last season with a sterling 28-4 record. As long as Langley is at the helm, the future for Rice women’s basketball remains extremely bright.

Last Season Snapshot

With center Nancy Mulkey sidelined by injury, Rice lost their first two games of the 2018-2019 season to No. 20 Texas A&M and No. 23 UCLA. Following their 0-2 start, the team won 28 of their next 29 games. A road loss to North Carolina in mid-December was their only blemish during the remainder of the regular season.

More: Rice Men’s Basketball Season Preview

Rice won all 16 of their conference games, only one of which was decided by less than 10 points. The Owls stayed perfect in three Conference USA Basketball Tournament games, rallying to take down Middle Tennessee to secure the Tournament Championship and punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament, their first trip to the Big Dance in 14 years.

The Schedule

Rice Women’s Basketball Marquee Games and Key Dates

Nov. 5, 2019 – Season opener vs Nicholls State
Nov. 17, 2019 – Owls host Texas A&M at Tudor Fieldhouse
Nov. 23, 2019 – Owls visit Oklahoma State
Dec. 20-21, 2019 – 2019 Puerto Rico Classic vs Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech
Jan. 2, 2020 – Conference USA opener vs Marshall
Feb. 22, 2020 – Conference USA bonus play begins

You can find the complete 2019-2020 Rice basketball schedule here.

Projected Starters

PLAYER MP PTS TRB AST STL BLK
Erica Ogwumike 32.4 16.5 10.5 2.7 1.6 0.3
Nancy Mulkey 26.3 13.9 5.8 1.3 0.7 3.9
Sydne Wiggins 28.5 6.9 2.5 2.4 1.0 0.2
Jasmine Smith 27.5 6.1 2.3 2.3 0.9 0.3
Haylee Swayze 13.1 4.3 1.6 0.4 0.3 0.3

The Returning Players

No. 2 – Sydne Wiggins, Guard (Jr.)

5-foot-11

A returning starter and one of the Owls’ foremost returning outside shooters, Wiggins was one four different players to make more than 20 shots from beyond the arc. She finished second on the team in steals, proving to be as dangerous without the ball in her hands as she was when she was knocking down shots.

No. 10 – Jasmine Smith, Guard (So.)

5-foot-7

The only freshman to start every game for Rice last season, Smith was a shutdown defender. Her efforts on opposing shooters helped the lead Owls’ to the No. 1 scoring defense in the conference, allowing 52.8 points per game. She frequently turned her defensive efforts into offensive successes and tied Wiggins with 30 steals.

No. 11 – Haylee Swayze, Guard (So.)

5-foot-11

Swayze was a prominent member of a promising freshman class who saw some action in 28 of 32 games, averaging 13.1 minutes per contest. After the five starters and sixth woman Lauren Grigsby, Swayze was one of the more active bench players for Rice last season. When she was called upon, she made a difference from behind the three-point line with 22 long-range buckets.

No. 13 – Erica Ogwumike, Guard (Sr.)

5-foot-9

Conference USA Female Athlete of the Year Erica Ogwumike was the catalyst on both ends of the court for this team last season. Since transferring to Rice from Pepperdine following the 2015-2016 season, Ogwumike has been nearly unstoppable at South Main. She tallied a double-double (18 times) more often than she didn’t and led the conference in rebounds. Her leadership and talent have been instrumental in the Owls’ recent success.

No. 21 – Arianna McCurry, Center (So.)

6-foot-6

McCurry saw most of her action before the Owls got into the heart of Conference USA action. She played a career-high 10 minutes against McNeese State and scored six points in five minutes against FAU, a game in which she also tallied a pair of blocks and three rebounds.

No. 23 – Alexah Chrisman, Center (Jr.)

6-foot-2

Chrisman saw most of her action as the primary backup to starting center Nancy Mulkey. Seven inches shorter than Mulkey, Chrisman wasn’t the same caliber shot blocker, but she provided a physical presence in the paint and was a trustworthy conduit for the offense and defense when Mulkey needed a breather.

No. 24 – Temi Alao, Center (So.)

5-foot-10

Injuries kept Alao from seeing the court as a true freshman, but she played in 18 games as a redshirt sophomore in the 2018-2019 campaign. The bulk of her involvement came at the beginning of the season, including a career-high 24 minutes against Texas A&M. She had three or more rebounds in nine appearances.

No. 25 – Kendall Ellig, Forward (Jr.)

6-foot-1

Ellig played a reserve role for the Owls last season, seeing a few minutes here and there throughout conference play. She played in 13 C-USA games, but never tallied more than nine minutes, playing less than three minutes seven times in those contests. She scored in four games and had a career-best four rebounds against FAU.

No. 32 – Nancy Mulkey, Center (Jr.)

6-foot-9

Mulkey is the tallest player in women’s college basketball. Every time she takes the court she gives Rice a mismatch no other team in the country can counteract. When healthy, Mulkey is the difference-maker that separates Rice from their competition, leading the NCAA in blocks per game and setting the school record with 94 blocked shots last season.

