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Rice Basketball: Still searching for consistency and recurring “A-game”

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An up-and-down Rice Basketball season marches on. Where do the Owls stand and what do they need to do to finish strong?

The story of the 2022-2023 Rice basketball season takes more than two games to tell, but the juxtaposition of the Owls’ dominant win on the road against North Texas on January 19 against a frustrating 10-point loss to the same squad at home 16 days later more or less sums up the kind of year it’s been for the Owls on the court.

At their best, they can hang with the league’s upper tier. But they’re not at their best every night, and therein lies the problem and the questions, many of which remain unanswered.

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Photo credit: Maria Lysaker
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Free throw woes doom Rice Basketball vs North Texas

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Rice basketball started strong but was unable to rally from a first-half deficit, falling to North Texas at Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday.

Saturday night’s rematch between Rice basketball and North Texas had all the makings of a thrilling affair right up until Max Fiedler temporarily halted the contest with a dunk that turned off the shot clock. After some deliberation, the opposite shot clock was turned off and the game resumed, complete with a 10-second countdown from the PA announcer to simulate the clock that was no longer illuminated.

North Texas was unphased. Rice looked flustered. Rice led by two when the clock turned off. North Texas responded with a 16-2 run, ultimately outscoring Rice 21-8 in the remainder of the half.

“I think that we kinda stopped communicating a little bit and lapsed on defense for a few minutes,” guard Travis Evee said of the technical interruption caused by the clock, which was restored to order before the start of the second half.

With the clock restored, Rice opened the half on a 13-6 run, cutting the North Texas lead to three. That was as close as they were able to get. Rice managed to shoot reasonably well (48.1 percent in the second half, 47.1 percent for the game) but was unable to retake the lead. “They had to deal with it too,” head coach Scott Pera said. “They dealt with it better than us.”

Rice entered Saturday as one of the best free throw shooting teams in the conference but would miss five in a row in the second half including the front end of a double-double twice in that span. They shot 55.6 percent on the night, nearly 20 points worse than their season average.

“To win these games, you’ve got to play your A-game. In this league, if you don’t play your A-game you’re not going to win, especially against North Texas,” Pera said. “We played about our C-plus team, and that’s not enough.”

Final Box | North Texas 74 – Rice 64

Key takeaway | Eliminating the lulls

Aside from a blowout loss to UAB, Rice basketball has been in a close ball game late in the second half just about every time they’ve taken the court. It’s impossible for each of the games to break the right way, but it certainly feels like the bounces haven’t favored the Owls this weekend.

On Thursday, Rice trailed by 24 against Louisiana Tech before falling to take the lead late, before losing by eight. The deficit didn’t get quite that big on Saturday against North Texas, but Rice had their chances to turn a 13-point deficit into a single-shot affair, they were unable to do so, primarily because of an ice-cold 0-for-5 streak at the free throw line in the middle of the second half.

If Rice can find a way to avoid falling behind by double-digits with regularity, some of these nailbiters might just turn into less stressful wins. Perfection isn’t a realistic expectation, but finding a way to maintain 40 minutes of competitive play has to be a focal point because the tough stretches have made even the competitive games feel like they require Herculean efforts to win, resulting in losses like this.

Up Next: at Florida Atlantic – Thursday, Feb. 9 at 6:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball: Owls rally falls short at Louisiana Tech

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Rice basketball fell behind big early and clawed back to take the lead before running out of gas on the road against Louisiana Tech.

After going back and forth in their last meeting, Thursday’s matchup between Rice basketball and Louisiana Tech had the makings of another tight-nit contest. Another overtime-forcing buzzer-beater seemed impossible when the Owls fell behind by 24 points, unable to answer a barrage of first-half three-pointers from the Bulldogs.

Unfortunately, the Owls are no strangers to slow starts. They fell behind big early against UAB in their last outing a few days prior but were unable to battle back. On Thursday, though, Rice was able to find that extra gear.

Rice went on an 8-0 run to close the first half down 16 rather than 24. They kept that momentum rolling through intermission into the second half, outscoring Louisiana Tech 27-10 to start the frame, eradicating their deficit and taking a one-point lead.

The two sides would trade minor leads for a few more minutes, but it was Louisiana Tech that was able to dig deep and close things out. They finished the game on an 8-0 run with the final four points courtesy of a double-technical foul and subsequent ejection of Rice head coach Scott Pera as the clock was expiring. Rice did themselves no favors, failing to record a field goal of their own in the final five and a half minutes.

Final Box | LA Tech 80 – Rice 72

Key takeaway | Bad one to lose

There’s never a good time to lose, but letting a late lead slip through the Owls’ clutches on Thursday was particularly inopportune. Rice entered the day third in the Conference USA standings with a half game lead on the group just behind them. That is gone now, and waiting on the Owls’ schedule in the coming days are games against FAU (No. 1 in C-USA) and North Texas (No. 2).

Rice did beat North Texas head-to-head a few games back, a monumental victory for Pera and the program. Winning back-to-back games against the Mean Green in a single season would make the first time the Owls have ever done that. It’s possible… but on paper much harder to do than holding onto a late lead against the .500-ish Lousiana Tech Bulldogs.

If Rice hopes to achieve a first-round bye in the conference tournament they’re either going to have to pull off a few more upsets or hold serve against the more winnable games on their schedule. Losing Thursday makes that road all the more challenging.

Up Next: vs North Texas – Saturday, Feb. 4 at 7:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball Roundup: MBB fall, WBB win vs UAB

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Both Rice basketball teams were in action against UAB on Saturday. Here’s a brief rundown of how the men and women faired and what’s next for both.

