# 2014–15 Rice Owls men's basketball team

The 2014–15 Rice Owls men's basketball team represented Rice University during the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Owls, led by first year head coach Mike Rhoades, played their home games at Tudor Fieldhouse and were members of Conference USA. They finished the season 12–20, 8–10 in C-USA play to finish in a four way tie for seventh place. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the C-USA tournament where they lost to Louisiana Tech.

## Previous season

The Owls finished the season 7–23, 2–14 in C-USA play to finish in last place. They lost in the first round of the C-USA tournament to North Texas.

## Departures
### Offseason Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Sean Obi | 3 | F | 6'9" | 265 | Freshman | Kaduna, Nigeria | Transferred to Duke |
| Nizar Kapic | 4 | G/F | 6'6" | 195 | RS Freshman | Sankt Pölten, Austria | Left Team (Injury) |
| Keith Washington | 5 | G | 6'1" | 180 | Sophomore | Philadelphia, PA | Left Rice (Personal) |
| Hunter Eggers | 15 | G | 6'0" | 200 | Freshman | Greenwich, CT | Left Team (Personal) |
| Drew Bender | 21 | G | 6'5" | 195 | Freshman | Phoenix, AZ | Transferred to Northern Colorado |
| Austin Ramljak | 42 | G | 6'3" | 200 | Senior | Thousand Oaks, CA | Graduated |
| Bahrom Firozgary | 44 | F | 6'8" | 200 | Senior | Houston, TX | Graduated |

### In-Season Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Maurice Rivers | 12 | F | 6'6" | 190 | Freshman | Atlanta, Georgia | Personal |
| Ross Wilson | 11 | F | 6'6" | 215 | Junior | Gosforth, England | Injury |
| Oliver Xu | 3 | G | 6'2" | 170 | Freshman | Hong Kong | Personal |
| Joey Burbach | 2 | G | 6'5" | 190 | Sophomore | Port Washington, Wisconsin | Personal |

### Incoming Transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Egor Koulechov | 4 | F | 6'5" | 205 | Sophomore | Volgograd, Russia | Transferred from Arizona State. Under NCAA transfer rules, Koulechev will have to sit out for the 2014–15 season. Will have three years of remaining eligibility. |
| Van Green | 31 | G | 6'3" | 185 | Senior | Birmingham, Alabama | Transferred from Columbia. Transferred under NCAA graduate transfer exception, Green will not have to sit out for the 2014–15 season. |

## Recruiting class of 2014

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Bishop Mency SF | Chino Hills, CA | Chino Hills High School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Apr 1, 2014 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 65 ||||||
| Jordan Reed SG | Lucas, TX | Lovejoy High School | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | 160 lb (73 kg) | Sep 30, 2013 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Maurice Rivers SG | Atlanta, GA | Columbia High School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Nov 16, 2013 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Nate Pollard C | Bountiful, UT | Impact Basketball Academy | 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | Apr 23, 2014 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Jeremy Jones SF | San Antonio, TX | East Central High School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | Dec 1, 2014 |
| 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: "2014 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 16, 2014. ||||||

### Recruiting class of 2015

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Marcus Evans PG | Virginia Beach, VA | Cape Henry Collegiate School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Jun 29, 2014 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Connor Cashaw SG | Lincolnshire, IL | Adlai E. Stevenson High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Sep 30, 2014 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Marquez Letcher-Ellis SF | Houston, TX | Montverde Academy | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Oct 25, 2014 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 79 ||||||
| 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: "2015 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 16, 2014. ||||||