The New Additions

Rice signed five players in their 2019 recruiting class, which ranked first in Conference USA.

No. 3 – Katelyn Crosthwait, Guard (Fr.)

5-foot-10

Crosthwait averaged 24 points per game as a junior, one year removed from being named a Gatorade Player of the Year finalist. She can shoot from close range and from distance and create opportunities for others with the basketball.

No. 5 – Destiny Jackson, Guard (Fr.)

5-foot-9

The only native Texan in the class, Jackson hails from Mansfield Texas. She was named to the 2018 UIL All-Tournament team following her senior season.

No. 12 – India Bellamy, Forward (Fr.)

6-foot-1

A small forward out of McDonough, Georgia, Bellamy is can score from the wing and play great defense. She was the GACA South Junior All-Star MVP.

No. 15 – Lauren Schwartz, Forward (Fr.)

5-foot-11

Scwartz led her school to their first regional championship in program history, finishing the year with 29 victories. The MVP of Kentucky’s 9th region, Schwartz is an elite scorer with more than enough athleticism to win on the boards.

No. 22 – Ashlee Austin, Forward (Fr.)

6-foot-0

Austin averaged 16.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in her senior season. From Johns Creek, Georgia, she was the 2017-2018 Region 7-6A Player of the Year and an AJC First Team All-State selection.

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Rice WBB: Poise, pressure and trying to move on

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Rice women’s basketball saw their season come to an end in heartbreaking fashion by way of an overtime loss to Marquette in the NCAA Tournament. The Owls look to learn and move on.

With 2:54 remaining on the fourth quarter clock Erica Ogwumike drained a three point shot that sent the largely pro-Rice crowd at Reed Arena into a frenzy. After going back and forth with Marquette, the Owls had seemingly broken things wide open. The nine-point lead was the largest margin by either side that day. Rice could almost taste their first NCAA Tournament victory in nearly 20 years.

Unfortunately for coach Tina Langley’s young squad, they’ll have to wait at least one more year. The veteran-laden Golden Eagles were not afraid of the moment, forcing overtime and going on to win by a final score of 58-54. It was Ogwumike herself who seemed to take the loss the hardest after the game. “I think a lot of the things that we messed up were in our hands,” she said, “poise was the thing we were missing toward the end.”

RECAP: Rice women’s basketball drops overtime slugfest to Marquette in NCAA Tournament

Poise. An easy self-possessed assurance of manner according to Merriam Webster. More specifically, the overflowing of the only thing this team was missing entering the NCAA Tournament for their first times — experience. Rice had practiced the situational drills. They knew what to do in every situation. But when Ogwumike hit that fourth quarter three, their collective poise dissipated at the worst possible time.

Credit the Owls with this. They didn’t lose their poise for long. It less than two minutes of game time the 9-0 Marquette run was over. Rice had the basketball with enough time to take the potential game-winning shot. It ricocheted out. The Owls would go on to lose in overtime, an extra period which they probably could have avoided had it not been for the brief lack of composure that allowed Marquette to tie the game.

Learning the hard way

“Any time you have experience, you’re going to learn from it. And we will learn from this game” Langley said in her postgame comments. Those two minutes of uncertainty will stick with this team all offseason and into 2020. They will learn from it, and Langley remains as confident as ever they’re on the right track. “I think the future is very bright,” she added, this is a very young team and really talented team. So we know that we can continue to compete at this level for a long time.”

In overtime, the shots fell for Marquette and not for Rice. The Owls had a few hurried looks, but even their best drawn up possessions ended in layups that bounced off the suddenly miniature basket. Poise or not, a more fortunate bounce here or there could have swung the outcome of this game.

That’s part of what makes this loss so frustrating. Even with the miscues, Rice could have won. “I think it also gives you a little bit of hunger when you’ve had the chance to be there,” Langley explained,” We talked about this in the locker room, how we went from a team that had no post‑season to WBI champions to being in the NIT and NCAA. It is just hard to skip steps in life.”

Perhaps for Rice, this really will be an unskippable, character building step on the journey to something more. The underdog who went toe-to-toe with the Big East regular season champs came up feeling scorned. Like they should be moving on in the Tournament, not going home emptyhanded.

The floor has been raised

Call it a lack of poise. Call it bad luck. Either way, it’s safe to say this season did not end the way Rice had hoped it would, largely because of the stratospheric expectations this program had engendered over the last five months.

Rice set a myriad of program bests, going a perfect 16-0 in conference play, winning 21 games in a row and finishing the season perfect at Tudor Fieldhouse. Ogwumike was named CUSA Player of the Year. Nancy Mulkey was named CUSA Tournament MVP. Lauren Grigsby was named CUSA Sixth Person of the Year.

The reason this team is disappointed in a loss to a Top 20 team is partly because Rice ended the season ranked No. 21 in the AP Poll, the highest rank in school history. A feat in itself considering being ranked in the first place was also a first, achieved by this year’s squad.