Rice Basketball

Rice basketball saw their hot streak come to a screeching halt against a short-handed UAB squad, falling at home in a largely uncompetitive fashion.

Rice basketball has been no stranger to a slow start. The Owls have been a hot and cold team all year, relying on their dominant stretches to smooth over some of their less-than-stellar moments. On Saturday, their shooting performance began almost as cold as it possibly could.

Very little went through the hoop for Rice in the first half. They shot 20 percent from the field and made just three of 12 three-point attempts. Leading scorers Quincy Olivari and Travis Evee combined for five total points and nine of the 19 missed shots. On the other side, UAB shot a strong, but not overwhelming 46 percent from the field. At the half, UAB led 33-15 and it felt like it could have been worse.

The second half was much more even, exactly even, actually. Both teams scored 37 points in the second half, but that didn’t matter much for Rice who went into the break already facing a massive deficit. Cameron Sheffield (3-for-7, 12 points) was the only Rice player to score with any sort of consistency as they played out the stretch in what became a crushing defeat against a UAB squad down three key players including its star, Jelly Walker.

Head coach Scott Pera was frank in his postgame comments. “That’s kind of an old-fashioned butt-kicking,” he said.

Final Box | UAB 70 – Rice 52

Key takeaway | When it’s bad, it’s bad

Rice basketball has been a really good team this year. At 15-6 overall and 6-4 in conference play, they’ve been objectively one of the better teams in Conference USA. They’ve shown they can hang with just about anyone on the court on any given day, but — and it’s a significant but — when they’re off their game, things can go south quickly.

Here are the margins of defeat in the Owls’ six losses this season:

  • 37 – at Pepperdine (Nov. 7)
  • 35 – at Middle Tennessee (Nov. 15)
  • 6 – at Texas (Dec. 12)
  • 6 – at Louisiana Tech (Jan. 5)
  • 3 – at Middle Tennessee (Jan. 11)
  • 18 – vs UAB

Even some of the better teams in college basketball have an off night. Even in three of their losses (Texas, LA Tech and MTSU) the Owls played relatively well for parts of those games. But when Rice has an off night, they have the propensity to get run out of the gym.

It’s hard to deny head coach Scott Pera has raised this program’s ceiling. In the same breath, games like this one serve as a clear reminder the floor needs to be raised, too. Head coach Scott Pera was effusive in his praise for UAB, but said he couldn’t help but wonder if his team had finally just hit a wall following a run of so many close games.

“We had two bad ones a long time ago,” he said, “But we’ve only had one in a long time. Let’s just hope you’re not asking me this again anytime soon and we rebound from this.”

Up Next: at Louisiana Tech – Thursday, Feb. 2 at 6:00 p.m.

Rice Women's Basketball

It wasn’t a great shooting day for Rice women’s basketball, but the defense was stellar and propelled the Owls to an important road win.

The early portions of the Rice women’s basketball game against UAB were largely unassuming. The two squads traded minor advantages, swapping out baskets and rebounds and nearly an even rate. UAB outscored Rice 17-15 in the first quarter, then equaled that 17-15 margin in the second frame.

Down by four at the half, Rice still felt very much in the game despite not really getting into a rhythm on the offensive side of the court. The defense had been solid, holding UAB close despite the Blazers shooting 59 percent to the Owls’ 35 percent from the floor in the first half. That was true, right up until UAB threatened to break the game open early in the third quarter.

The Blazers started the third with back-to-back threes, then followed up a Rice layup with two more buckets of their own. Suddenly a four-point UAB lead had ballooned to 12, forcing Rice into catchup mode. Jazzy Owens-Barnett answered with six straight points of her own to give the Owls some life before Rice would go on a 10-2 run to close the quarter deadlocked at 50 points aside.

In the fourth quarter, Rice slammed the door. UAB shot just 27 percent from the field and turned the ball over 10 times — the Blazers ended the day with 24 giveaways — as the Owls began to build a lead of their own. Despite trailing for most of the game, Rice would go on to win by 10.

Final Box | Rice 67 – UAB 57

Key takeaway | Finishing strong

The best 10 minutes of Rice basketball on Saturday were played during the fourth quarter. Rice outscored UAB 17-7 down the stretch and was able to get production from a variety of sources. In the fourth quarter alone they got 13 points from the bench, stole the ball five times and committed just four turnovers. They took care of the basketball and forced UAB to make mistakes.

Rice shot just 33 percent from the floor in the fourth quarter and did not make a three. Yet somehow they were able to reverse a one-point deficit and build a double-digit lead. Even when the offense isn’t clicking, this team showed it still has the tenacity to buckle down and finish games. Good teams can win in a variety of ways and that’s the kind of team the Owls aspire to be.

“Today was about toughness,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. “We found a spark and we just kept going and we were tough and we kept battling and we found a way to get a win on the road.”

Up Next: vs Louisiana Tech – Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball: Is this team for real? — January Patreon Q&A

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The win over North Texas was incredible, but barely beating UTSA was disappointing. Which version of Rice basketball shows up next time?

If you asked Rice basketball head coach Scott Pera if he’s come down from cloud nine, he might not yet know the answer. Even with practices to attend to and new games to play, the significance of the Owls’ recent upset win over North Texas won’t be lost on Pera. In the standings, it’s one game. But what about in the grand scheme of things? Has this program gotten over the hump? We tackle that in this month’s Patreon Q&A.

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