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Rice Basketball 2020: Comeback falls short against WKU

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Rice Basketball came up short on a furious comeback attempt against Western Kentucky, falling to 0-2 in Conference USA play.

The first five minutes of play at E.A. Diddle Arena couldn’t have gone much worse. Rice basketball missed five shots, turned the ball over four times and fell behind 9-0. Western Kentucky would extend the lead to 13 on a Camron Justice three shortly after. The home crowd was roaring and the Owls seemed lost.

Then the rally began. The double-digit deficit shrunk to six points at halftime and didn’t last much longer. Rice scored nine of the first 12 points after the break to tie the game at 32. The shots that weren’t falling in the first half started to drop and a suddenly reinvigorated defense gave WKU fits. They had to settle for a lot of outside shots in the second half, where their rhythm was noticeably off.

The second half was a game of runs. WKU would take a five or six point lead. Rice would tie it, but they never got past the equalizing point. Rice took six shots that could have given them the lead in the second half but missed all six. In the end, a cold snap did them in. The Owls finished 1-of-9 from the field, dropping the game by a final score of 68-61.

Rice made impeccable defensive adjustments in the second half. Weathering the storm and fighting back has been a frequent occurrence for this team. If they’re ever able to strike first, they’ve shown the ability to push the envelope. It’s just too often after they’ve fallen behind that they get the opportunity to make that push.

Final Stats

Player of the game – Trey Murphy

Five Owls attempted multiple three-pointers on Saturday. Murphy was the only one to knock down more than one. He was 4-for-8 while the rest of the team shot a dismal 4-for-21. He rounded out the strong shooting night with seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. His game continues to develop, but he’s already much more than a complimentary outside shooter.

Up Next

The Owls will play their first C-USA home game of the season on Thursday when they return to Tudor Fieldhouse to take on FAU. That game is scheduled to tip at 7:00 p.m. They’ll then host FIU on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball 2020: Men and women ready for test vs WKU

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Rice Basketball is in the midst of conference play. The men are 0-1 while the women are 1-0. Both take on WKU on Saturday with the women at home. Here’s a preview of both games.

Rice Basketball

Time: 4:00 p.m. CT
Venue: E.A. Diddle Arena
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: ESPN3

WKU 8-5 (1-0), Last 5 (2-3)

  • 76-74 (L) at Wright State
  • 86-79 OT (W) vs Arkansas
  • 86-82 OT (L) at Rhode Island
  • 76-62 (L) vs Belmont
  • 93-84 (W) vs North Texas

Rice 8-6 (0-0), Last 5 (2-3)

  • 73-60 (L) at Lamar
  • 96-84 (W) vs HBU
  • 103-70 (W) vs St. Thomas
  • 75-61 (L) vs Sam Houston St
  • 89-69 (L) at Marshall

WKU players to watch

Earlier this season Western Kentucky picked up a huge win over SEC power Arkansas, but it came at a tremendous cost. Star center Charles Bassey suffered a leg injury in that game that will force him to miss the entire season. A different man has led the Tops in scoring in each of their next three games, but Carson Williams has filled the void admirably. He’s averaging 17.3 points and seven rebounds per game without Bassey.

Rice keys to victory

Rice basketball has lived and died by the three this season. When the Owls aren’t making their outside shots, they’ve struggled to finish games. Rice is 2-4 when making less than 30 percent of their threes and 6-2 when shooting better than mark, including a season-high 52 percent against UC Santa Barbara. WKU has allowed 102 threes against them in 13 games.

Rice Women's Basketball

Time: 2:00 p.m. CT
Venue: Tudor Field House
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: ESPN+ (If you don’t have ESPN+ you can access a free trial or subscribe here.)

WKU 8-4 (0-0), Last 5 (3-2)

  • 74-63 (W) vs Oklahoma
  • 91-86 OT (W) at Ball St
  • 88-84 (W) at Samford
  • 67-50 (L) at Purdue
  • 61-54 (L) at North Texas

Rice 6-6 (0-0), Last 5 (2-3)

  • 63-56 (L) at Texas Southern
  • 77-55 (W) vs Prairie View A&M
  • 54-45 (L) vs Virginia Tech
  • 54-52 (L) vs Georgia Tech
  • 81-43 (W) vs Marshall

WKU players to watch

WKU will rely on a three-way attack, spearheaded by junior forward Raneem Elgedawy. She leads the team in scoring and rebounds. Dee Givens provides an outside presence, knocking down a team-best 26 threes. Whitney Creech is the distributor, averaging 4.3 assists per game while also forcing 1.9 steals.

Rice keys to victory

Whatever adjustments Rice made between nonconference play and their C-USA opener against Marshall, they need to keep. The Owls looked transformed, playing their best defense of the season. That will be important against WKU, who enters the weekend as the No. 2 scoring offense in Conference USA.

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Rice Basketball 2020: Men and women open C-USA play vs Marshall

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Rice Basketball starts conference play on Thursday with the men and women each taking on Marshall. The women are at home. Here’s a preview of both games.

Rice Basketball

Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: ESPN+

Marshall 6-7 (0-0), Last 5 (4-1)

  • 86-50 (W) vs Bluefield State
  • 89-62 (W) at Morehead State
  • 90-72 (W) vs Eastern Kentucky
  • 88-80 (L) at Northern Iowa
  • 83-61 (W) at Duquesne

Rice 8-5 (0-0), Last 5 (3-2)

  • 77-69 (W) vs ECU
  • 73-60 (L) vs Lamar
  • 96-84 (W) vs HBU
  • 103-70 (W) vs St. Thomas
  • 75-61 (L) vs Sam Houston St

Marshall players to watch

The Thundering Herd are still trying to figure out how to replace Conference USA’s all-time leading scorer, Jon Elmore. So far, they’ve relied on a combo of Jarrod West and Taevion Kinsey to carry the load. Both are playing upwards of 34 minutes per game while averaging north of 14 points.

