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2023 Conference USA Basketball Tournament: Men’s and Women’s Previews

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The 2023 Conference USA Basketball Tournament tips off in Frisco, TX this week. Here’s a preview of the action.

Conference USA Basketball – Men’s Tournament

The Favorite: Florida Atlantic

The nation’s No. 1 team, Houston, is the only program in the nation that has lost fewer games than Florida Atlantic. The Owls shocked many when they ran through Conference USA this season and are deservedly the clear frontrunner to win the conference tournament. An at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament seems probable but is by no means a sure thing at this point, so they should be plenty motivated to finish what they’ve started.

The Contender: UAB

UAB is a different basketball team when Jelly Walker is on the court. Since his return, UAB has lost a grand total of one game (on the road against a good North Texas team). The Blazers have depth, experience and a star. If FAU doesn’t cut down the nets, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see these preseason favorites take home the title.

The Sleeper: Middle Tennessee

The men’s field really feels shallow this season, at least in terms of teams outside the top three who could go on a run and win the tournament. Middle Tennessee might just be the sweet spot. The Blue Raiders were one of very few teams to beat No. 1 Seed FAU in the regular season and they play stingy defense, which always seems to grow in importance in the month of March.

Conference USA Basketball – Women’s Tournament

The Favorite: Middle Tennessee

The only nationally ranked team in Conference USA, Middle Tennessee has had one bad weekend since November. It’s possible they have an off day, but it sure doesn’t seem probable at this point. The Blue Raiders have three of the top 10 scorers in the conference and the conference’s No. 1 scoring defense. Weaknesses are far and few between.

The Contender: UTEP

If anyone can take down to Middle Tennesee, it’s probably one of the two teams to achieve the feat during the regular season. The Miners protect the basketball well and are among the conference leaders in assists per game. While they lack a singular dominant player, they do have a host of players that can score, making them a challenging matchup defensively.

The Sleeper: Rice

Aside from Middle Tennessee, no one has been better since the midpoint of January than the Rice Owls. After beginning conference play 1-4, Rice has won 12 of their last 15 and has won several of those with some of their top players in and out of the lineup. They’re trending toward being back near full strength by the time the tournament comes around, which should scare some of the rest of the pack.

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Rice Women’s Basketball caps off regular season with win at FIU

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Rice women’s basketball wrapped up a Sunshine state sweep on Saturday, defeating FIU two days after FAU to complete the regular season.

Rice women’s basketball finished off the regular season just like they started it — riding a lengthy winning streak. The Owls’ Saturday victory over FIU was the fifth consecutive win for Rice, which clinched a first-round bye in the upcoming Conference USA Conference Tournament in the process.

Early on it looked like reaching that fifth straight win would come easy for the Owls, who parlayed a strong start into a 45-30 halftime lead. It wouldn’t be quite that easy, though. FIU opened the third quarter on a 24-6 run, forcing five Rice turnovers in that stretch and turning what could have been a one-sided affair into a rock fight down the stretch.

Malia Fisher and India Bellamy fouled out. Destiny Jackson and Trinity Gooden did not play. Still, with the lineup shortened, Rice found a way. They weathered the FIU rally and answered with one of their own, pulling away late to prevent any opportunity for an FIU upset.

Final Box | Rice 96 – FIU 84

Key takeaway | Bye, bye, bye

Rice women’s basketball won’t be playing on Wednesday in Frisco. Their win on Saturday secured the Owls the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Conference Tournament. That entitles them to a first-round bye as they await the winner of the game between No. 6 seed UTSA and No. 11 seed UAB. It also cements a rather impressive Year 2 for head coach Lindsay Edmonds and her staff.

Edmonds went 14-13 (8-9) in her first season with Rice women’s basketball. She ends the 2022-2023 regular season 22-7 (13-7). That’s a sizable jump and has her program viewed as one of the favorites entering the conference tournament rather than the upstart underdog they were last season.

Up Next: Conference USA Tournament, Round 2

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Rice Women’s Basketball takes care of business at FAU

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Rice women’s basketball continued on their winning waves, closing out their penultimate regular season game with little drama against FAU.

Rice women’s basketball has been forced to juggle its lineup several times in recent weeks, but the end result has routinely been the same: winning. The Owls were without Trinity Gooden or Destiny Jackson on Thursday night against FAU but it never seemed to matter. The return of Malia Fisher helped smooth those concerns as well as a big day from Katelyn Crosthwait.

Crosthwait got the scoring started with a first quarter jumper, two of her 22 points on the afternoon. That helped spark and early Rice run which put them in front for good, never trailing in the eventual runaway victory.

Florida Atlantic would keep things within striking distance for a while, but Rice pulled away for good with a strong start to the fourth quarter, emphasized by a flurry of threes that turned a 14-point Rice lead into a 21-point advantage. It proved too much for FAU to overcome as Rice hung on to secure the win.

Final Box | Rice 76 – FAU 61

Key takeaway | Moving on up

By virtue of Western Kentucky’s win over UTEP and the Owls’ victory over the Florida-based Owls, Rice moves into the No. 3 overall seed in the Conference USA Tournament with the head-to-head tiebreaker over UTSA. Rice can secure that seeding by defeating FIU on Saturday.