The future is bright

The potential of this group of women is astronomical. They proved it all season long, and now they’ll go into the offseason with new experience and an even greater drive. Grigsby, Shani Rainey and Nicole Iademarco will be moving on, but Rice has plenty of pieces to make another run in 2020. And that’s exactly what they plan to do.

“Sometimes you can have a special group of people that can take you a little farther than you anticipate,” Langley said as she wrapped up her postgame thoughts. She wasn’t referring directly to next year’s team, but the undercurrent theme of rising about expectations syncs perfectly with this team’s experience. They did go further than most anticipated. And they’re ready to take the next steps. It’ll just have to wait until 2020.

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WBB: Owls drop NCAA slugfest vs Marquette in OT

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Rice women’s basketball went toe-to-toe with the Big East regular season champion Marquette but came up just short in their first NCAA Tournament game since 2005.

At 1:oo p.m. on Friday afternoon the pregame festivities came to a close and the lights turned on, shining brighter on Rice women’s basketball than they had all year. A scattered crowd of blues, maroons and trace amounts of gold filled Reed Arena in College Station, a host site for the first and second round of the Women’s NCAA Tournament. The ball was tipped, the pageantry was put aside, and Rice went back to what they know best — basketball.

Rice controlled the first tip and, despite being the lower-seeded team, looked every bit the equal of Marquette from the start. Eric Ogwumike opened the scoring with a corner three to give the Owls the lead which they maintained throughout the first 10 minutes of play. Marquette, who averaged 82.9 points per game this season, was held to eight points in the first quarter.

The Golden Eagles leveled the score in the second quarter before taking a one-point advantage into half. Trailing 20-19 at the break, Rice didn’t seem like much on an underdog.  Nancy Mulkey was patroling the paint. The Owls had a host of shooters who’d gotten off to slow starts and Rice looked like they belonged. They just needed to finish.

Down, but not out

For the third game in a row, Rice trailed at halftime. And for the third game in a row, coach Tina Langley’s team made adjustments and executed. Rice started the third quarter on a 6-0 run as both teams heated up from the field. Ogwumike, Mulkey and Sydne Wiggins made some big shots to hold the lead, setting the team up for an all-important fourth quarter.

Rice would extend the lead to as many as nine before Marquette clawed back. Each team had their chance to win the game in regulation. Mulkey blocked Marquette’s last shot in the fourth quarter. That set up an inbound play with less than a second to play. Shani Rainey would get a shot off at the buzzer but it bounced off the rim.

Maquette would take an early lead in overtime and the Rice offense stalled. Eight total points were scored after regulation. Rice made one basket. At the final buzzer, Rice had been outscored for the first time in 2019, 58-54.

An incredible season comes to an end 

Survive and advance is the steady drumbeat of the NCAA Tournament. 64 teams entered. By the end of the day on Saturday, only 32 will be going home. After falling in the first round, the Owls’ season, too, has come to an end. Reaching the big dance is an accomplishment in itself — one that the previous 13 Rice women’s basketball teams had failed to achieve.

The “what if”s and “if only” questions will linger, but those won’t change the tremendous successes this group has accomplished. And they’re not done just yet. The core players on this team are underclassmen. Ogwumike and Mulkey, who combined for 40 points and 17 rebounds with both be back, ready to make another run at a championship in 2020.

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WBB: 2019 Regular season by the numbers

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It’s been a season to remember for Rice women’s basketball. Here are seven numbers that help tell the story of how impressive the Owls have been.

0

Losses against Conference USA opponents. Rice’s perfect run marks only the third time a women’s team has reached 16-0 in Conference USA, a feat most recently achieved by Houston in the 2010-2011 season. The only current CUSA squad to achieve perfection was UTEP who did it back in 2007-2008.

16

Double-doubles recorded by Owls’ leading scorer Erica Ogwumike. She’s averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds a game this season — a double-double. She’s been held under double-digit points just twice in conference play.

18

Consecutive victories for the Rice team, tied for the second longest streak in the nation. Already the longest such streak in school history, it could be extended with the conference tournament and other postseason games remaining.

19.2

Margin of victory for Rice in conference play. A perfect record would have been impressive by itself, but the level of dominance Rice has exhibited in their victories has been nothing short of incredible. One of the Owls’ 16 conference games has been decided by single digits and Rice has led by more than 40 points in conference games this season.

52.7

Points per game allowed by the Owls this season. Not only does that lead Conference USA, it ranks in the top 10 of the nation. Put in starker context, No. 1 Baylor averages 54.2 points per game allowed. Conference USA hasn’t seen a team this effective on the defensive side of the floor in this decade.

73

Blocks by center Nancy Mulkey who was the most terrifying defender in the paint in the conference. She had more blocks by herself than four different CUSA teams, edging out the next highest blocker, Marie Benson, by 34 blocks. Benson had 39.

93

Highest point total of the season for Rice. It came in a game against McNeese State in the early portion of non conference play. As elite of a defense group as this is, they can still light it up with strong shooting performances, too.

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