2019–20 Rice Owls men's basketball team

The 2019–20 Rice Owls men's basketball team represented Rice University in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Owls, led by third-year head coach Scott Pera, played their home games at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas as members of Conference USA. They finished the season 15–17, 7–11 in C-USA play to finish in 12th place. They lost in the first round of the C-USA tournament to FIU.

2019–20 Rice Owls men's basketball
Conference	Conference USA
Record	15–17 (7–11 C-USA)
Head coach	Scott Pera (3rd season)
Assistant coaches	Vince Alexander Mark Linebaugh Van Green
Home arena	Tudor Fieldhouse
Seasons ← 2018–19 2020–21 →

2019–20 Conference USA men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
North Texas	14	–	4		.778			20	–	11		.645
Western Kentucky	13	–	5		.722			20	–	10		.667
Louisiana Tech	13	–	5		.722			22	–	8		.733
Charlotte	10	–	8		.556			16	–	13		.552
FIU	9	–	9		.500			19	–	13		.594
Marshall	10	–	8		.556			17	–	15		.531
UAB	9	–	9		.500			19	–	13		.594
Old Dominion	9	–	9		.500			13	–	19		.406
Florida Atlantic	8	–	10		.444			17	–	15		.531
UTSA	7	–	11		.389			13	–	19		.406
UTEP	8	–	10		.444			17	–	15		.531
Rice	7	–	11		.389			15	–	17		.469
Southern Miss	5	–	13		.278			9	–	22		.290
Middle Tennessee	4	–	14		.222			8	–	23		.258
Note: The 2020 C-USA Tournament was canceled prior to the quarterfinals due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Previous season

The Owls finished the 2018–19 season 13–19 overall, 8–10 in C-USA play to finish in four-way tie for 9th place. In the C-USA tournament, they were defeated by Marshall in the first round.^[1]

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Dylan Jones	4	F	6'8"	215	RS Senior	Houston, TX	Graduated
Oliver Xu	30	G	6'2"	170	RS Senior	Hong Kong	Walk-on; graduated
Jack Williams	32	F	6'8"	220	RS Senior	Porter Ranch, CA	Graduated
Quentin Millora-Brown	42	F	6'9"	205	Freshman	Lorton, VA	Transferred to Vanderbilt

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Tommy McCarthy	13	G	6'0"	175	GS Senior	Ranch Santa Fe, CA	Transferred from Harvard. Will be eligible to play immediately since McCarthy graduated from Harvard.
Malik Ondigo		F	6'10"	215	Junior	St. Louis, MO	Transferred from Texas Tech. Under NCAA transfer rules, Ondigo will have to sit out the 2019–20 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility.

2019 recruiting class

College recruiting information

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Max Fiedler C	Melbourne, FL	Melbourne High School	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	230 lb (100 kg)	Sep 16, 2018
	Star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Zach Crisler PF	Glenside, PA	La Salle College High School	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Sep 14, 2018
	Star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Quincy Olivari PG	Atlanta, GA	Westlake High School	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Sep 17, 2018
	Star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2019 Team Ranking". Rivals.com.

2020 recruiting class

College recruiting information (2020)
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Mylyjael Poteat C	Reidsville, NC	The Burlington School	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	260 lb (120 kg)	Jan 13, 2020
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals: N/A   247Sports:    ESPN grade: 0
Cameron Sheffield SF	Alpharetta, GA	Chattahoochee High School	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Sep 27, 2018
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN grade: 0
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2020 Team Ranking". Rivals.com.

Roster

2019–20 Rice Owls men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 0 Payton Moore 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) So Santa Monica High School Los Angeles, California G 1 Josh Parrish 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 215 lb (98 kg) RS Jr Seguin High School TCU Arlington, Texas G 2 Trey Murphy III 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Cary Academy Durham, North Carolina G 3 Ako Adams 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Sr Bishop O'Connell High School Washington, D.C. G 4 Quincy Olivari 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Fr Westlake High School Atlanta, Georgia G 5 Addison Owen (W) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr The Paideia School Atlanta, Georgia F 10 Robert Martin 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Sr Tilton School Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania F 12 Ben Moffat (W) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Fr Rider High School Wichita Falls, Texas G 13 Tommy McCarthy 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) GS La Costa Canyon High School Harvard Rancho Santa Fe, California G 14 Reed Myers (W) 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr Scottsdale Christian Academy Phoenix, Arizona F 15 Max Fiedler 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Fr Melbourne High School Indialantic, Florida F 20 Zach Crisler 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Fr La Salle High School North Wales, Pennsylvania G/F 23 Drew Peterson 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Libertyville High School Libertyville, Illinois G 24 Chris Mullins 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Mansfield Timberview High School Grand Prairie, Texas F 35 Tim Harrison 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Sr Francis Parker School San Diego, California F Malik Ondigo  6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Jr Putnam Science Academy Texas Tech El Mirage, Arizona	Head coach Scott Pera (Penn State) Assistant coach(es) Vince Alexander (Oklahoma Baptist) Mark Linebaugh (Colgate) Van Green (Rice) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: January 18, 2020

