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Rice Athletics: Top 10 Moments from 2022

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2022 was filled with highs and lows for Rice Athletics. The Roost picked out 10 moments that stood out the most along the way.

10. Rice Swimming wins Open Water Title

Ella Dyson led the way for Rice swimming in Open Water Championship, finishing the 5K course in first place, becoming the first Rice swimmer to win an individual championship in the history of the event. It was enough to propel the Owls to a team title at the event, its first since 2019.

9. Men’s Tennis boasts Freshman of the Year

Haoyuan Huang went 17-5 record in singles in his first year in college tennis. His 13-3 mark at the first line was the best mark at the top position in the lineup by a Rice freshman since former All-American Richard Barker was 15-8 in 2001.

8. Men’s basketball makes a big recruiting splash

Winning on the recruiting front is the easiest way to secure wins on the court down the line, that’s what made the commitment of 4-star guard Keanu Dawes so massive this year. To earn his pledge, Rice had to beat out offers from Texas A&M, Texas Utah, BYU and Oklahoma State. Needless to say, he’s going to be a difference-maker when he arrives on campus in 2023.

7. Women’s basketball upsets Texas A&M

Rice Athletics had several big singular game wins this year but when it came to wins over teams from the Lone Star State, what the women’s basketball team did against the Maroon and White in November takes the cake. The Owls beat the Aggies in College Station for just the fourth time in program history.

6. Men’s basketball upsets UAB

Speaking of upsets, the men earned one of their most notable victories under current head coach Scott Pera way back in January, knocking off UAB — a top 50 KenPom team and a C-USA giant — at Tudor Fieldhouse. Pera was almost speechless. “I don’t remember one bigger than this,” he said at the time.

5. Rice soccer goes undefeated in conference

In 10 regular season matches, Rice soccer went a sterling 9-0-1, an undefeated record with just one tie in their final conference game of the season. The finish tied the 2017 team for the Owls’ best conference record in program history.

4. Women’s Basketball starts 9-0

A year after taking over a program in transition, head coach Lindsay Edmonds has turned Rice women’s basketball into a force. Edmonds and Co. accomplished what no coach had ever done before with a perfect nonconference record and she did it without eventual WNBA draft selection Erica Ogwumike or star center Nancy Mulky, who dazzled in the Owls’ most recent run of dominance on the court.

3. Rice football finally goes bowling

The expressed goal of the 2022 Rice football season was for it to not finish before December, specifically for the Owls to punch a ticket to a bowl game for the first time since 2014. While the Lending Tree Bowl didn’t end well, it was a meaningful milestone for the program as it wraps up its final season in Conference USA.

2. Rice volleyball sends off WKU in C-USA Tournament Finale

Rice and Western Kentucky have been the gold standard in Conference USA for quite a while, but the Owls hadn’t quite figured out how to climb into the driver’s seat in the conference with WKU in the way. The Hilltoppers defeated the Owls in the C-USA Championship match five times since 2014, including the past three seasons — at least until Rice notched the victory in their final C-USA Tournament game ever. How sweet it was.

1. Rice Athletics makes AAC invite official

After the announcement that Rice would be headed to a new conference in 2021, things started to crystalize this past summer when an official date was announced. On June 15, Rice confirmed its AAC membership would begin on July 1, 2023. No longer just an idea, it was officially official. Rice is AAC bound with some sports already completing their final C-USA contests.

Honorable Mentions…

How about you? Which of these moments from Rice Athletics did you enjoy the most? Cutting this down to 10 was challenging. Which Rice Athletics events should be added to the list?

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Kings of the Hill: Rice Basketball knocks off WKU

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Rice basketball fell behind early, but caught fire when it mattered, upsetting Western Kentucky to earn a big road win.

A season ago, Rice basketball gave Western Kentucky a good half of a game at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, KY. The second half, though, was all Hilltoppers, who seemed to have another gear the Owls just could not match. Rice got their road rematch with WKU on Thursday night and while it was indeed a tale of two halves, Rice made sure it was the second stanza that shouted the loudest.

