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UPSET! Rice Basketball stuns Memphis

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Rice basketball stunned Memphis, leading the home favorites for the majority of the game to notch one of the biggest wins of Scott Pera’s tenure.

If Rice basketball was meant to be intimidated as heavy underdogs at the FedEx Forum against Memphis, they didn’t show it. The visiting Owls, losers of six of seven AAC contests, held Memphis to 22 points in the first half, outshooting the Tigers on their home court as they built a double-digit lead in the opening frame.

It was sharp shooting from Keanu Dawes and Alem Huseinovic that helped the Owls build their early lead. Anthony Selden delivered the closing run of the half, pushing the Rice lead to 11, their largest of the night so far. From that point, the play-by-play reverted to a familiar storyline. Rice had a big lead, could they hold on?

Rice basketball has squandered its fair share of double-digit leads this season. On Wednesday night, whether it was favor finally finding the feathered fighters or a true moment of resolve, one might never know, but Rice found a way to hold the line.

Memphis took the lead back with four minutes remaining, erasing the longstanding Rice advantage. Rather than fluster, Rice fired back. Travis Evee connected on back-to-back threes. The first tied the game. The second put Rice in front with less than a minute to play. Dawes would make four crucial free throws after that. Evee added one more from the stripe. Then it was over.

A last-second heave from Memphis clanked off the rim and hit the court. Before it collided with the hardwood, the Rice bench had already begun celebrating one of, if not the biggest win of Scott Pera’s tenure.

“It took 40 minutes of a team effort from top to bottom. Guys that played a lot of the game, guys that didn’t play it all. Everyone was engaged,” Evee said. “We played for each other and that’s why we won.”

Final Box | Rice 74 – Memphis 71

Key takeaway | Best Ball

Evee said it best in his closing comments after the landmark win: “When we’re playing our best ball, we can compete with anyone.” That’s been the thesis this team has been clinging to for months now. Since the season began, this team believed they had a team that was good enough to challenge the best the American Conference had to offer. On Wednesday night, they were finally rewarded.

“Our kids have overcome a lot. They’ve dealt with a lot. Tonight was just a heck of a win from a group of kids that have just been staying with it,” head coach Scott Pera said afterward. “The preparation has been good. The practice has been good. The approach and the attitude has been good. And it’s all that you can ask as a coach. You want to see them get some wins because you know that we can win.”

Memphis was the No. 10 team in the country a few weeks ago. Even when accounting for their recent losing skid — now exacerbated by the Owls — this is a very good basketball team. And Rice beat them, arguably making the game a lot closer than it should have been with the missed free throws down the stretch.

The question now will be whether or not this team can replicate that kind of 40-minute effort. If they can, they’ll have a shot to climb out of the sizable hole they dug for themselves over the last several weeks. Everyone in that locker room believes this game can be that turning point. Hopefully, they’re right.

Up Next: at UTSA (Saturday, Feb. 3)

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Grab Bag: What’s going on around Rice Athletics? Jan 2024 Q&A

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Rather than drill down on one topic, subscribers had a variety of questions this month touching all areas of Rice Athletics. We hit on them all.

A lot is going on around Rice Athletics right as the new year begins. This mailbag touches on a host of topics ranging from Scott Pera’s coaching tenure and basketball facilities, football recruiting, baseball and more.

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Q: Did Rice really just land the best recruit in program history? How? What?

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Furious comeback falls short as Rice basketball loses to Tulsa

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A furious last-minute rally fell just short as Rice basketball dropped a crucial home tilt to Tulsa, 85-83.

Leads were fleeting for Rice basketball on Saturday night against Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane scored twice to open the game with a 5-0 lead before a 7-0 Rice run put the Owls in front. That would prove to be the only lead for the home team through the remainder of the contest, which would ebb and flow and remain competitive up until the final buzzer.

No sooner had Rice claimed their meager lead did Tulsa rattle off an 11-0 run. Alem Huseinovic would fire back with a pair of threes and then shortly after an 8-0 Tulsa run put Rice down 12 points on their home court.

Rice was able to engineer a few spurts of success to cut their deficit. Max Fiedler orchestrated a good portion of those pushes, finishing three assists shy of a triple-double (14 points, 10 boards, 7 assists). Travis Evee scored all 15 of his points in the second half. Mekhi Mason led the way with 19 points.

Down by eight with 27 seconds, Rice nearly completed a miracle comeback, missing a tip shot at the buzzer that would have forced overtime. With the loss, Rice falls to 1-6 in league play, allowing Tulsa to pick up its first road win in two years, snapping a streak of 18 consecutive road losses.

Final Box | Tulsa 85 – Rice 83

Key takeaway | Reenergizing Evee

Not far removed from a scoreless 0-for-12 outing against FAU on Wednesday, Evee spent most of the first half of this game riding the bench, sidelined by early foul trouble after missing his lone shot attempt before the halftime buzzer.

In total, he would go more than 43 minutes of time on the court without a made field goal, dating back to a layup against Temple. That streak was mercifully ended with a second half three, part of an eventual 15-point outburst that nearly included a game winning three, had it not been blocked.

