WBB Game: Rice (16-6, 11-0) vs ODU (20-3, 10-1) aka 1 vs 2, winner take all
This Thursday the ODU Monarchs will play the University of Rice Owls in a game that could decide the top standing in the conference. This is a game that I'm tremendously excited about. I have been wanting another chance at this team since last year. What happened last year?
Let's recap, playing in Texas Rice beat ODU 48-42. It was a game that started off slow on offense, as ODU was up 5-2 in the first quarter. At the half time, ODU was up 21-17. At the end of the 3rd quarter, Rice is up 30- 28. That game was winnable and even the fans of Rice will admit that it could have gone both ways. Morris scored 20 points, but as a team we went 12-for-23 from the free throw line. But even in the fourth quarter, we had chances to win.
So now we have another shot against Rice and this time it's at home where the Monarchs have yet to lose. The Owls have won 30 straight conference games. They are the defending Con USA champs and if ODU wants to go to the NCAA tournament this year, this is the team we have to beat. This is the difference between being a legit NCAA contender and a team bound for the WNIT.
What makes Rice so good? Let's look at their star players.....
-Senior Erica Ogwumike. The 2018-29 Conference USA Female Athlete of the Year and the 2018-19 Con USA Player of the Year. 2017-18 Conference USA All Defense team. This season her average of 20.8 ppg and 11.8 rpg leads the conference (based off conference only stats) . She averages a league high 8.3 defensive rebounds a game. She is putting together another strong campaign for player of the year. For basketball fans, the name Ogwumike might seem familiar. She had two sisters play at Stanford, both of which were drafted by the WNBA. Make no mistake about it. She is the leader of this team despite have a strong supporting cast.
This week she was named Conference Player of the Week for the third time and was named the US Basketball Writers Association for National Player of the Week thanks to her two games where she scored a total of 50 points with 26 rebounds, including career rebound number 1,000.
-Junior Nancy Mulkey. At 6'9", a lot of schools are not used to seeing a player of Nancy's height. At ODU, we had the great Anne Donovan. What made Donovan so great was she was an athlete first who was gifted with height. Nancy has the height, but isn't quite as athletic as Donovan was. I know that a lot of fans are going to want compare the two, but really...they are different players. This season, Nancy has been playing great basketball. She averages 11.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, shots 53.5 % from the floor, and averages 3.4 blocks per game! (Currently that is good for 5th in the nation)
Lately Nancy has been on a tear of late though. In her last five games, she is a combined 37-for-56 from the floor, good enough for 66.1% from the floor. I imagine more teams are trying to double team Ogwumike and Nancy is getting a lot of shots close to the basket That is the thing about being 6'9". It's a challenge to guard players like that when they have such a huge height advantage You try to keep them away from the baskets without any open looks on defense. On offense, you use your speed against them. (ODU has plenty of that...so that is a good thing) And the blocks...well. She is 6'9". Enough said on that. This is where having tall male practice players really come in handy. So they can used to playing against somebody that tall.
Also Nancy has never lost against an opponent in Con USA while wearing a Rice uniform
-Syden Wiggins. The 5'11" shooting guard might be the key player to the Owls success this season. Last season the Owls had Nicole Iademarco. She was a 2nd team all conference player last year whose job was defense and 3's. She graduated and the Owls didn't have somebody who shot from the outside other than Ogwumike to start off the season. Wiggins has stepped up to that role. During the non-conference season, she was shooting 30.6% from the floor beyond the arc. Since conference season has started though, she is 41.5% from beyond the arc. That makes a huge difference, as defenses can't pack it in against Mulkey and Ogwumike.
The credit for building this team should go to fifth year head coach Tina Langley. Yes Ogwumike was a transfer from Perpperdine, helped by the fact that her other sister played for Rice. Mulkey was a transfer from Oklahoma who I think wanted to return someplace closer to her home state of Texas. She did a good of team chemistry and getting everyone to work together.
The Owls schedule so far. They are 16-6 (11-0) with an RPI of 87. They have a SOS of 171.
Vs Nicholls W 71-47 Record: 4-16 RPI: 292
Vs AR Little Rock W 66-40 Record 10-12 RPI: 184
@ SMU L 43-55 Record: 9-13 RPI: 230
Vs #5 Texas A&M L 61-62 Record: 18-5 RPI: 17
@ Oklahoma St L 38-69 Record: 13-10 RPI: 50
@ McNeese St W 81-50 Record: 3-17 RPI: 334
Vs Northern Arizona W 71-57 Record: 12-10 RPI: 186
@ Texas Southern L 56-63 Record: 13-8 RPI: 113
Vs Prairie View A&M W 77-55 Record: 5-14 RPI: 289
Puerto Rico Classic
Vs Virginia Tech L 45-54 Record: 17-6 RPI: 35
Vs Georgia Tech L 52-54 Record: 16-8 RPI: 89
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Vs Marshall W 81-43 Record: 7-13 (4-7) RPI: 245
Vs W Kentucky W 73-65 Record: 16-6 (8-3) RPI: 30
@ FAU W 78-69 Record: 10-12 (4-7) RPI: 181
@ FIU W 68-47 Record: 5-17 (2-9) RPI: 286
Vs La Tech W 60-47 Record: 9-11 (3-8) RPI: 242
Vs Southern Miss W 75-64 Record: 9-11 (3-8) RPI: 219
@ UTEP W 69-61 Record: 13-9 (6-5) RPI: 213
@ UTSA W 74-62 Record: 3-16 (2-9) RPI: 299
@ North Texas W 67-52 Record: 7-3 (3-8) RPI: 260
Vs UAB W 64-53 Record: 14-8 (8-4) RPI: 109
Vs Middle Tenn St W 77-60 Record: 16-8 (8-4) RPI: 60
@ ODU Record: 20-3 (10-1) RPI: 33
Just like ODU fans were upset that we didn't beat UVA, Rice fans knew they had #5 Texas A&M until the final seconds of the game. If they had won that game, that would have sent shock waves to the rest of the basketball world.