It wouldn’t start pretty, though. Western Kentucky opened the game with a 10-0 explosion. With six minutes left in the first half, Rice trailed 29-16. The defense had held in key moments, but the offense hadn’t found its shooting stroke and was held without a field goal in the first 10 minutes of play. Nothing was falling… until it was.

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Trailing by 10 points at the break, Rice took off. The Owls shot a dismal 21.9 percent from the floor in the first half, making just five of 19 from three. “You’re not going to beat anyone shooting 21 percent,” head coach Scott Pera quipped post game, noting one important caveat “[In] previous years when we didn’t shoot well, it affected our defense. This group is different.”

Still in the game because of that defense, Rice started to catch fire. In the second half, Rice shot 58.1 percent from the floor and made nine of 15 three-pointers, including a sequence in which Travis Evee, Quincy Olivari and Cameron Sheffield went back-to-back-to-back to put Rice in front by seven under six minutes to play.

Western Kentucky lost their leading scorer Dayvion McKnight, but managed to tie the game up with 90 seconds to go. Rice would go up by one before Travis Evee made the defensive play of the night, stealing back the basketball and knocking down a pair of three throws to take a three-point lead with under 10 seconds to play. Rice would hold on and clinch Pera’s first ever win over the Hilltoppers.

Player Spotlight | Travis Evee

Part of last season’s prolific scoring duo with Carl Pierre, Evee had taken somewhat of a secondary spot behind Quincy Olivari early on this season. Olivari had been hot and Evee had done his job, getting the ball in his hands. But it always felt like just a matter of time before Evee — who hadn’t reached the 20-point mark since November 21 — was going to go off again.

Evee led all scorers with 24 points and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe, including a pair of game-sealing shots down the stretch. He also added six rebounds and five assists. It was his best performance of the season and the Owls wouldn’t have been able to do what they did without him on the court on Thursday night.

Final Box | Rice 81 – WKU 78

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice basketball will finish 2022 with a New Year’s Eve tilt in the desert against UTEP, the second and final game of their current road trip. That game is scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. tip-off on CUSAtv.

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Rice Basketball Roundup: Owls sweep three-game home slate

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It was a good weekend for Rice basketball, who swept their three-game slate over five days to stay undefeated at Tudor Fieldhouse.

  • Thursday | Rice 92 – North American 54
  • Saturday | Rice 110 – Northwestern State 73
  • Monday | Rice 100 – Jarvis Christian 64

Frankly, Rice basketball took care of business this weekend against teams they should have beaten soundly. To some extent, that’s par for the course, but it was encouraging to see just how quickly they dispatched these three, particularly their Saturday win over Northwestern State.

The Demons entered that game 8-2 with a road win over No. 15 TCU and over the Owls’ former C-USA foe Southern Miss under their belts. Yet Rice romped easily at home.

Quincy Olivari was unstoppable, topping 17 points in all three contests, and he would have had many more had he come close to his normal complement of minutes. Max Fiedler had a double-double against Jarvis Christian and a season-high 22 points against Northwestern State. Travis Evee even got back on track, going 4-for-6 from three on Monday evening, scoring 14 points.

The Owls opened the benches in all three games, getting valuable minutes for younger players who — if past seasons are any indication — might very well be called upon for expanded minutes down the stretch.

Up Next | Full Schedule

Then next time Rice basketball takes the court they’ll be in the thick of Conference USA play. The Owls have already played one conference game, a strange mid-November road tilt against Middle Tennessee, which they lost. Up next after Christmas are road against at Western Kentucky (Thr, Dec. 29) and at UTEP (Sat, Dec. 31).

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Rice Basketball rolls past North American

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Rice basketball bounced back from a tough road loss at Texas with a comfortable beatdown of North American at Tudor Fieldhouse.