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
October 31, 2019* 7:00 pm		St. Edward's	L 83–89		Tudor Fieldhouse  Houston, TX
Non-conference regular season
November 5, 2019* 7:00 pm, SECN+		at Arkansas	L 43–91	0–1	Bud Walton Arena (17,274) Fayetteville, AR
November 9, 2019* 3:30 pm, CUSA.tv		Penn	W 80–61	1–1	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,557) Houston, TX
November 10, 2019* 4:00 pm, CUSA.tv		Wayland Baptist	W 65–40	2–1	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,222) Houston, TX
November 12, 2019* 6:30 pm, DemonTV		at Northwestern State	W 80–74	3–1	Prather Coliseum (1,606) Natchitoches, LA
November 16, 2019* 4:00 pm, BigWest.tv		at UC Santa Barbara	W 82–81	4–1	The Thunderdome (1,503) Santa Barbara, CA
November 19, 2019* 7:00 pm, Facebook		Houston Rivalry	L 89–97	4–2	Tudor Fieldhouse (2,513) Houston, TX
November 22, 2019* 1:00 pm, FloHoops		vs. Milwaukee Islands of the Bahamas Showcase First Round	W 75–69	5–2	Baha Mar Convention Center (300) Nassau, Bahamas
November 23, 2019* 4:00 pm, FloHoops		vs. Liberty Islands of the Bahamas Showcase Semifinals	L 59–71	5–3	Baha Mar Convention Center (300) Nassau, Bahamas
November 24, 2019* 4:00 pm, FloHoops		vs. East Carolina Islands of the Bahamas Showcase 3rd Place Game	W 77–69	6–3	Baha Mar Convention Center (300) Nassau, Bahamas
December 7, 2019* 2:00 pm, ESPN+		at Lamar	L 60–73	6–4	Montagne Center (1,807) Beaumont, TX
December 14, 2019* 7:00 pm, CUSA.tv		Houston Baptist	W 96–84	7–4	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,725) Houston, TX
December 19, 2019* 11:15 am, CUSA.tv		St. Thomas (TX)	W 103–70	8–4	Tudor Fieldhouse (4,325) Houston, TX
December 29, 2019* 2:00 pm, CUSA.tv		Sam Houston State	L 61–75	8–5	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,763) Houston, TX
Conference USA regular season
January 2, 2020 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at Marshall	L 69–89	8–6 (0–1)	Cam Henderson Center (5,311) Huntington, WV
January 4, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN3		at Western Kentucky	L 61–68	8–7 (0–2)	E. A. Diddle Arena (4,619) Bowling Green, KY
January 9, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Florida Atlantic	L 76–81	8–8 (0–3)	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,170) Houston, TX
January 11, 2020 2:00 pm, ESPN+		FIU	W 92–78	9–8 (1–3)	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,490) Houston, TX
January 16, 2020 6:30 pm, ESPN+		at Louisiana Tech	L 56–72	9–9 (1–4)	Thomas Assembly Center (2,467) Ruston, LA
January 18, 2020 2:00 pm, ESPN+		at Southern Miss	L 68–81	9–10 (1–5)	Reed Green Coliseum (3,571) Hattiesburg, MS
January 20, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at North Texas	L 59–79	9–11 (1–6)	The Super Pit (2,729) Denton, TX
January 23, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		UTEP	L 64–72	9–12 (1–7)	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,518) Houston, TX
January 25, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		UTSA	L 88–90	9–13 (1–8)	Tudor Fieldhouse (2,239) Houston, TX
February 1, 2020 2:00 pm, ESPN+		North Texas	W 84–75	10–13 (2–8)	Tudor Fieldhouse (2,580) Houston, TX
February 6, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at UAB	W 86–72	11–13 (3–8)	Bartow Arena (3,032) Birmingham, AL
February 8, 2020 5:00 pm, CUSA.tv		at Middle Tennessee	W 91–83	12–13 (4–8)	Murphy Center (3,912) Murfreesboro, TN
February 13, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Old Dominion	L 70–73	12–14 (4–9)	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,387) Houston, TX
February 15, 2020 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Charlotte	W 70–54	13–14 (5–9)	Tudor Fieldhouse (2,872) Houston, TX
February 22, 2020 6:00 pm, CUSA.tv		at UTEP	L 62–68	13–15 (5–10)	Don Haskins Center (4,139) El Paso, TX
March 1, 2020 2:00 pm, CUSA.tv		Middle Tennessee	W 77–66	14–15 (6–10)	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,677) Houston, TX
March 4, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN3		at Southern Miss	W 72–57	15–15 (7–10)	Reed Green Coliseum (3,065) Hattiesburg, MS
March 7, 2020 5:00 pm, CUSA.tv		UTEP	L 72-77	15-16 (7-11)	Tudor Fieldhouse (1,608) Houston, TX
Conference USA tournament
March 11, 2020 6:30 pm, ESPN+	(12)	vs. (5) FIU First round	L 76–85	15–17	Ford Center at The Star  Frisco, TX
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central.

Source^[2]

References

1. "Season Ends as Rice Falls to Marshall, 82-65, in C-USA Tournament". Rice University Athletics. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
2. "2019-20 Men's Basketball Schedule". Rice University Athletics. Retrieved January 18, 2020.