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Rice Basketball routed by Florida Atlantic

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Rice basketball officially said goodbye to a first round bye on Thursday with a blowout loss to Florida Atlantic on their home court.

It wasn’t so much a slow start that doomed Rice basketball against Florida Atlantic on Thursday night — although they did fall behind 9-0 to start — it was the unrelenting onslaught from Conference USA’s preeminent team. Florida Atlantic had runs of 8-0, 13-0 and 10-0 in the first half alone, concluding with an emphatic 10 points run to complete the half.

Rice scored the first second points of the second half, but it fell on hollow ears following the 29-point deficit they faced at the break. A hole that size would have been hard enough to overcome against a mediocre opponent. Florida Atlantic proved they were far from that, responding to the most Rice rally and further lengthening their lead to as much as 36 points. Rice never came close.

Final Box | Florida Atlantic 103 – Rice 74

Key takeaway | Shooting spree

Rice basketball is now officially dead last in Conference USA in opposing field goal percentage allowed. They are 10th (out of 11 teams) in points per game allowed. The defense that seemed to be slowly building through nonconference play has been nowhere to be seen for the Owls over the past several weeks.

It doesn’t matter who Rice plays, allowing 100 points should never be acceptable. They held Texas, a Top 10 team, to 87 points including overtime. Florida Atlantic dropped 103 points on Rice on Thursday, and it could have been worse.

It’s not a new refrain, but it is an ever-growing chorus: if Rice basketball can’t play any semblance of defense, it won’t matter how many threes they can make. Florida Atlantic shot 53.4 percent from the floor and 47.2 percent from three. Sometimes teams get hot. When it keeps happening time and time again, it’s a trend. And Rice is running out of time to find solutions.

Up Next: vs FIU – Saturday, Mar. 4 at 2:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball sputters in road loss to Charlotte

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Rice basketball came out flat and was unable to rally, falling on the road to Charlotte and likely playing themselves out of a first round bye in the C-USA Tournament.

On a day when Rice basketball needed to be at their best, the Owls never really seemed to find their footing. Once again the troubles began with a slow start. Rice shot 28.6 percent from the field in the first half and made two threes (on 14 attempts). Despite the offensive struggles, Rice was able to hang around for a while, keeping the margin with a couple of possessions for most of the first half. Charlotte would close the half on a 7-3 run to go up by 11, their largest lead of the game at that point.

The second half was all 49ers. Following a layup from Travis Evee and two more Rice free throws, Charlotte opened the game up with a 9-0 run that gave them an 18-point lead. The margin would fluctuate from that point onward, but Charlotte was able to deny the final Rice push with a string of threes in the final minutes, finishing off a 5-for-9 mark from deep in the second half and preventing any chance of a late Rice rally.

Final Box | Charlotte 70 – Rice 54

Key takeaway | Coming in cold

Coaches always talk about getting their teams to play their best basketball in March. The calendar still technically reads February, but Rice basketball is decidedly not bringing their A-game into the most important month of the season. With two games to go, Rice has all but played itself out of a first-round bye in the Conference USA Tournament. Charlotte now holds a one-game lead over Rice with two games to play.

Rice basketball has lost six of its last eight games. If they’re going to make a run in the conference tournament, they’ll have to win a few in a row. Rice has shown an ability to reel off a nice winning streak, but the Owls haven’t won back-to-back games since January. It’s going to be March when they take the court for the next time. It’s not too late to get hot, but the Owls are certainly on the verge of running out of time.

Up Next: at Charlotte – Saturday, Feb. 25 at 3:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball 2023 Roster Tracker

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The Rice basketball roster will grow and change between the end of the regular season and the start of the next. Stay tuned here for updates.

Roster churn has become a part of college sports as we know and Rice basketball is not immune to the ebb and flow of players coming in and out. With the 2022-2023 season in the books, this page will serve as a running tracker regarding the roster for the upcoming season as it currently stands. The last official roster is available here.

More: 2023 Rice Basketball State of the Program

Feel free to bookmark it and refer back to it from time to time as players announce their intentions throughout the offseason.

Departing with Eligibility (4)

  • G Quincy Olivari
  • F Seryee Lewis
  • G Jaden Geron
  • G Mason Jones

Departing Seniors/Graduates (3)

  • G Reed Myers
  • G Jake Lieppert
  • F Ben Moffat

Incoming High School Signees (3)

Incoming Transfers (3)

Current Expected Remaining Roster (10)

  • F Andrew Akuchie
  • G Travis Evee
  • F Max Fiedler
  • G Alem Huseinovic
  • G Mekhi Mason
  • F Damion McDowell
  • F Jackson Peakes
  • F George Perkins
  • F Cam Sheffield
  • C Ifeanyi Ufochukwu

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Rice Basketball Survives “Test of Our Mettle” vs Texas State

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Rice Basketball blasted by UAB Blazers in Birmingham

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Rice basketball was blasted by the UAB Blazers for the second time this season, falling in Birmingham in a game that was all but over at halftime.

Everything seemed in normal order on Thursday evening when Ty Brewer opened the scoring for UAB with a jumper to put Rice Basketball behind 2-0 in the opening minute. Rice would answer, twice, going ahead 4-2. The Blazers would go on a run from there, but even when KJ Buffen hit a three leading into the first media timeout to put UAB up 15-4, things didn’t feel out of control. That would change quickly, though.

UAB would grow their lead to 21 points before Rice would score again. The Owls’ swipes soon seemed to be little more than paper cuts against the Blazers’ impervious defense and aggressive counterattack. Following a Quincy Olivari three to bring Rice back within 18 points, UAB would deliver another back-breaking rally, outscoring Rice 21-2 over the next stretch, taking a 50-13 lead late in the first half, ending with a 55-24 halftime advantage.

Unsurprisingly, Rice basketball was unable to climb out of the 27-point halftime hole, falling on the road in decisive fashion. Next, they’ll travel to Charlotte in a game the Owls must win if they hope to hold off the 49ers in the race for the final first-round bye.

Final Box | UAB 84 – Rice 57

Key takeaway | The duality of the Owl

For better or worse, Rice basketball seems to have settled into an exhausting back-and-forth between one of two styles of game. On some days, Rice is locked in, they rally to a decent lead, then try their best to hold on in the final minutes. In the others, they’re blasted out of the gates, fall behind by a considerable amount and are realistically out of the game before the second half gets underway.

The latter is where Rice found itself on Thursday night. After posting a quiet 4-2 lead, UAB ripped off a 25-1 run and that was that. It was an off night and Rice had no answer, at least not until the game was well past out of reach. This isn’t a new development with this team and they’re running out of time to find a solution. The conference tournament will be here soon and there will be no more grace given for off days. It’ll be win or go home.

Up Next: at Charlotte – Saturday, Feb. 25 at 3:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball earns season sweep of WKU with home win

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For the first time under head coach Scott Pera, Rice basketball has swept Western Kentucky. The Owls knocked off the Hilltoppers again Saturday, moving to 2-0 this season.

Following an extended stretch of slow starts, Rice basketball came out red-hot against the red-clad Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Saturday night at Tudor Fieldhouse. Quincy Olivari conducted the early onslaught, scoring 20 points in the first half alone on his way to a monster 34-point game, a career-high, along with 12 rebounds, tying a career-best.

With Olivari firing on all cylinders, the Owls were able to hold off every Hilltopper advance. Western Kentucky mounted an 11-0 run late in the first half and an 8-0 run in the opening minutes of the second half. Still, Rice kept and maintained the lead. Every time Western Kentucky got back inside of double-digits, Rice had an answer.

The game wouldn’t really get close until the final 30 seconds when Western Kentucky knocked down three long-range threes in separation mode. It still wouldn’t be enough, however, as Max Fiedler, Cameron Sheffield and Mekhi Mason knocked down enough free throws to secure the win.

The win was significant for Rice basketball for several reasons. First, it secures a winning record, Pera’s second at Rice. Second, it’s already the highest single-season win total of Pera’s tenure with four regular season games still to play. Finally, it clinches a season sweep of Western Kentucky, a first for Pera at Rice.

“It shows where we’ve come and kind of where we are,” Pera said. “It’s not about this huge peak and then Rice crashes again. No, we keep getting better, and better. And slow goes the role, I guess, there’s been no huge jumps. But it keeps improving and that is the goal.”

Final Box | Rice 83 – WKU 78

Key takeaway | Fast starts make all the difference

Against Western Kentucky, Rice baseball was the aggressor. They came out early, dictated how the game was going to be played and made Western Kentucky play catch up. Before the game, Pera stressed exactly that to his team. The Owls led at halftime in three of 15 league games and had a -90 point differential.

“I changed everything up, Pera said, “Shoot around, pregame warmup. And they responded, to their credit, with just a lot of energy and togetherness and you could see it. It was 10-0 out of the game and we’ve had a lot of 10-0’s on the other side.”

With an early lead, Rice basketball had breathing room. The pressure to make every shot didn’t seem to be there and the Owls were able to push Western Kentucky inside and limit the three ball. If the Hilltoppers were going to come back, it was going to require a steam stream of two which they ultimately could not deliver. For Rice, this is the formula for winning basketball.

Up Next: at UAB – Thursday, Feb. 22 at 6:30 p.m.

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