# 2016–17 Rice Owls men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Rice Owls men's basketball team represented Rice University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Owls, led by third-year head coach Mike Rhoades, played their home games at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas as members of Conference USA. They finished the season 23–12, 11–7 in C-USA play to finish in fifth place. They defeated Southern Miss in the first round of the C-USA tournament before losing in the quarterfinals to UTEP. They received an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational where they defeated San Francisco in the first round before losing in the quarterfinals to Utah Valley.
On March 21, 2017, head coach Mike Rhoades resigned to become the head coach at VCU. He finished at Rice with a three-year record of 47–52. On March 23, the school promoted assistant coach Scott Pera to head coach.

## Previous season

The Owls finished the 2015–16 season 12–20, 7–11 in C-USA play to finish in a three-way tie for ninth place. They lost in the second round of the C-USA tournament to Charlotte.

## Preseason

The Owls were picked to finish in ninth place in the preseason Conference USA poll. Marcus Evans was selected to the preseason All-Conference USA team.

## Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Max Guercy | 1 | G | 5'9" | 170 | Senior | Arleta, CA | Graduated |
| Oliver Xu | 30 | G | 6'2" | 170 | Sophomore | Hong Kong | Walk-on; didn't return |
| Amir Smith | 32 | F | 6'6" | 200 | Freshman | Missouri City, TX | Transferred to State Fair Community College |
| Nate Pollard | 45 | C | 7'1" | 220 | Sophomore | Bountiful, UT | Transferred to Chaminade |

## Recruiting class of 2016

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Ako Adams #55 PG | Arlington, VA | Bishop O'Connell High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 160 lb (73 kg) | Sep 5, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 3 ||||||
| Tim Harrison #66 PF | El Cajon, CA | Francis Parker High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Oct 1, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 3 ||||||
| Austin Meyer #51 C | Mustang, OK | Mustang High School | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | Nov 25, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 3 ||||||
| B.J. Martin #92 PF | Waltham, MA | Tilton School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | Jan 15, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 2 ||||||
| Corey Douglas PF | Louisville, KY | Fork Union Military Academy | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Mar 26, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 2 ||||||
| 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: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved August 3, 2016. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/05/2016* 7:00 pm | | Our Lady of the Lake | W 96–86 | | Tudor Fieldhouse Houston, TX |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/13/2016* 1:00 pm | | at James Madison | W 94–70 | 1–0 | JMU Convocation Center (3,480) Harrisonburg, VA |
| 11/16/2016* 7:00 pm | | Texas Southern | L 68–71 | 1–1 | Tudor Fieldhouse (2,082) Houston, TX |
| 11/19/2016* 1:00 pm | | at Nebraska–Omaha | W 100–87 | 2–1 | Baxter Arena (1,814) Omaha, NE |
| 11/21/2016* 7:00 pm | | Montana State | W 83–78 | 3–1 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,408) Houston, TX |
| 11/23/2016* 7:00 pm | | Delaware State | W 80–58 | 4–1 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,275) Houston, TX |
| 11/26/2016* 3:00 pm | | at Incarnate Word | W 87–79 | 5–1 | McDermott Center (530) San Antonio, TX |
| 11/30/2016* 7:00 pm | | Houston Baptist | W 90–77 | 6–1 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,766) Houston, TX |
| 12/03/2016* 1:00 pm, FSSW | | at Texas Tech | L 84–85 | 6–2 | United Supermarkets Arena (10,452) Lubbock, TX |
| 12/10/2016* 7:00 pm | | Stephen F. Austin | W 70–63 | 7–2 | Tudor Fieldhouse (2,205) Houston, TX |
| 12/15/2016* 11:45 am | | St. Edward's | W 93–64 | 8–2 | Tudor Fieldhouse (5,307) Houston, TX |
| 12/17/2016* 6:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at Pittsburgh | L 73–83 | 8–3 | Peterson Events Center (7,017) Pittsburgh, PA |
| 12/19/2016* 7:00 pm | | Northwestern State | W 100–93 | 9–3 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,555) Houston, TX |
| 12/21/2016* 7:00 pm | | St. Thomas | W 83–63 | 10–3 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,878) Houston, TX |
| