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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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Rice Basketball Roundup: MBB and WBB split vs Charlotte

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

Rice Basketball

Rice basketball overcame a slow start and had to hang on late, edging the Charlotte 49ers at home for their fourth consecutive Conference USA win.

It was a slow start for Rice basketball at Tudor Fieldhouse on Thursday evening. The Owls traded blows with the Charlotte 49ers throughout the first half, but neither side led by more than four and ties were the common thread. The Owls shot just 20 percent from three before the break and were dominated on the boards, with Charlotte owning a 19-12 advantage. Still, it was a close game at the half.

Rice found their shooting stroke early in the second half. The Owls exploded with a 21-6 run, taking a 15-point lead and putting the pressure back on Charlotte. They responded, thundering back and cutting the Rice edge to two points with 5:43 to play. With 14 seconds to go, the game was tied.

Familiar with the pressures of a close game late, Rice got the shot they needed down the stretch — this time in the form of free throw from Quincy Olivari — and some key defensive plays from Max Fiedler and others to close it out and earn their fourth consecutive conference win.

Final Box | Rice 65 – Charlotte 63

Key takeaway | Finding a way to score

Three-point shooting has been the Owls’ bread and butter for years under head coach Scott Pera, but Rice has recently added another level of versatility to its arsenal. In an upset win over North Texas, Rice attacked the lane, trusting their superior guards to create opportunities and capitalize.

Against Charlotte, Rice did not intentionally sidestep the long ball like they did against North Texas, but they did fall back on what worked that night, attacking the basket and trusting Travis Evee and Quincy Olivari to win inside.

A bad shooting night no longer guarantees a loss. A slow start no longer necessitates a furious comeback and near-perfect execution. They’re not perfect, but the Owls are adapting, and that’s a crucial development as they move forward.

Up Next: vs UAB – Saturday, Jan. 28 at 2:00 p.m.

Rice Women's Basketball

Rice women’s basketball never found its rhythm against Charlotte on Thursday night, falling to the 49ers on the road.

Winners of three straight, Rice women’s basketball faced a tough road test on Thursday night against Charlotte. The Owls got on the board first with a three from Destiny Jackson, but it would prove to be just one of four triples the team made in the game, shooting a lowly 21.1 percent from deep and underscoring a difficult shooting night away from home.

Both teams were deadlocked at 15-15 after the first quarter. They traded runs in the middle two frames. Charlotte led by as many as nine. Rice’s largest lead was three. Back and forth the teams went with Rice cutting down the large deficit to just one point with about two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Charlotte responded with a three, putting Rice into comeback mode in the final seconds.

Rice would get close a few times, helped by inconsistent free throw shooting from Charlotte, but it would not be enough. Although they got back within three with seven seconds to play, they could not rally on the road.

Final Box | Charlotte 66 – Rice 61

Key takeaway | Free throw woes

Charlotte let Rice hang around in this game because of free throw struggles of their own, but Rice had a legitimate shot to steal a game in which they did not play their best if they’d just made more free throws. Rice shot 65.4 percent from the charity stripe on Thursday, one of their four worst shooting performances from the line this season.

Poor shooting from the field (32.8 percent) and poor free throw shooting are hard to overcome when both droughts happen on the same night, particularly on the road. Thursday just wasn’t their night.

Up Next: at UAB – Saturday, Jan. 28 at 1:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball outplays North Texas in “program win”

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Rice basketball overcame a slow start, surging past North Texas to secure one of the more impactful wins of head coach Scott Pera’s tenure.

Rice basketball had defeated North Texas once in their last 11 meetings entering Thursday Night’s matchup at the Super Pit, losing by an average of 25 points per game over the past four contests. The Mean Green just simply had the Owls’ number and that appeared to be the case again early on with the home team roaring out to a 13-2 lead.

Down early, Rice swerved from their usual three-point heavy approach and took the ball inside, exploiting mismatches they had on the drive with their superior guard play from Quincy Olivari and Travis Evee.

Sure enough, that double-digit lead dwindled until Rice erased it entirely with a 9-0 run punctuated by another big drive and score from Olivari to take a 21-20 lead, the Owls’ only edge in the first half.

North Texas wasn’t particularly effective in close range, maintaining their advantage early in the second half primarily with three-pointers — they hit 10 of 27 threes — rather than attacking inside. But when those threes stopped, Rice took over.

The Mean Green hit their final three of the game with 11:29 remaining in the second half, putting them up by five points, 47-42. From that point onward, Rice outscored North Texas 30-13, including a devastating 11-0 run over a four-minute span to put the game away for good and secure head coach Scott Pera’s first career win at North Texas.

Spotlight | Pera’s plan

Rice basketball had two improbable firsts in its win over North Texas. First, Pera’s game plan was entirely bespoke. The Owls entered the game averaging 25.4 three-point attempts per game. They attempted just seven such shots on Thursday night, the fewest three-point attempts by a Pera-coached Rice squad, ever.

Equally surprising for a team that has traditionally relied on the long ball, the low number of deep shots led to a meager three successful three-point baskets. That’s the fewest three-pointers made in a Rice victory under Pera, ever.

For Pera to flip the script 180 degrees took guts. And it worked. A double-digit underdog in the betting markets, Pera’s squad left Denton with what is arguably the most impressive win of his tenure, a win Pera described as a true “program win.”

