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Rice Basketball powers past Charlotte in AAC home opener

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Rice basketball never trailed after halftime, taking down Charlotte at Tudor Fieldhouse to clinch the Owls’ first-ever 2-0 start in AAC play.

Looking to improve to 2-0 in AAC play for the first time in program history, Rice Basketball weathered an early barrage of three-pointers from Charlotte before finding their groove. With the game tied 21-21, Andrew Akuchie sparked a 10-0 Rice run which included an emphatic three from himself to put the home team in front by 10. Rice never looked back.

Charlotte would not roll over. The visiting 49ers cut their deficit to as little as four points midway through the second half, but a resilient combination of consistent defense and great shooting from the Owls kept the game from ever getting too close again. Following a Charlotte three-pointer with 10:06 to play, Rice would not allow Charlotte to score on back-to-back possessions for the remainder of the game.

Nine different Rice players recorded multiple field goals. Seven recorded multiple rebounds. Another full-team effort paid off in fresh legs in the final moments and seemingly limitless support off the bench, which outscored Charlotte’s bench 26-22.

More: Rice Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview

The Owls put the game out of reach for good with an 8-1 run in the final minute and a half of play, scoring all of those points from the free throw line. Early season struggles at the charity stripe didn’t seem to spook the team on Saturday with Rice knocking down 14-of-16 free throws to hold on for a relatively comfortable double-digit victory.

Final Box | Rice 68, Charlotte 55

Key takeaway | Already, 11

The victory over Charlotte was the 11th win for Rob Lanier and his team so far this season with the bulk of conference play still on deck. A 2-0 start in league play is significant in itself, but the 11th win is another milestone for this staff in their first year at the helm.

Rice basketball won 11 games last season in 33 attempts. This current squad is 11-4. Last year’s team won their second conference game on January 31. Lanier’s bunch went 2-0 in league play by January 4.

All teams, schedules and circumstances aren’t created equal and this is by no means an apples to apples comparison, but it’s a major step forward for a program that finally has momentum and a definitive culture working in tandem. Even if they don’t win two-thirds of their games for the remainder of the season, the precedent has been set.

A new era of Rice basketball has officially arrived on South Main. And this version of the Owls are going to play tenacious defense and fight for 40 minutes. So far, that’s meant a sizable jump in the win column.

Up Next: vs North Texas (Wed, Jan. 8)

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Rice Basketball snaps streak, tops Tulsa

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Rice basketball opened AAC play with a win, snapping a longstanding program losing streak to Tulsa in the process.

When the final buzzer sounded, Rice basketball clinched its first win over Tulsa since 2006, snapping a losing streak that had stretched to 17 games against the Golden Hurricane. These two teams had only met twice since the Owls joined the American a season prior, but even when the two shared Conference USA a decade ago, this program had historically gotten the better of Rice more often than not.

That previous meeting between these two teams last February had been decided in overtime. Wednesday’s New Year’s Day affair didn’t get to extra minutes, but the narrow margin throughout the contest certainly suggested that was in the realm of outcomes.

More: Rice Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview

A 10-0 Rice run put the Owls in front by seven right off the bat, but Tulsa retook the lead going into the break before the teams traded small advances through the midpoint of the second half. It wasn’t until back-to-back buckets from Denver Anglin put Rice up by five with roughly eight minutes to play that the Owls had a lead that felt substantive again.

Tulsa would push back, cutting their deficit to one, but the final rally was delivered by the the visiting Owls. Caden Powell kicked off a decisive 7-0 spurt in the final two minutes with Jacob Dar delivered a pair of clutch free throws to give Rice an eight-point cushion with 26 seconds to go, securing the victory.

