Pera dismissed as men’s basketball coach
Rice men’s basketball head coach Scott Pera has been dismissed, athletic director Tommy McClelland announced March 14.
Rice men’s basketball head coach Scott Pera has been dismissed, athletic director Tommy McClelland announced March 14.
Rice women’s basketball is headed to March Madness for the first time since 2019 after winning the American Athletic Conference tournament in their first year in the conference.
Reckling Park and the Owls hosted some of the country’s best players this past week, starting with a 16-4 loss against the defending national champions, Louisiana State University, on March 5, followed by a three-game series against Stanford University, ultimately getting swept.
Rice men’s basketball dropped a pair of games last week, losing 43-65 to Temple University Feb. 28, then 87-66 to Wichita State University March 2. The pair of losses terminated their two-game winning streak, dropping the Owls to 11-18 (5-11 in AAC).
Women’s basketball fell to the University of North Texas 63-54 on Saturday, bringing their losing streak to four, their longest of the season, and dropping them to a six-way tie for fourth place in the American Athletic Conference standings only a few days away from the conference tournament.
The men’s and women’s tennis squads each played one match this past weekend and both came away with wins. The women competed against No. 69 University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Las Vegas on March 1, while the men took on the United States Air Force Academy at home on March 2.
Over the weekend, Rice Baseball secured a series win on the road against the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, capturing victories on Feb. 23 and Feb. 24 with scores of 2-1 and 6-1, respectively. However, their quest for a sweep fell short as they suffered a 3-0 loss on Sunday afternoon.
The Rice women’s basketball team, which spent much of this season soaring near the top of the American Athletic Conference standings, extended their losing streak to a season-high three games on Sunday afternoon. In a battle of the Owls, Rice fell to Temple University, 75-66.
The men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams competed in the 2024 American Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships in Birmingham, Ala. last weekend. The women’s team was just two points short of first place behind the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, while the men finished in sixth place.
Rice Swim competed in the American Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships in Dallas last weekend. Out of the seven teams competing, Rice finished third overall, scoring a total of 593 points and improving on their fourth-place performance from last year.
Alyss Allen Grear wasn’t yet pregnant with her sons when she made a silent wish for twins. It was the late 1990s, and Grear was watching Serena and Venus Williams play tennis on her television. She had never played tennis in her life, but watching the Williams sisters, she decided that one day she wanted her kids to play the sport.
Kicking off the season with high hopes, Rice baseball faced a tough start this past weekend. They were swept by the University of Notre Dame at home in their opening series, unable to secure a victory over three games. The Owls suffered a 3-1 loss on Friday night, followed by a 9-5 defeat on Saturday afternoon and concluded with a 13-10 loss on Sunday.
For the Rice men’s basketball team, the transition from Conference-USA to the American Athletic Conference was never going to be easy. Just last year, the AAC featured two of the top 15 college basketball squads in the nation with the No. 2 University of Houston and No. 14 University of Memphis.
Rice women’s basketball split their pair of matches last week, beating East Carolina University at home on Wednesday 75-57 before losing on the road to the University of Alabama at Birmingham 87-74 on Saturday.
Junior wide receiver Luke McCaffrey represented Rice football and boosted his draft stock during the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.
Scott Powers’ office, on the second floor of Kraft Hall, is sparse. It bears a few books on a small bookcase, some panels from the webcomic XKCD in magnet and mug form and, propped against the window, two plaques bearing the signatures of the World Series-winning 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers and 2022 Houston Astros. Conspicuously absent are the two World Series rings Powers himself owns from those teams and seasons.