The Owls Starting Five, regular season averages
13 Erica Oqwumike G 5'9" Sr 18.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 2.7 apg, 44.3 FG%, 16.4 3P%, 78.6 FT%, 30.8 mpg
32 Nancy Mulkey C 6'9" Jr 11.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 0.8 apg, 3.4 bpg, 53.5 FG%, 0.00 3P%, 85.2 FT%, 25.2 mpg
15 Lauren Schwartz F 5'11" Fr 8.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, 42.5 FG%, 34.5 3P%, 85.0 FT%, 28.4 mpg
02 Sydne Wiggins G 5'11" Jr 7.9 mpg, 3.2 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.9 spg, 41.1 FG%, 36.4 3P%, 85.0 FT%, 28.4 mpg
10 Jasmine Smith G 5'7" So 5.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.1 spg, 44.8 FG%, 18.2 3P%, 74.1 FT%, 26.2 mpg
Top Bench
11 Haylee Swayza G 5'11" So 3.6 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.4 apg, 31.0 FG%, 26.7 3P%, 68.2 FT%, 11.4 mpg
25 Kendall Ellig C 6'1" Jr 2.1 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 0.6 apg, 55.3 FG%, 0.00 3P%, 18.8 FT%, 10.5 mpg
05 Destiny Jackson G 5'9" Fr 4.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.9 spg, 41.0 FG%, 14.3 3P%, 68.4 FT%, 17.7 mpg
In case Nancy fouls out, they have a 6'6" back-up center as well. Schwartz was going to be three point specialist, but she hasn't quite stepped up yet in her freshman year. Jasmine Smith is the team's third leading defensive re bounder. Overall, it's a nice little team where a lot of players do a lot of different things. But like ODU, they stress defense as well. Take at a look at the stats....
Inside the Numbers.
...............Regular......................Conference Only Stats
................Rice.....ODU..................Rice........ODU
PPG..........65.8.......66.9.................71.5.........67.5
OPPG.......55.9.......53.6.................56.6.........56.3
FG%.........44.6.......41.0.................50.3........41.4
OFG%......35.2........34.1.................35.1.......34.3
3P%...........28.1......32.3.................28.6........31.4
O3P%.........26.3......23.4................23.5........23.7
3PPG..........4.6........6.7...................4.0.........6.0
O3PPG.......4.7........4.2
FT%...........74.4......62.6..................71.9......62.8
FTPG.........14.0......11.7
RPG...........39.5......42.3...................41.4.....42.9
ORPG........32.5......35.3...................29.1.....35.6
APG...........14.2......11.7..................15.9.....11.4
TPG...........18.5.......14.0.................19.5......12.3
SPG...........6.9..........8.3..................6.7........6.8
BPG..........5.3..........3.9...................5.7.........2.9
AST/TO ratio:
Rice: 0.8, ODU: 0.8 during conference only games. Rice: 0.8, ODU: 0.9
This will be a match up of the top two defenses in the league, that are really close in the conference only stats. Rice has a better 3 point defense than ODU, and they will be challenged with Hudson and Morris. Rice though is shooting an unbelievable 50.3 percent from the floor, mostly inside the arc. Rice dishes more assists than ODU, but has nearly 20 turnovers per game. ODU for their credit allows the fewest turnovers among conference only stats. ODU is the number one offensive board rebounding. Rice is the number one defensive board when it comes to rebounding.
Is Wayne healthy? Will Amaya play? Is Adams shoulder okay? I don't know. But you see what we are up against. Having a team where everyone can play would certainly help.....
Honestly. This game has something for everyone. This is by far and away the best two teams in the conference going head to head. As a fan, how could you not get excited about this game?!? Even if you can't make it, you should want to watch the game on ESPN + (or listen to it on the radio). This is a statement game. We are trying to do something that no other team in the conference has done in the past two years...beat Rice Playing at home, in front of our fans....this is our moment!
Go Monarchs!
Conference USA standings
Rice 11-0
ODU 10-1
WKU 8-3
Middle Tennessee St 8-4
UAB 8-4
Charlotte 6-5
UTEP 6-5
FAU 4-7
Marshall 4-7
Southern Miss 3-8
La Tech 3-8
North Texas 3-8
UTSA 2-9
FIU 2-9
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