Rice is a game behind Western Kentucky in the standings and doesn’t look to have a chance to pass them on the final weekend. Still, the Owls would be looking at a top-three regular season finish if things hold. That’s a solid result for a program picked to finish fourth in the preseason poll.

Regardless, Rice will finish above Charlotte and Louisiana Tech, two of the three programs picked to finish above them in October. That’s why you play the games.

Up Next: at FIU – Saturday, Mar. 4 at 1:00 p.m.

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Rice Women’s Basketball storms past Charlotte on Senior Day

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Rice women’s basketball never trailed on Senior Day, leading wire-to-wire in a convincing victory over Charlotte at home.

There wasn’t a hint of distraction that lingered from Senior Day festivities for Rice Women’s Basketball at home against Charlotte on Saturday. The Owls scored first, scored often and never trailed on their way to their third straight win in conference play.

Destiny Jackson opened the scoring with a layup, two of just four points on the day, which showcased the Owls’ defense as much, if not more so, than their scoring ability. Rice held Charlotte to just 20 points in the first half on 32 percent shooting from the floor. The 49ers couldn’t get anything going on offense until the third quarter after the Owls had taken a 21-point lead.

Charlotte’s most concentrated run came following the final media timeout of the game. They reeled off eight straight points, but it was only good enough to trim an 18-point deficit to a 10-point hole. Rice was able to regain its footing and close the game out with relative ease.

Even when accounting for the minor fourth-quarter slump, head coach Lindsay Edmonds was proud of her team’s ability to finish and how well the program has played over the lat few weeks. “We’re really close,” Edmonds said, referring to playing their best basketball down the stretch. “We’re clicking on a lot of cylinders. Our defense has stepped up. Our offense is scoring the ball really at a really high clip. I’m excited about where we’re at, but we can keep pushing to get better.”

The victory essentially clinches a first round bye in the Conference USA Tournament. The Owls can improve their seeding next weekend in a two-game road finale against FAU and FIU, respectively.

Final Box | Rice 64 – Charlotte 52

Key takeaway | For the seniors with the future

India Bellamy and Ashlee Austin have been core producers for Rice Women’s Basketball over the last few weeks. Each finished with a double-digit scoring effort on Saturday, but neither led the team. That honor went to freshman Shelby Hayes, who stole the show on Senior Day with her first career double-double.

“Shelby was awesome. She came in and gave us a spark off the bench,” Edmonds said. “She was big time on offensive rebounds. She put the ball in the basket. Shelby is just someone that does whatever it takes to make the team better and I just think that she got rewarded tonight and I’m so proud of her.”

Hayes came off the bench in relief of Bellamy, who ran into some early foul trouble, and quickly made her presence felt. Hayes scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, including a staggering 10 offensive boards. It was an impressive performance and served as a reminder that the up-and-coming wave of Owls has plenty to bring to the table, too.

Up Next: at FAU – Thursday, Mar. 2 at 6:00 p.m.

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Rice Women’s Basketball hangs on to beat UAB

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Rice women’s basketball built a huge lead against UAB and held on, weathering a late rally from the Blazers to secure the win at home.

Playing without Malia Fisher once again, Rice women’s basketball was a bit slow out of the gates on Thursday night against UAB, falling behind 12-4 before things started clicking on both sides of the court. India Bellamy and Katelyn Crosthwait would revive the offense, scoring 13 of the Owls’ 15 points and 23 of their first 34.

It was the Owls’ defense that made the defense in the second quarter, holding the Blazers to just seven points in the frame. UAB shot 11 percent in the quarter, turned the ball over four times and was outscored by 12, further cemented by a defensive stand at the buzzer to enable Rice to maintain a nine-point lead, their largest of the game to that point.  It would grow from there, but the game wouldn’t end as comfortably as the Owls might have hoped.

Rice led by 17 at the conclusion of the third quarter. By the time the clock had ticked down below two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Rice lead was just three points. UAB outscored Rice 22-10 in the last quarter, but couldn’t get any of their potential game-tying threes to fall before Destiny Jackson hit a jumper to push the Rice lead back to two possessions in the final seconds and Ashlee Austin secured one more rebound to secure the win.

The victory keeps Rice (10-7) in the running for a first round bye in the conference tournament with a multi-game lead over North Texas (8-10) and three regular season games remaining.

Final Box | Rice 63 – UAB 58

Key takeaway | Depth matters

Last season, Rice women’s basketball manufactured an incredible late-season run on the backs of six or seven healthy players. Two of the pillars of that successful run were Malia Fisher and Ashlee Austin. That tandem hasn’t seen meaningful time on the court at the same time since February 4. The Owls are 4-1 since then, missing Austin for two games by coach’s decision and Fisher for three because of injury.

India Bellamy has stepped up in a big way, including a career day last Saturday against Western Kentucky, but it has truly been a collective effort from a host of Owls to maintain their momentum despite not playing at full strength.

“The ones that are stepping on the court and playing minutes, they’re playing a lot of minutes, but they’re getting the job done,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. The depth is the reason we’ve been able to win some games this year that we wouldn’t have won last year. I like our depth. I like the versatility that we have. I think a lot of people can step up and do great things for us.”

Up Next: vs Charlotte – Saturday, Feb. 25 at 2:00 p.m.

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