Kidd's Korner: Teamwork and talent are equally valuable to title-winning teams
(02/16/16 5:22pm)
This past week I was tasked with writing the 2016 Rice Owls baseball season preview for the
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This past week I was tasked with writing the 2016 Rice Owls baseball season preview for the
One particular trait resides inherently within each and every person regardless of who they are, where they come from or what they have been through. Whether you are a student, an athlete, a professor or a doctor in the nearby Texas Medical Center, each day presents challenges that you must overcome. The way to overcome these challenges is by competing.
Last Tuesday, the Rice Owls baseball team and I took a trip to Shriners Hospital for Children located just down Main Street. If you read the first sentence again you will realize that I purposefully separated myself from the remainder of the team. It is “the Rice Owls baseball team” and then there is “I.” This mentality has been instilled in me and will probably never leave me; growing up with cerebral palsy, there was always just me. I had no team because I was different, I was the outcast who was picked last, the one who could never contribute worth a darn. That was until I came to Rice University.
Over the past two seasons, “Rice Rising” has defined the recent zeitgeist surrounding the Rice men’s basketball team. The program has witnessed the onboarding of many talented, young players and the growth of an excited student fan base. Led by second-year Head Coach Mike Rhoades, Rice seeks to improve its standing among NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams. Future improvements, however, will result only from trial and error. The Owls currently hold a 6-14 record (1-6 in Conference-USA) and have now dropped three consecutive conference games.
Rice University freshman guard Marcus Evans is currently leading all freshmen in the nation in points per game. His average of 20.2 points per game is 0.2 points per game higher than that of Louisiana State University standout Ben Simmons, who many predict may be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Evans has started all 18 games for the Owls and has scored in double digits in 17 of those games. Alternating between the shooting guard and point guard position, the 6-foot-2 freshman from Chesapeake, VA is averaging 33.1 minutes per game and has continued to mightily impress both Rice fans and fans of college basketball around the nation.
The Rice Owls men’s basketball team has been very busy over the last couple of weeks while the remainder of the student body was on winter break. The Owls played in nine games from Dec. 2 to Jan. 9 and posted a 3-6 record during that span.
The Rice men’s basketball team played three games over the Thanksgiving recess and earned their first win of the season against Lamar University on Wednesday afternoon. The Owls were victorious once again against the University of California, Riverside on Friday night before dropping a contest to the University of Texas, Arlington on Sunday. The Owls currently sit at 2-5 on the season.
The Rice men’s basketball team played three games over the Thanksgiving recess and earned their first win of the season against Lamar University on Wednesday afternoon. The Owls were victorious once again against the University of California, Riverside on Friday night before dropping a contest to the University of Texas, Arlington on Sunday. The Owls currently sit at 2-5 on the season.
After coming off a thrilling 102-78 home exhibition victory over LeTourneau University, the Owls men’s basketball team traveled to Berkeley, California to take on the No. 14 University of California, Berkeley. With a 2015-16 roster made up of just three upperclassmen, many of the players experienced facing a top-15 college basketball program for the first time. The Owls were defeated by a final score of 97-65 on Friday night, but they gained valuable experience to draw from for the remainder of the season.
Many, if not all of us, recognize the famous saying, “All good things must come to an end.” It appears that this also is true for the Rice Owls soccer team who bid farewell to a group of five talented seniors.
The 2015 Conference USA tournament field is set and the Rice Owls are looking to bring home the championship. As the No. 4 seed in the tournament, Rice must win three consecutive games to earn the title and receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
While the remnants of Hurricane Patricia swept its way through the outskirts of Dallas, Texas, the Rice University and University of North Texas soccer teams were engaged in a Conference USA battle. In a game that saw warnings and yellow cards handed out on both sides, the Mean Green narrowly beat out Rice by a final score of 2-1.
With a 2-0 record last weekend, the Rice University soccer team positioned themselves for another late-season run towards the Conference USA championship. The Owls competed in two more games this weekend and came away with one win and one tie, stretching their unbeaten streak to four matches.
The Rice University soccer team played two consecutive matches at home for the first time since Sept. 6. The Owls either tied or broke a school record in each game resulting in an exciting weekend of games.
As the Conference USA portion of the 2015 season begins, the Rice University soccer team will look to make a run towards securing back to back championships.
With only one carry to his name headed into the Rice University vs. University of Texas game hosted in Austin on Sept. 12, not too many people knew who redshirt freshman running back Sam Stewart was. Following his breakout performance against the Longhorns, Stewart was not only a hot topic on the Rice campus and in the state of Texas, but also in football circles across the nation.
After reeling off a five-match unbeaten streak, the Rice University women’s soccer team had trouble adjusting to the unfamiliar and hostile environments at the University of Dayton and at Miami of Ohio University. Rice lost both matches with a total score of 7-2. The winless weekend was the first the Owls have had since October 2013, a span of nearly two years. The Owls have an overall record of 4-3-1 and have now completed all non-conference games in their 2015 schedule.
After starting the 2015 season off with a loss in the home opener, the Rice soccer team has not experienced a loss since.
With a mix of senior leadership and talented newcomers, the Rice Owls soccer club defeated two in-state foes this past weekend, winning a total of three consecutive matches. On Friday, Aug. 28, the team defeated Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi 2-0. Rice followed up this performance with a 2-0 victory over Sam Houston State University at the neutral site of BBVA Compass Stadium. After falling to the No. 5 nationally ranked Texas A&M University squad in the opening match of the 2015 season last week, the Owls have remained unbeaten and are currently 3-1 in the season.
The 2015 Rice women’s soccer team is coming off what was perhaps their greatest season in school history.