Final Box | Rice 72 – North Texas 60

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice basketball returns home for a two-game set at Tudor Fieldhouse this weekend. They’ll host Charlotte on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7:00 p.m. CT then play UAB at 2:00 p.m. to close out the homestand.

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Max Fiedler triple-double lifts Rice Basketball past UTSA

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Rice basketball fell behind big, but rallied late with Max Fiedler’s triple-double outing powering the Owls past UTSA on the road.

Following a stretch of games in which Rice basketball had built early leads and tried to hold on, the Owls found themselves in the exact opposite scenario on Monday night at UTSA. The Owls went ice cold from the three-point line while UTSA began the night on a heater. Rice began the night 2-of-12 from long range. UTSA started with makes on 8-of-14 triples. And just like that, an 18-point UTSA lead materialized.

Somehow, Rice thundered back. With 4:02 to play, the Owls trailed by 10. With 1:45 to go, they trailed by six. Finally, with 1.1 on the clock and the Owls nursing a miraculous one-point lead, Rice sent UTSA’s Japhet Medor to the line to shoot two. He made one and overtime commenced.

Cameron Sheffield and Mekhi Mason put Rice in front by five, then Travis Evee and Quincy Olivari followed with a combination of threes and free throws to build a nine-point advantage. They’d win by that margin, capping off one of the more improbable comebacks in the conference this season.

Final Box | Rice 88 – UTSA 79 (OT)

Key takeaway | Triple-Double Max

Max Fiedler has been praised for his ability as a facilitator for years. The veteran big man is one of the best in the game when it comes to getting the ball to his teammates, but cracking the double-digit mark in assists on Monday (11) set up an even more impressive feat. With 13 rebounds and 24 points, Fiedler became the second player in program history to record a triple-double.

The assists came in overtime, part of an incredible performance that sparked the thrilling come-from-behind victory. It’s not uncommon for Fiedler’s contributions on the court to go well beyond what shows up in the box score. Against UTSA, that box score reflected his significance loud and clear.

Up Next: at North Texas – Thursday, Jan. 19 at 7:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball Roundup: MBB and WBB vs UTEP

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

Rice Basketball

Rice basketball fended off an early UTEP run then made a thriller at the buzzer to notch their first conference home win of the season.

After failing to hold sizable leads in previous games, Rice basketball was handed a very different game script on Saturday against UTEP. The game began with a modest back and forth before a 13-3 UTEP run late in the first half put Rice into a perilous position. Quincy Olivari quickly keyed an 11-2 Rice spurt to return the game back to near level in the waning minutes of the first half.

Already survivors of an early scare, Rice entered the second half motivated. Olivari and Travis Evee strung together a trio of three-pointers and a few more buckets, a 13-0 run, which put Rice back in front for the first time since the 11:25 mark in the first half.

It wouldn’t be easy, though. UTEP took the lead on a free throw with six seconds to play. Then Evee took the ball down the court and put one up at the buzzer, watching it fall through the net for the game-winner.

Final Box | Rice 83 – UTEP 82

Key takeaway | In the hunt

Entering Saturday, eight of the 11 teams in Conference USA were within one game of .500 in league play, with most hovering somewhere between 2-3 and 3-3. If Rice basketball had hopes of contending for an upper-half finish in the conference they needed to avoid falling too far in the race early on in the season. They did that this weekend, earning an important win to move back to .500 in league play.

The Owls were one of only two teams in the conference without a home win in league play prior to this important victory. Head coach Scott Pera is quick to preach the significance of taking care of home court, and they achieved that today.

Up Next: at UTSA – Monday, Jan. 16 at 7:00 p.m.

Rice Women's Basketball

Rice women’s basketball was able to build a lead and maintain it, taking down UTEP on the road for their second conference win.

On New Year’s Eve, Rice women’s basketball beat UTEP to stop a losing skid. On Saturday, they did it again, taking down the Miners for the second time this season. The game was tight early, with the Owls holding small leads in the first and second quarters with both teams shooting well early on. Things began to shift in the third quarter when the Rice defensive effort was cranked up to another level.

UTEP was held to 7.1 percent shooting in the third frame, making just one shot from the field. That stingy defense, combined with a 50 percent shooting mark of their own from the floor, helped Rice open up an 18-point advantage which proved too big for the Miners to climb out of, even with a stronger fourth quarter.

“I felt we imposed our will for 40 minutes. We really executed the defensive gameplan and we then we had a really balanced attack on the offensive end,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. ” You saw a lot of effort and energy, but most importantly, I just liked our focus.”

Final Box | Rice 73 – UTEP 62

Key takeaway | Confidence builder

With the loss, UTEP falls to 4-2 in conference play, undefeated in games against all other foes except for the Rice Owls. The win was important, if for no other reason that to soothe any anxieties associated with a prolonged losing streak. But more than that, it was a win against a very good conference foe.

UTEP is second in the conference standings right now and Rice has already beaten the Miners twice. Middle Tennessee (6-0) is playing exceptional basketball right now, but everyone else in the conference is on the Owls’ level — as things currently stand — and we’ve seen this team hang with great teams over the past year and a half.

Every team has tough stretches of its season for one reason or another. Notching a second win against this team proves that this Rice women’s basketball squad can be a real force if they’re clicking at the right time.

Up Next: vs UTSA – Monday, Jan. 16 at 7:00 p.m.

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