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(05/19/11 12:00am)
After dropping both games of a doubleheader in Birmingham, Ala. to the University of Alabama-Birmingham (27-25, 9-15 C-USA) on April 23, the baseball team fell two games behind Southern Miss in the Conference USA standings with just three weekends of play to go. Needing their second late-season push in as many years to get themselves in position for their 16th consecutive C-USA share of the title, the Owls headed across town to Cougar Field for a three-game set against the University of Houston (24-27, 11-10 C-USA) after a midweek win over Stephen F. Austin State University (31-20) by a score of 9-1.
(04/22/11 12:00am)
The performance by the Owls in Friday's series opener against Tulane University (22-15, 4-8 C-USA) epitomized precisely how the team has found success since dropping its conference opening series to the University of Central Florida (24-14, 4-8 C-USA) three weeks ago. With major contributions from the freshman class, led by the pitching of Austin Kubitza, and timely situational hitting late in games, Rice took the series opener from the Green Wave by a score of 3-1.
(04/15/11 12:00am)
After stranding a school-record 18 runners on base in a midweek loss to Louisiana-Lafayette (19-13), the Owls (24-13, 6-3 C-USA) faced another tough task in the pitching rotation for the Pirates. Entering the weekend series, East Carolina University (22-11, 4-5 C-USA) boasted the best team Earned Run Average in the conference and a top-three staff overall ERA in the country. To combat the ECU arms on Friday night was Austin Kubitza, the freshman whose success has begun to garner attention on the national level.
(04/08/11 12:00am)
Even with three or four freshmen regularly in the starting lineup for Head Coach Wayne Graham, things are starting to look awfully similar to this same time in 2010 for the Rice Owls baseball team. Flash back a year ago, when Rice (21-11, 4-2 C-USA) opened the Conference-USA schedule by dropping two of three to the Memphis Tigers to fall to just 13-12 on the season. The national media was down on Rice, with the pitching struggling and the team's conference championship streak looking like it would be in jeopardy.
(04/01/11 12:00am)
As the most successful sports program at Rice over the last 20 years, the Owls' baseball team faces no shortage of expectations on an annual basis.
(03/18/11 12:00am)
There is no shortage of scouts who expect junior third baseman/designated hitter Anthony Rendon and a number of other Owls to play one day in Major League parks across the country. Just perhaps not this quickly.
(03/11/11 12:00am)
Hosting East Carolina University on Saturday, Feb. 26, it was once again the season-long Achilles' heel that dug the Owls in a hole in the first half. Rice allowed the Pirates (15-13, 7-7) to shoot 8-15 from behind the arc over the opening 20 minutes, and found themselves down by 10 points at the half.But led by the shooting of junior forward Lucas Kuipers, the Owls would battle back down the stretch in spite of the deep-range shooting of ECU. A Kuipers three-pointer with 6:16 left would bring Rice to within four, before a junior guard Connor Frizzelle jumper after a pair of free throws tied the game with just 2:48 to go. After the teams exchanged threes down the stretch, the Pirates had the ball tied at 68 with 34 seconds to go. After dribbling out the clock, ECU's Sherrod connected on a deep three-pointer with under three seconds to go to put the Pirates ahead for good.
(02/25/11 12:00am)
Sitting within arms reach of the players warming up at halftime on Saturday night in Tudor Fieldhouse, Athletic Director Rick Greenspan's message to the men's basketball team was a short one. "Finish it!" Greenspan yelled emphatically to each player that walked past on the layup line, with just 20 minutes separating the Owls from their first ever win against the University of Memphis (21-7, 9-4 C-USA).
(02/18/11 12:00am)
You may also see the complete Rice Baseball 2011 preview insert as a pdf.
(02/18/11 12:00am)
For a team whose two leading scorers are both underclassmen, the Rice men's basketball team has not looked like a young and inexperienced team on the road in the conference this season. After a turbulent 0-4 start to conference play, the Owls impressively bounced back with consecutive road wins against University of Central Florida and Tulane University after trailing in the second half of each game. But if this past week of basketball taught us anything, it's that this young Rice team still has room to improve when matched up with experience-laden teams in the heat of conference play.
(02/11/11 12:00am)
In what has truly been a season of peaks and valleys for the men's basketball team, never did the team fall further than after a Jan. 15 loss at the University of Texas-El Paso (18-5, 6-2 C-USA) in which the team managed to score just 43 points, losing by its largest margin of the conference season. The loss, which at the time marked the fourth in a row for the Owls, came largely in part to turnovers and atrocious shooting, both signs of a young team finding its way against one of the best teams in the conference. But the 23-point loss in El Paso, Texas proved to be an end to the slide, as Rice bounced back to win three of its next four games in conference to get back to .500 on the season. With a win at home over the University of Houston (11-11, 3-6 C-USA) sandwiched by road wins at the University of Central Florida (14-7, 1-7 C-USA) and Tulane University (12-9, 2-6 C-USA), the Owls quickly removed themselves from the cellar of the Conference USA standings.
(02/04/11 12:00am)
With the top seven teams in Conference USA separated by a single game, even the shortest of win streaks can turn a season around. For the men's basketball team, such a theory was applied last week when back-to-back wins over the University of Central Florida (14-6, 1-6 C-USA) and the University of Houston (11-11, 3-6 C-USA) put the Owls within a stone's throw of the conference leaders. But when Southern Methodist University (17-5, 6-3 C-USA) brought its own two-game winning streak to Tudor Fieldhouse last Saturday, only one team would be able to continue on its rapid ascent in the C-USA standings. Unfortunately for Rice, the weather was not the only thing in Houston that cooled down this past week.