Rice keys to victory

Marshall is one of the best rebounding teams in Conference USA. Six different players have 48 or more boards through 13 games and nine have posted more than 30 rebounds this season. Winning on the offensive glass has been a struggle for Rice basketball this season. The Owls are 11th in C-USA with 9.4 offensive rebounds per game. The Owls should be able to shoot with Marshall, but giving their opponents too many extra chances could snowball on them quickly.

Rice Women's Basketball

Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: CUSA TV

Marshall 5-6 (0-0), Last 5 (2-3)

  • 85-41 (W) vs Alderson-Broaddus
  • 72-60 (W) vs Indiana State
  • 82-69 (L) vs Bowling Green
  • 66-41 (L) at Rutgers
  • 59-56 (L) at Towson

Rice 5-6 (0-0), Last 5 (2-3)

  • 71-57 (W) vs Northern Arizona
  • 63-56 (L) at Texas Southern
  • 77-55 (W) vs Prairie View A&M
  • 54-45 (L) vs Virginia Tech
  • 54-52 (L) vs Georgia Tech

Marshall players to watch

Freshman guard Savannah Wheeler has been a breath of fresh air for the Marshall frontcourt. She’s scored in double-digits in 11 of her first 13 collegiate games, posting 18 in her debut against Kentucky Christian. She’s dangerous from deep, as it Taylor Pearson who leads the team with a .400-clip from three.

Rice keys to victory

Rice can’t allow any frustration from their tough start to linger in their first game back in Houston following a disappointing Puerto Rico trip. Marshall is third in C-USA in assists and second in the conference in assist/turnover ratio. They don’t make a lot of mistakes and work to find open shooters. Rice will have the size advantage and plenty of quickness on the wings. They need to use it.

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Rice Basketball: Mixed nonconference play shows modest improvement

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It’s been an up and down start to the Rice basketball season. Moe on the good, the bad and the path forward for the Owls this season.

Rice basketball has secured a winning record in nonconference play for the first time in the Scott Pera era. In Pera’s first year, the Owls were 3-10 prior to C-USA action. Last season they improved to 5-8. At the end of 2019, Rice is 8-5 with conference play set to start on Thursday.

The emergence of Trey Murphy has been an important development for this team. He missed the Bahamas Showcase with an injury suffered during the Houston game but has since returned to form. He leads the team in scoring, averaging 13.8 points per game.

Ako Adams is keeping a clean handle on the ball and distributing well, opening up opportunities for guys like Robert Martin and Drew Peterson, who’s on pace to have the best season of his young career.

Freshman Max Fiedler, Zach Crisler and Quincy Olivari have become core pieces of the rotation. Fielder is third on the team with 51 rebounds and Crisler is shooting a cool .529 from the field.

Room for improvement

It hasn’t been all roses. In fact, it’s been more of a roller coaster than expected. A 4-1 start and a 2-for-3 showing in the Island of Bahamas Showcase were the high points. A narrow loss to Houston at home and a gutpunch defeat to Sam Houston in the nonconference finale were the low points.

Discipline remains a noticeable sticking point with this team. It’s hard to wrap your head around how a Rice team that made quick work of a good Penn team could flounder against Lamar and also erase a 22-point deficit to knock off UC Santa Barbara on the road. The best of Rice can hang with an elite Houston team. The worst was blown out by Arkansas by 48 points.

The team is still young, and their collective experience has produced positive moments. If they can pull together enough of those, they should be able to take another step forward as conference play begins.

The path forward

Five of the Owls’ first seven conference games are away from home. They’ll tip off against Marshall on Thursday, January 2 and make the short trip to Western Kentucky on Saturday, January 4. Then they return home for games against Florida Atlantic (Jan. 9) and FIU (Jan. 11)

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The Roost Podcast | Ep. 18 – 2019 MTSU Review, North Texas Preview

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Rice Football picked up a big win over Middle Tennessee in Week 12. Carter and Matthew break down the victory and preview the North Texas matchup.

For the first time this season, it’s time to discuss a Rice football victory. The win over Middle Tennessee was the first road win of Mike Bloomgren’s tenure at Rice and one with plenty of things to work through, more good than bad.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, Give a listen to Episode 18 below.

Episode 18 Notes

  • News and notes —  Rice Basketball had a heartbreaking week. The women lost a one-point slugfest with No. 5 Texas A&M. Then, two days later, the men let a big first half lead slip away, falling to crosstown rival Houston on Tuesday night. The women’s team is coming into form and the men’s team has looked much better than expected after the first few weeks.
  • Middle Tennessee Review — Rice came out swinging, jumping out to a 17-0 lead in Murfreesboro. Carter and Matthew talk through the big day from the offense, highlighting moments from wide receiver Brad Rozner and running back Aston Walter. The coaching staff had this team ready to go and the Owls were able to slam the door in the fourth quarter for the first time.
  • North Texas Preview — As of now, Mason Fine is projected to play on Saturday against Rice football. Whoever is at the controls, North Texas is going to make the Rice football defense work. The defense is a different story. The Owls should be able to put up some points, setting themselves with a chance to improve their winning streak to two in a row.

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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