Final Box | Rice 70, Tulsa 64

What They’re Saying

“We said that the game was going to be close throughout. At some point, there was going to be a breaking point for the tougher team. We felt like there was going to come a point in the latter part of the second half when the tougher team was going to distinguish themselves. We expected it to be a close, hard-fought game. There was a point where we got a little bit of separation. We made some poor decisions, which gave (Tulsa) some confidence and momentum. But, all-in-all, we showed some grit when it mattered.” – Rice basketball head coach Rob Lanier

Key takeaway | More than a win

The victory was just the seventh win for Rice basketball over Tulsa in program history, a history that includes 37 meetings. Tulsa might not be Memphis or Houston, but the Golden Hurricane have more or less always been better than Rice on the hardwood outside of a 3-0 stretch in the series by Rice during the 2004-2005 seasons. Outside of that, Rice had one other win against Tulsa in this millennium.

That’s important not to denigrate Rice basketball past, but to underscore the progress being made by Ron Lanier and this roster in his first season on South Main. It’s been bumpy and imperfect, but this team is making strides, starting by beating a team they’ve historically rarely beaten.

Up Next: vs Charlotte (Sat, Jan. 4)

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Rice Athletics: Top 10 Moments from 2024

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2024 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 basketball defeats Memphis

It was a season of mixed results, but the high points were worth savoring for Rice basketball this year. Head coach Scott Pera’s team earned perhaps their most memorable win of his tenure on January 31, upsetting Memphis on the road.

9. Rice Football defeats Navy under interim coach Pete Alamar

Days removed from the dismissal of head coach Mike Bloomgren and following the second-longest rain delay in college football history, Rice football stunned the AAC by knocking off Navy, which had previously been undefeated in league play.

8. Soccer posts dominant home season

Rice soccer bounced back from a down season in 2023 in tremendous fashion, nearly completely an undefeated season at home before falling on Senior Day 1-0 to Charlotte. Nevertheless, a dominant 10-1-1 record at home was impressive after the squad went winless at Holloway Field the year prior.

7. Lots of new beginnings

This year, Rice introduced new coaches (Rob Lanier – basketball, Scott Abell – football) and new sports. The women’s diving team returned for the first time since 1991 and the Owls announced the coming addition of the women’s golf team which will debut in 2026.

6. Parker Smith drafted by hometown Houston Astros

A Houston native and multi-year Friday night ace for Rice Baseball, Parker Smith was a fourth round selection of the Houston Astros in July, the highest an Owl has been drafted since Trei Cruz went in the third round in 2020.

5. A two-fer of Tennis successes

Divna Ratkovic won the AAC women’s individual championship right at home, clinching the victory on campus at the George R. Brown Tennis Center. The men’s team didn’t take home the AAC crown, but they did clinch their first trip since 2017 to the NCAA Championship as a team.

4. Genny Volpe posts 400th career win

If it feels like Volpe has been leading Rice Volleyball to successful seasons year after year for quite some time, that’s because she has. Volpe earned career win number 400 this season when the team beat Tulane in their AAC opener. All 400 of those wins have come at Rice.

3. Two podiums for Women’s Track and Field at NCAA Championships

Tara Simpson-Sullivan took home second and Mckyla Van der Westhuizen placed third in their respective events, hammer throw and javelin, at the 2024 NCAA D1 Outdoor Championships. Simpson-Sullivan broke her own school record and AAC record in the process while Van der Westhuizen delivered a personal best to reach the podium.

2. Luke McCaffrey drafted 100th overall

With the final pick of the third round, the Washington Commanders selected Rice football wide receiver Luke McCaffrey. McCaffrey became first Rice player drafted since Christian Covington in 2015 and the highest Owl drafted since Phillip Gains went in the third round to the Chiefs in 2014.

1. Rice women’s basketball wins AAC, makes NCAA Tournament

Following a tough stretch in February, 10-Seed Rice Women’s Basketball caught fire in March, running through the AAC Tournament on their way to the programs first ever AAC Tournament Championship. That earned them a trip to the NCAA Tournament, where they gave 3-Seed LSU all they could handle before falling on the road.

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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Rice Basketball overcomes slow start, tops PVAMU

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Rice basketball trailed at the break before closing in furious fashion, taking down Prairie View A&M at home.

Rice basketball led for 28 seconds in the first half against Prairie View A&M on Sunday afternoon, another prolonged slump against a nonconference foe the Owls were expected to handle rather easily, this on the heels of an upset by North Texas-Dallas a few days prior.

