# 2018–19 Rice Owls men's basketball team

The 2018–19 Rice Owls men's basketball team represented Rice University during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Owls, led by second-year head coach Scott Pera, played their home games at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas as members of Conference USA.

## Previous season

The Owls finished the 2017–18 season 7–24, 4–14 in C-USA play to finish in 13th place and failed to qualify for the C-USA tournament.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Connor Cashaw | 0 | G | 6'5" | 205 | Junior | Lincolnshire, IL | Graduate transferred to Creighton |
| A. J. Lapray | 2 | G | 6'5" | 190 | RS Senior | Salem, OR | Graduated |
| Miles Lester | 11 | G | 6'0" | 170 | Freshman | Wichita, KS | Transferred to Wake Forest |
| Malik Osbourne | 13 | F | 6'8" | 200 | Freshman | Matteson, IL | Transferred to Florida State |
| Bishop Mency | 15 | G | 6'5" | 215 | Senior | Chino Hills, CA | Graduated |
| Grant Youngkin | 20 | G | 6'3" | 190 | Sophomore | Washington, D.C. | Walk-on; left the team for personal reasons |
| J. T. Trauber | 24 | G | 5'10" | 165 | Senior | Houston, TX | Walk-on; graduated |
| Austin Meyer | 30 | F | 6'9" | 235 | Sophomore | Pflugerville, TX | Transferred to Oklahoma State |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Jack Williams | 32 | F | 6'8" | 220 | RS Senior | Porter Ranch, CA | Transferred from Pacific. Will be eligible to play immediately since Williams graduated from Pacific. |

### 2018 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Chris Mullins #55 SG | Mansfield, TX | Timberview High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | N/A | Aug 23, 2017 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 3 ||||||
| Trey Murphy III SG | Cary, NC | Cary Academy | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) | Nov 8, 2017 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 0 ||||||
| Quentin Millora-Brown PF | Lorton, VA | Bishop O'Connell High School | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | Nov 8, 2017 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 0 ||||||
| Payton Moore SG | Los Angeles, CA | Windward School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | Nov 8, 2017 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 0 ||||||
| Drew Peterson SF | Libertyville, IL | Libertyville High Scoool | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Apr 10, 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: "2018 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved September 24, 2018. ||||||

### 2019 recruiting class

College recruiting information (2019) :
| 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. Retrieved September 24, 2018. |||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Nov 1, 2018* 7:00 pm | | St. Thomas (TX) | W 90–76 | | Tudor Fieldhouse Houston, TX |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 6, 2018* 7:00 pm | | Saint Leo | W 80–64 | 1–0 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,368) Houston, TX |
| Nov 9, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Penn | L 76–92 | 1–1 | Palestra (2,256) Philadelphia, PA |
| Nov 12, 2018* 7:00 pm, CUSA.tv | | Alabama A&M Men Against Breast Cancer Cup | W 73–59 | 2–1 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,103) Houston, TX |
| Nov 14, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Houston Men Against Breast Cancer Cup | L 68–79 | 2–2 | H&PE Arena (3,952) Houston, TX |
| Nov 17, 2018* 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Northwestern State Men Against Breast Cancer Cup | W 102–74 | 3–2 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,220) Houston, TX |
| Nov 21, 2018* 8:00 pm, BYUtv | | at BYU Men Against Breast Cancer Cup | L 78–105 | 3–3 | Marriott Center (11,631) Provo, UT |
| Nov 25, 2018* 2:00 pm, Cox YurView/ESPN3 | | at Wichita State | L 61–90 | 3–4 | Charles Koch Arena (10,089) Wichita, KS |
| Nov 28, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Texas State | L 60–74 | 3–5 | Strahan Coliseum (1,897) San Marcos, TX |
| Dec 1, 2018* 4:30 pm | | Lamar | L 68–75 | 3–6 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,926) Houston, TX |
| Dec 13, 2018* 11:15 am | | St. Edward's | W 78–73 | 4–6 | Tudor Fieldhouse (4,786) Houston, TX |
| Dec 15, 2018* 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | UC Santa Barbara | L 89–99 $^{OT}$ | 4–7 | Tudor Fieldhouse (2,000) Houston, TX |
| Dec 18, 2018* 7:00 pm | | at Texas–Rio Grande Valley | W 75–67 | 5–7 | UTRGV Fieldhouse (418) Edinburg, TX |
| Dec 21, 2018* 7:00 pm | | Omaha | L 66–83 | 5–8 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,276) Houston, TX |
| Conference USA regular season ||||||
| Dec 29, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | North Texas | L 87–103 | 5–9 (0–1) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,735) Houston, TX |
| Jan 3, 2019 3:00 pm | | Southern Miss | W 73–65 | 6-9 (1-1) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,108) Houston, TX |
| Jan 5, 2019 2:00 pm | | Louisiana Tech | W 78–66 | 7–9 (2–1) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,430) Houston, TX |
| Jan 10, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at UTSA | L 79–95 | 7–10 (2–2) | Convocation Center (530) San Antonio, TX |
| Jan 12, 2019 8:00 pm | | at UTEP | L 64–65 | 7–11 (2–3) | Don Haskins Center (4,345) El Paso, TX |
| Jan 19, 2019 5:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at North Texas | L 75–76 | 7–12 (2–4) | The Super Pit (3,728) Denton, TX |
| Jan 24, 2019 7:00 pm | | Middle Tennessee | W 79–68 | 8–12 (3–4) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,375) Houston, TX |
| Jan 26, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | UAB | L 86–89 | 8–13 (3–5) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,731) Houston, TX |
| Jan 31, 2019 6:00 pm | | at Charlotte | W 65–61 | 9–13 (4–5) | Dale F. Halton Arena (3,837) Charlotte, NC |
| Feb 2, 2019 8:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Old Dominion | L 76–80 | 9–14 (4–6) | Ted Constant Convocation Center (7,805) Norfolk, VA |
| Feb 7, 2019 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | Western Kentucky | L 85–92 $^{2OT}$ | 9–15 (4–7) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,757) Houston, TX |
| Feb 9, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Marshall | W 74–69 | 10–15 (5–7) | Tudor Fieldhouse (2,910) Houston, TX |
| Feb 14, 2019 6:00 pm | | at FIU | L 65–86 | 10–16 (5–8) | Ocean Bank Convocation Center (785) Miami, FL |
| Feb 16, 2019 1:00 pm | | at Florida Atlantic | L 41–60 | 10–17 (5–9) | FAU Arena (1,389) Boca Raton, FL |
| Feb 23, 2019 8:00 pm | | UTEP | W 85-81 $^{2OT}$ | 11–17 (6–9) | Don Haskins Center (5,071) El Paso, TX |
| Mar 3, 2019 2:00 pm | | Middle Tennessee | W 67–61 | 12–17 (7–9) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,478) Houston, TX |
| Mar 6, 2019 6:00 pm | | at Charlotte | W 79–70 | 13–17 (8–9) | Dale F. Halton Arena (2,513) Charlotte, NC |
| Mar 9, 2019 7:00 pm | | Charlotte | L 70–78 | 13–18 (8–10) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,884) Houston, TX |
| Conference USA tournament ||||||
| Mar 13, 2019 9:00 pm, ESPN+ | (11) | vs. (6) Marshall First round | L 65–82 | 13–19 | Ford Center at The Star (2,704) Frisco, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||
Source