Rice played FAU and Tulsa close with little contribution from their best scorer. Rice doesn’t get anywhere close to their furious comeback without Evee, who scored five of the Owls’ 13 points in the final minute. If Rice is going to have any shot of getting things going down the stretch, they need Evee at his best. Hopefully the second half a sign he’s heating up once again.

Up Next: at Memphis (Wednesday, Jan. 31)

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Rice Basketball drops defensive slugfest to FAU

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Rice basketball was able to hold FAU well under its seasonal scoring average, but couldn’t make their shots when it mattered most, falling to the Owls at home.

In much the same way Alem Huseinovic’s insertion into the everyday starting lineup for Rice basketball has come as a pleasant surprise for the Owls’ on-court production, so too was seeing him hit the opening layup to put Rice ahead of No. 22 FAU and then continue to ensure this clash of Owls was much closer than anyone else might have anticipated.

Rice kept FAU within striking distance throughout a contest most oddsmakers tabbed to be decidedly one-sided, mixing in a stout defensive effort with timely threes from some of the more unlikely candidates. Travie Evee didn’t make a shot from deep. Sam Alajiki had a pair of triples in the first half alone.

Even if the formula was unusual, it worked to a great degree, allowing Rice to keep pace with FAU throughout. That didn’t look like it was going to happen near the midpoint of the second quarter, but with FAU leading by a game-high 14 points, Huseinovic, Anthony Selden and Mehki Mason provided a burst that pushed the margin back down to single digits.

Free throws would play a pivotal role in the finale. FAU made its final 12 shots from the charity stripe, including a perfect 8-0 in the final three minutes. Rice missed its last four, effectively ending any last-chance attempts at a comeback.

Final Box | FAU 69 – Rice 56

Key takeaway | Functional defense

Wednesday’s defensive performance was more in line with the one Rice basketball fans were envisioning to start the season. It wasn’t a lockdown, stellar night of defensive execution, but it was an aggressive brand of basketball that forced FAU to make some mistakes and settle for less-than-ideal shots. As a result, Rice held FAU to 15 points under their season average. Three days ago they dropped 112 on UTSA in overtime.

If we’re nitpicking the defense, FAU shot a little below their season average but held a significant margin on the boards. Even still, it was a five-point game in the closing minutes thanks in large part to the defense. The offense and the free throw shooting certainly weren’t doing the team any favors.

No, it was a sub-50 percent free throw shooting performance and an off night from Travis Evee and Keanu Dawes (who combined to go 0-14 from the field) that was more to blame for the Owls’ coming up short than the defense. Strange times, indeed.

Up Next: vs Tulsa (Saturday, Jan. 27)

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Rice Basketball outlasts Temple for first-ever AAC win

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It wasn’t easy, but Rice basketball is heading home from Temple with their first-ever AAC win, taking down the conference’s other Owls 69-66.

The visiting Owls made themselves feel right at home against Temple on Saturday afternoon. Rice basketball knocked down a trio of three-point shots in the opening minutes, jumping out ahead 11-5 on the road. From there, the combination of Max Fiedler and Mekhi Mason took over, stretching a close game to yet another double-digit advantage for Rice.

A 13-point halftime lead did not last long. Temple opened the second half on a 7-0 run and, as if that wasn’t daunting enough, Travis Evee picked up his fourth foul shortly after that run. Not only was Rice going to have to find a way to hold onto the lead, they were going to have to do so without their top scorer on the floor for much of the second half.

Evee went to the bench. Rice lost the lead. Temple slowly added to their advantage, going up by six points before Evee was reinserted into the game. Playing with no foul margin, Evee scored eight straight points, spurring a Rice rally that was desperately needed.

With the game back in reach, a stressful series of closing possessions soon followed. Missed free throws from both sides and errant passes culminated in two clutch free throws from Mason, who finished with a team-high 20 points, powering Rice to a lead in the final seconds. A three-ball from Temple at the buzzer would clank off the rim, giving Rice basketball its first-ever AAC win.

The win was Pera’s 350th career win.

“This has been a tough stretch, one of the toughest of my career of 33 years,” head coach Scott Pera said after the game. “They’ve just hung with it. They’ve practiced good. We’ve been playing better. We just gotta win. We found a way today. I’m just so proud of them.”

Final Box | Rice 69 – Temple 66

Key takeaway | A win is a win is a win

Despite a slow start in conference play, getting a lead hasn’t been too difficult for Rice basketball over the last several weeks. This has been a good first half team, building sizable advantages early in games but not having the ability to sustain that level of play over 40 minutes. Whether it’s endurance, focus or misfortune of one kind or another, leads have too frequently disappeared as quickly as they have come.

So when Rice took a 16-point lead in the waning minutes of the first half, confidences were mixed. After all, the Owls had done this before but they hadn’t finished yet. On Saturday on the road, Rice finally got it done.

The victory in itself will not awe anyone on the outside. Temple entered the game 8-10 (1-4 AAC). It won’t go down in any record books or be spoken about as a resume builder for a program looking to turn the corner and get going back in the right direction. However, it should serve as proof of concept for what this team is capable of when they can play well and execute offensively.

Getting out of an 0-4 AAC start can’t happen overnight. It’s one game at a time. This was one baby step, sorely needed after an arduous beginning.

Up Next: vs Florida Atlantic (Wednesday, Jan. 24)

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