Preview from RiceOwls.com:

Jan. 18, 2018
Rice Owls (13-3, 3-1 C-USA) at Charlotte 49ers (6-11, 2-2 C-USA)

Game 17 • Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018 • 6 p.m. (CT)
CHarlotte, N.C. • Halton Arena
Video Stream: CUSAtv
Live Stats: Sidearm
Twitter Updates: @RiceWBasketball
Series Record: Charlotte leads, 6-1

Road Trip Concludes in Charlotte
Rice's three-game road swing will come to a close this Saturday when they travel to Charlotte, N.C. to face a 49ers (6-11, 2-2) team who is 4-2 at Halton Arena this season. The Owls are coming off a 68-58 loss at FIU last Saturday, which ended the team's season-high eight-game win streak and dropped Rice to 7-3 on the road. Charlotte dropped a pair of C-USA road game last week, including a 73-68 setback at North Texas last Saturday. The 49ers lead the all-time series 6-1 over Rice, however, the lone Owls win came last season in Charlotte when they used a last second Maya Hawkins three-pointer to win 55-52.

Last Time Out
The Owls dropped their first game in 46 days with a 68-58 road loss at FIU last Saturday. Rice shot a season-low 27 percent from the floor, including a 23 percent clip from beyond the arc. The Owls were led in scoring by senior guard Wendy Knight, who scored in double-figures for a sixth straight game with 15 points. Freshman guard Sydne Wiggins added an additional season-high 10 points in 22 minutes off the bench.

Charlotte Scouting Report
Junior guard Laia Raventos leads the way for the 49ers, ranking first in C-USA in total assists (91) and eighth in points per game (15.2). Raventos also leads all C-USA players in total steals (51) and steals per game (3.0). Nyilah Jamison-Myers is one of the top shot blockers in the league, ranking second in total blocked shots (30) and third in blocked shots per game (1.76). The 49ers get to the free throw line more than any other team in C-USA, having already attempted 390 this season (15th in the nation).

Knight In, Knight Out-ly
Rice senior guard Wendy Knight has scored in double-figure in six straight games and nine of 10 overall. The San Antonio, Texas native leads the Owls in field goal percentage (.535-career high) and minutes played (33.6).

Best Start Since...
Rice's 13-3 start to the season is their best record through 16 games since the 1981-82 (Division II) campaign when the Owls started 14-2. The Owls started C-USA play 3-0 for the first time in school history and won a school record 10 non-conference games.

Up Next
The Owls finally return home to Tudor Fieldhouse on Friday, Jan. 26 when they host UTEP at 7 p.m.

Up 16 at half. Shooting much better today than in the two Florida road games.

(01-20-2018 07:49 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Up 16 at half. Shooting much better today than in the two Florida road games.

Do you have the video stream?

Women beginning to play like the men with all these TOs.

7 point lady for the ladies. 9-point game entering the 4th. Might lose this game if we don't step up our play.

Horrible third quarter.

Rice players have mentally left for the airport.

Problem with running such a deliberate offense, which I'm not opposed to, is that you might only get one decent look per possession. It seems we're looking for a perfect shot which is why we have so many end of shot clock heaves. This is especially true when we're trying to break the press. Feels like we pull the ball out every opportunity as opposed to attacking the basket.

(01-20-2018 08:33 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Problem with running such a deliberate offense, which I'm not opposed to, is that you might only get one decent look per possession. It seems we're looking for a perfect shot which is why we have so many end of shot clock heaves. This is especially true when we're trying to break the press. Feels like we pull the ball out every opportunity as opposed to attacking the basket.

Well, that hasn't been the case in other games. LaTech had a clear height advantage over us, and dominated the boards for much of the game. Lost focus in the 3Q, but steadied things down in the 4th. 10 point lead with :45 seconds left in the game.

The refs are doing to best to get LaTech back into this game. A bunch of truly ticky tac foul calls.

(01-20-2018 08:46 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(01-20-2018 08:33 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Problem with running such a deliberate offense, which I'm not opposed to, is that you might only get one decent look per possession. It seems we're looking for a perfect shot which is why we have so many end of shot clock heaves. This is especially true when we're trying to break the press. Feels like we pull the ball out every opportunity as opposed to attacking the basket.

Well, that hasn't been the case in other games. LaTech had a clear height advantage over us, and dominated the boards for much of the game. Lost focus in the 3Q, but steadied things down in the 4th. 10 point lead with :45 seconds left in the game.

Definitely agree on the offensive rebounding. But the more games we play, the more tape there is on us, and it's not like our offense is extremely complicated. Just think we could do well to diversify our tempo on offense, especially against the press which we're going to keep seeing until we prove we can break it.

62 - 55 Rice final.

Something is wrong when Erica's and Nicole's first FTs came in the final 30 seconds of the game.

Not a pretty second half, but a road win just the same. We could really use Olivia's return to help our post defense and rebounding.

Rice wins by 7 and is in a 3-way tie for 1st in the conference with a 4-1 record (WKU got beat up badly at UAB, and then UAB lost badly at USM).

Bad news is Rice women have played almost twice as many games on the road than at home thus far this year.

Good news is 7 of the next 11 are at home.

Awful 2nd half, but a road win is a road win.

A win is a win but the team looked tired. Some stupid fouls.

(01-20-2018 08:56 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Rice wins by 7 and is in a 3-way tie for 1st in the conference with a 4-1 record (WKU got beat up badly at UAB, and then UAB lost badly at USM).

Bad news is Rice women have played almost twice as many games on the road than at home thus far this year.

Good news is 7 of the next 11 are at home.

How is that "bad news", given we still only have 3 losses on the road, and we're undefeated at home? My concern is that our level of play has dropped over the past two weeks, despite getting Wiggins back into the rotation.

(1) It's bad news for the Rice fans who haven't had a chance to see the women play much
(2) It's tough on the kids as travel isn't easy on college life, either dealing with the logistics or keeping up with school work. Maybe that's why the legs have been a little wobbly.
(3) When one of your best players has been out with concussion syndromes for almost 2 months, the last thing she needs is travel.

Relax, I said there was good news and that's more important than the bad news.

This 3 game stretch was really tough. Not bad to go to Florida and play Thurs/Sat but then having to fly home and then travel again late in the week. I agree the team looks mentally tired. Hopefully having the bulk of the games at home will be the cure.

(01-20-2018 08:10 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Women beginning to play like the men with all these TOs.

So much so that one poster seemed convinced we were playing LATech

Glad we got the win!!

Is Erica really coming back this year or will be given a medical redshirt?