An early three from Emory Lanier was one of just two triples the Owls made in an opening half in which they shot 26.5 percent from the floor. A strong defensive effort gave Rice a chance to weather those early woes and try once more to generate some momentum in the second half. After trading a few baskets in the early moments, Rice started to take control.

More: Rice Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview

Lanier got things going with a jumper, then got help from three different teammates to spark a 9-0 run, the longest of the game for the Owls, which put Rice up by seven in a game they’d trailed for so long. Both teams would pick up the scoring pace from that point, but Rice managed to keep their advantage to multiple baskets, thwarting another would-be upset bid in its tracks.

A seven-point lead ballooned to 19 points as Rice basketball began to find their rhythm with the ball, matching their defensive intensity with some efficient offensive execution. Rice would wrap up the much-needed win and go into the holiday break on a high note.

Final Box | Rice 64, PVAMU 46

Key takeaway | Bring back the Bahamas?

Rice basketball largely hasn’t looked the same since they arrived back on American soil following a 2-1 stretch at the Nassau Championship in the Bahamas where they beat a vey good Arkansas State team rather convincingly.

The Owls were 7-2 at that point with losses to Florida State and Hofstra (in overtime). They’re 2-2 since and the losses are about as ugly as they can come. Dropping this game to a bad PVAMU squad might have signaled the time for a full blown panic. As it is, they found a way to battle back and win. That matters, but the need for the rally is another warning in itself.

Following Sunday’s game, the program is off until they open conference ply on January 1 at Tulsa. Time will tell whether a break to mentally reset is the right medicine for the Owls’ currently maladies, but whatever the right answer is, doing something different seems like a solution worth trying.

It’s been two weeks of largely bad basketball with a sliver of hope at the tail end of this contest. They’re going to need a lot more of the latter if they want to get it where they hope to go.

Up Next: at Tulsa (Wed, Jan. 1)

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Rice Basketball upset by UNT-Dallas

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Rice basketball missed the tying free throw in the final seconds of regulation, falling to North Texas-Dallas at home.

In hindsight, a sluggish start from Rice basketball probably should have served as a sign of trouble ahead. The Owls traded baskets with their opponents in the early goings on Thursday, trailing a large portion of the first half before a 10-0 run in the middle of the period put Rice in front by more than a basket for the first time.

A few well-timed three pointers from Jacob Dar and Denver Anglin helped thwart some runs from the Owls’ foes, but the margin hung around 10-points or through the end of the half. That inability to lengthen the lead proved consequential for Rice who watched UNT-Dallas start chipping away in the second half.

More: Rice Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview

A 15-point Rice advantage was whittled down to seven by an 8-0 UNT-Dallas run before any advantage evaporated entirely and the game was tied at 61 apiece with 3:43 on the clock.

Free throws would prove to be the decider. UNT-Dallas’ Vernon Johnson knocked down all three of his attempts under 10 seconds to give his team a one-point lead. For Rice, Kellen Amos had two free throws near the two-second mark. He missed both and Rice lost.

As is often the case, a loss like this is due to more than poor free-throw shooting. Eight steals by UNT-Dallas highlighted Rice’s lackluster showing in their first home loss of the season.

Final Box | UNTD 69, Rice 68

Key takeaway | The Honeymoon is over

UNT-Dallas doesn’t have a logo on ESPN. The NAIA school launched it’s basketball program in 2014. For perspective, the kids in the stands watching on Thursday were around the same age as the Owls’ opponents program.

There were always going to be growing pains in the first year under a new head coach, but even in their previously ugly game against Alcorn State, they found a way to win. Even still, growing pains were going to come, it was just hard to imagine them striking in such a severe fashion as this.

Rice basketball is 8-4 on the season and 4-1 at Tudor Fieldhouse. The season is far from over, but this particularly game is going to sting for a while, as it should. It must serve as a reminder of where this program is coming from, a near-total reboot. For it to have gone off without a hitch was wishful thinking. Thursday’s events made that fact abundantly clear.

Up Next: vs Prairie View A&M (Sun, Dec. 22)

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