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2022-2023 Rice Basketball Season Preview

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It’s been a slow build for Rice basketball. Will the 2022-2023 season be the time when it all comes together and the Owls truly take flight?

Rice basketball head coach Scott Pera knows there’s no silver bullet. He’s coached a lot of basketball to this point and was honest in his preseason assessment of the 2022-2023 team and what he felt the program needed to do to take another step in the right direction.

“You can’t take huge jumps. It’s really hard to improve a lot in certain areas,” he said. “We’ve got to be a little better defensively. We’ve got to be a little bit better offensively. We’ve got to shoot the ball from the free throw line a little better.”

Little by little, Pera theorized, those gradual improvements stack up to meaningful change.

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Rice Basketball Recruiting: Forward Gabe Warren commits to Owls

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The 2023 Rice Basketball Recruiting class continues to pick up steam, landing a big commitment this week from 3-star forward Gabe Warren.

Not long after securing a pledge from 4-star forward Keanu Dawes, the 2023 Rice Basketball recruiting class has doubled up. The Owls now have two members of their upcoming class. In addition to Dawes, Glendale, AZ forward Gabe Warren has committed to Rice Basketball.

Warren had already accrued nearly a dozen offers at the time of his commitment to the Owls, including offers from TCU, Sam Houston, Brown, Dartmouth and others. A Top 50 ranked small forward nationally and the No. 11 player in the state of Arizona, Warren should add some pop to the Rice program when he arrives on campus.

According to 247 Sports rankings, Warren and Dawes rank No. 2 and No. 1 all-time, respectively. The 2023 Rice Basketball recruiting class is currently slotted at No. 42 in the nation and No. 1 in Conference USA. Head coach Scott Pera and his staff have delivered two impressive additions, who enter South Main as the most highly regarded recruits in almost 10 years.

When asked about his decision and his expectations for the program, Warren didn’t beat around the bush. “The program has been slept on for too long,” he said. “Keanu and I noticed that and want to start something big.”

Standing 6-foot-6, Warren can shoot and score from all over the court. Whether from deep of at the rim, he’s an offensive weapon. He’s great off the ball but even more importantly, can create his own shot when he has the rock. He’s really fun to watch. Warren is a big get for the program and someone that will assuredly make an impact for Rice in the years to come.

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Rice Basketball Recruiting: 2023 4-star Forward Keanu Dawes commits to Owls

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The 2023 Rice Basketball Recruiting picked up a massive commitment from four-star Stratford forward Keanu Dawes.

A run of tremendous weeks of athletics on South Main extended to the hardwood this week. The 2023 Rice Basketball recruiting class scored a massive commitment from right down the road. Stratford High School forward Keanu Dawes has committed to the Owls.

Dawes’ addition is a tremendous win for the Rice basketball program. The consensus four-star recruit is a Top 120 player in the country and the No. 9 player in the state of Texas. He picked Rice over an impressive array of six finalists: Rice, Texas A&M, Texas, Utah, BYU and Oklahoma State.

Some heavy hitters wanted to get Dawes’ into their programs. Rice prevailed, notching a big recruiting win for head coach Scott Pera. Dawes is a versatile, 6-foot-9 player that will provide an instant impact at South Main. He can score from all three levels and defend well.

In September, Dawes told On3 he meshed well with the other players during his visit to campus. “We instantly had chemistry,” he said. “It felt like I had known them for years.” Dawes also mentioned the coaching staff sold him on being a critical piece as the team made the transition from Conference USA to the American, a move Pera had mentioned would help on the recruiting trail.

On a separate instance, Dawes confirmed to ZagsBlog that Pera was the first coach to reach out to him and begin building that relationship. All of those factors led him to his decision, which he announced on  Tuesday, October 11.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 111 – Rice basketball guard Carl Pierre

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Former Rice basketball guard Carl Pierre joins the show this week to talk about his time at South Main and what’s next for him in his basketball career.

One of the most productive shooters on this past season’s Rice basketball squad, Carl Pierre made his lone season at South Main a productive one. He set the program record for the most made threes in a single season (97) and led Conference USA in three-point shooting percentage. We caught up with Pierre on this week’s show, discussing what’s next for him in his basketball journey and reliving some memories from his time at Rice.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 111.

Episode Notes

Housekeeping

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Interview — Former Rice Basketball guard Carl Pierre

  • Pierre’s journey to Rice
  • The Transfer Portal
  • His season at South Main, from the highs to the lows
  • Funniest teammates
  • Personal accolades and records
  • What’s next for him professionally?

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

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Rice Basketball Recruiting: Nevada transfer Alem Huseinović commits to Owls

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The Transfer Portal continues to help supplement the 2022 Rice Basketball recruiting class. Nevada transfer Alem Huseinović has committed to the Owls.

As soon as the final buzzer sounded and the offseason began, Rice basketball recruiting and roster management took center stage. #GreenLightU will always be on the lookout for talented shooting guards, clear

Huseinović spent the last two seasons with the Nevada Wolfpack where he appeared in 43 games. Last He averaged 8.3 minutes per game last season, scoring a season-high eight points against George Mason in November. That usage was up slightly from the 7.6 minutes per game he averaged as a true freshman the year before.

Prior to that, he played his high school ball in Arizona, but it was his international exploits that helped put him on the radar. Huseinović led the Bosnia national team to a championship game appearance in the U16 European Championships, an experience Huseinović called “something that I’ll never forget” adding that it helped him learn “how to play on big stages and learn how to play more mature at a young age.”

When he hit the Transfer Portal, Huseinović drew interest from teams across the country. His recruiting would boil down to Rice, Rider, UC Riverside, Southern Utah, NJIT and NAU. He picked the Owls primarily because of the culture and his fit in the scheme deployed by head coach Scott Pera.

Huseinović sees himself as “a guard who can shoot it and create for myself while making others around me better by creating for them”, all skills that would seem to make him a great fit for the Owls shooting-intensive style.

The second addition from the Transfer Portal during this cycle, Huseinović joins forward Seryee Lewis who announced his transfer from Kansas Stater earlier this spring. You can follow all offseason roster moves with our Rice basketball recruiting and roster tracker here.

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