(01/28/11 12:00am)
After a 23-point loss in which the Owls scored just 43 points on the road in El Paso, Texas, Men's Basketball Head Coach Ben Braun told his players in their week off to practice hard in hopes of turning things around. "Let's just get ourselves better in practice," Braun said following the team's fourth straight loss in conference play. "Once we're better in practice, we'll get better in games."
(01/21/11 12:00am)
The men's basketball team needed less than half of the 2010-2011 season to reach its win total from last year. But if improvement is measured strictly in wins for the Rice program, its progress has come to a screeching halt thus far in Conference USA play. The Owls fell to the University of Texas-El Paso, 66-43, in El Paso last Saturday due to a sluggish second half beleaguered by poor offensive execution. The team fell to 8-10 on the season and 0-4 in C-USA play.
(01/14/11 12:00am)
Playing in front of a predominantly absent student section over the winter break, there was no lack of drama in Tudor Fieldhouse for the men's basketball team. After a 2-2 showing at the 2010 Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic that earned Owls' sophomore forward Arsalan Kazemi C-USA Player of the Week honors, Rice returned to campus to take on Louisiana State University Dec. 29. Led by a 19-point, 17 rebound effort from Kazemi and clutch free throw shooting down the stretch, the Owls fought off a late LSU comeback to earn a 74-68 victory over their SEC foe.
(12/03/10 12:00am)
If the men's basketball team hopes to improve upon its 2009-2010 win total, the turnaround will have to begin in the games that come down to the final possessions. After going just 1-5 in games decided by five points or fewer a season ago, the Owls can begin to turn around their overall fortunes by closing out games with better play. But after three road losses by a combined seven points, Head Coach Ben Braun's squad is yet to buck the trend of late-game struggles.
(11/19/10 12:00am)
The scene inside Tudor Fieldhouse last Friday evening was a memorable one for the men's basketball team. With a strong student turnout and a surprisingly potent section of hostile University of St. Thomas fans in attendance for the season opener, the stage was set for a team looking to build around a young nucleus and improve on last season's disappointing 8-23 season. But for Head Coach Ben Braun's squad, the first 20 minutes against their National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics foes were a half of basketball to forget. Sophomore forward Arsalan Kazemi picked up two fouls in the game's first three minutes and was forced to go to the bench for the majority of the first half. Both teams started off the game cold from the field, as St. Thomas led 3-0 at the first media timeout five minutes into the game. Rice did not make a field goal until the first six minutes of the game had passed, overcoming an 0-9 start from the field with strong defense and excellent rebounding to keep the game close. Facing an extremely undersized St. Thomas squad, the Owls settled for jumpers in the game's early minutes rather than utilizing their conspicuous size advantage in the post. Rice pulled ahead 17-9 following a three-point play from senior center Trey Stanton, but St. Thomas kept the game close early by getting hot from the three-point line.
(11/12/10 12:00am)
Within the Inner Loop lies a congregation of students, faculty and staff representing the university through a number of academic and athletic pursuits. Inside the hedges, new discoveries are unearthed and exploits are inaugurated every day, be it the buckyball or a quest for a pole vaulting national championship. But for the men's basketball team, some of the biggest offseason accomplishments were made more than 6,000 miles away from campus. To find one of the highlights of the summer for the team, you would have had to travel to Turkey, where sophomore forward Arsalan Kazemi competed valiantly at the FIBA World Championships against the highest level of talent that the game has to offer. Kazemi averaged 12 points and seven rebounds per game for the Iranian team, including a 14-point, five-steal effort for Iran against the gold medal winning U.S. team, anchored by the likes of NBA stars Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose. Despite Iran's 1-4 record in the tournament, Kazemi's team played competitively throughout and played the heavily favored U.S. side closely for most of the first half of the match-up before the more talented side prevailed.
(10/29/10 12:00am)
With only two weekends remaining in the powderpuff season before rescheduled games take place, each of the four playoff spots are still up for grabs. In a season where a number of great teams have emerged, but no single juggernaut has taken the league by storm, teams have a chance to define their seasons in these last two weeks. The Game of the Week featured two of these great teams: arguably two of the very best units in the entire league. Lovett College, with just a single loss in the season occurring in the final seconds of their game against Sid Richardson College, boasts a powerful offense that utilizes the quarterback option to burn its opponents on the ground as well as through the air. Their opponent, an undefeated Sid Richardson College team, featured a defense that had yet to allow a point over the course of the season. A lot of anticipation came with the Game of the Week, and the match-up of these two playoff hopefuls lived up to its high expectations.Game of the Week: Lovett 7, Sid Rich 6 (OT)
(10/08/10 12:00am)
Wrapped up in their second defensive struggle in as many weeks, Sid Richardson College held McMurtry College scoreless in the first quarter but were unable to produce any points of their own. In the second quarter, Sid Rich senior quarterback Bianca Santos capped off a drive into the red zone, finding sophomore wide receiver Julianne Roberson on a flag pattern in the end zone to take the lead. Sid Rich converted the extra point, taking a 7-0 lead into the half.The second half was more of the same, as both defenses held their ground and kept their teams in the game. The Game of the Week became a field position battle, with both punters backing up the opposition in their own territory to keep the scoring down. Sid Rich and McMurtry exchanged possessions in the third quarter, with the Sid Rich offense on the field to begin the fourth quarter.