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/08/2014* 5:00 pm | LeTourneau | W 82–64 | – | Tudor Fieldhouse (712) Houston, TX |
| Regular season ||||||
| 11/14/2014* 9:00 pm, P12N | at Oregon State | L 54–67 | 0–1 | Gill Coliseum (4,759) Corvallis, OR |
| 11/19/2014* 7:00 pm | Prairie View A&M | W 68–64 | 1–1 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,092) Houston, TX |
| 11/22/2014* 7:00 pm | William & Mary | L 65–69 | 1–2 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,195) Houston, TX |
| 11/27/2014* 8:30 pm, CBSSN | vs. Mercer Great Alaska Shootout quarterfinals | L 71–77 $^{OT}$ | 1–3 | Alaska Airlines Center (2,366) Anchorage, AK |
| 11/28/2014* 5:00 pm | vs. Washington State Great Alaska Shootout consolation round | L 74–76 | 1–4 | Alaska Airlines Center (2,554) Anchorage, AK |
| 11/29/2014* 3:00 pm | at Alaska Anchorage Great Alaska Shootout 7th place game | L 54–65 | 1–5 | Alaska Airlines Center (2,398) Anchorage, AK |
| 12/03/2014* 7:00 pm | Houston Baptist | L 55–58 | 1–6 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,139) Houston, TX |
| 12/06/2014* 7:00 pm | St. Edward's | W 54–49 | 2–6 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,613) Houston, TX |
| 12/18/2014* 11:30 am | St. Thomas | W 72–61 | 3–6 | Tudor Fieldhouse (4,502) Houston, TX |
| 12/22/2014* 7:00 pm | at Lamar | L 72–79 $^{OT}$ | 3–7 | Montagne Center (1,740) Beaumont, TX |
| 12/29/2014* 12:00 pm, LHN | at No. 11 Texas | L 55–66 | 3–8 | Frank Erwin Center (9,373) Austin, TX |
| 01/02/2015 7:00 pm | UTSA | W 67–52 | 4–8 (1–0) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,242) Houston, TX |
| 01/04/2015 2:30 pm, ASN | UTEP | L 57–66 | 4–9 (1–1) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,220) Houston, TX |
| 01/10/2015 2:00 pm, ASN | North Texas | L 63–66 | 4–10 (1–2) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,230) Houston, TX |
| 01/15/2015 6:00 pm | at Old Dominion | L 53–63 | 4–11 (1–3) | Ted Constant Convocation Center (7,457) Norfolk, VA |
| 01/17/2015 6:00 pm | at Charlotte | W 73–68 $^{OT}$ | 5–11 (2–3) | Dale F. Halton Arena (4,318) Charlotte, NC |
| 01/22/2015 7:00 pm | Southern Miss | W 58–56 | 6–11 (3–3) | Tudor Fieldhouse (985) Houston, TX |
| 01/24/2015 7:00 pm | Louisiana Tech | L 45–58 | 6–12 (3–4) | Tudor Fieldhouse (2,613) Houston, TX |
| 01/28/2015* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | at Houston Bayou Cup | L 48–59 | 6–13 | Hofheinz Pavilion (3,465) Houston, TX |
| 01/31/2015 7:00 pm, ASN | at North Texas | L 65–75 | 6–14 (3–5) | UNT Coliseum (4,212) Denton, TX |
| 02/05/2015 6:00 pm | at Marshall | L 55–69 | 6–15 (3–6) | Cam Henderson Center (4,844) Huntington, WV |
| 02/07/2015 7:00 pm, FCS | at WKU | W 72–68 | 7–15 (4–6) | E. A. Diddle Arena (5,071) Bowling Green, KY |
| 02/12/2015 7:00 pm | Middle Tennessee | W 71–68 $^{2OT}$ | 8–15 (5–6) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,341) Houston, TX |
| 02/14/2015 7:00 pm | UAB | W 82–73 $^{2OT}$ | 9–15 (6–6) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,647) Houston, TX |
| 02/19/2015 7:00 pm, ASN | at FIU | L 56–60 | 9–16 (6–7) | FIU Arena (1,051) Miami, FL |
| 02/21/2015 6:00 pm | at Florida Atlantic | W 76–69 | 10–16 (7–7) | FAU Arena (1,481) Boca Raton, FL |
| 02/26/2015 7:00 pm | Old Dominion | L 54–63 | 10–17 (7–8) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,506) Houston, TX |
| 02/28/2015 7:00 pm | Charlotte | L 76–77 | 10–18 (7–9) | Tudor Fieldhouse (4,653) Houston, TX |
| 03/05/2015 7:00 pm | at UTSA | W 76–74 | 11–18 (8–9) | Convocation Center (1,204) San Antonio, TX |
| 03/07/2015 3:00 pm | at UTEP | L 65–68 | 11–19 (8–10) | Don Haskins Center (8,574) El Paso, TX |
| Conference USA tournament ||||||
| 03/11/2015 8:30 pm, ASN | vs. North Texas First round | W 82–54 | 12–19 | Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex (4,695) Birmingham, AL |
| 03/12/2015 8:30 pm, ASN | vs. Louisiana Tech Quarterfinal | L 64–70 | 12–20 | Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex (6,922) Birmingham, AL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||