If there was an emotional hangover from the overtime loss at Texas on Monday, no one on the court for Rice basketball on Wednesday morning showed any signs of it. Days after the near-miss, Rice emptied its bench on it’s home court against a less talented team, coasting to a landslide victory to stay undefeated at Tudor Fieldhouse this year.

North American led just once in the entire game courtesy of a modest six-point run around the first media timeout of the first half. That 10-9 advantage for the visitors lasted for less than a minute. Cam Sheffield knocked down a three to spark a 9-0 Rice run and the Owls had the breathing room they needed to keep their opponents at bay.

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The two sides who trade buckets for a while, then Rice added an 8-0 run in the final minutes before the halftime buzzer. Up by 15 at the break thanks to a layup by Travis Evee, the Owls continued to pour it on.

Rice basketball opened the second half on a staggering 34-12 run. From that point onward, the game was essentially decided. 16 different Owls saw action.

Player Spotlight | Andrew Akuchie

Quincy Olivari went off for 20+ points, again, but it was the 10-point game of freshman Andrew Akuchie that stood out. It was his first double-digit scoring effort of his young Rice career and another reminder the depth on this team is continuing to strengthen, Akuchie might not be a starter just yet, but he’s a capable young player with plenty of upside.

A 10-point, 4-rebound outing just a few games into his Rice career is another positive step in his growth that was extremely encouraging to see.

Final Box | Rice 92 – North American 54

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice basketball has two more games in their current homestand. They’ll play another on Saturday against Northwestern State before taking on Jarvis Christian in their final non-conference game of the season. All three of those games are scheduled to be streamed on CUSAtv.

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Rice Basketball loses upset bid in OT, falls to Texas

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Rice basketball took Texas to the brink but was unable to secure the historic upset, falling to the Longhorns in overtime.

Whether it was good fortune or a willingness to take advantage of what had been a turbulent day for the Texas program, Rice basketball came out ready to play on Monday evening at the Moody Center. Max Fiedler put Rice on the board with a layup to start the scoring, which would casually ping-pong back and forth in the early goings as both teams adjusted to the pace of the game. Then the Owls took off.

Alem Huseinvoic knocked down back-to-back threes with Quincy Olivari following with another, a 9-0 Rice run. Texas would battle back but was never able to get in front. Rice went into the break with a 33-29 lead and a real shot to pull off a monumental upset.

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The Owls, who hadn’t beaten a ranked Texas squad since 1982 and had lost their last 10 meetings with the Longhorns, sensed an opportunity and never quit. Although Texas was able to take the lead in the second half, Rice always seemed to answer.

Both teams exchanged minored leads throughout the remainder of the contest. Texas would lead by as many as six points in regulation but was never able to pull away. Ultimately, Rice would have their shot, a jumper by Huseinovic in a tie game with the buzzer imminent. Instead, the ball hit iron and the Owls would go on to lose in overtime.

The loss will sting, but it’s worth noting this wasn’t just a bad night from Texas that Rice stumbled upon. No, Texas shot 50 percent from the floor and narrowly outrebounded Rice 40-39. This was a full 45-minute dogfight and the Owls acquitted themselves well before ultimately running out of game.

Player Spotlight | Quincy Olivari

Olivari had strung together some impressive games over the month of December, but his performance against Texas might have been his most inspired showing yet. Olivari tied for the lead among all scorers with 28 points, connecting on 4-of-9 from three and 6-of-7 from the free throw line, also grabbing five boards and dishing out four assists.

It felt like he was involved in most of the momentum-shifting plays on Monday night. Had it not been for his effort, the Owls wouldn’t have been in this game.

Final Box | Texas 87 – Rice 81 (OT)

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice basketball heads back home for a three-game homestand which gets started on Thursday night against North American. They’ll play another on Saturday against Northwestern State before taking on Jarvis Christian in their final non-conference game of the season. All three of those games are scheduled to be streamed on CUSAtv.

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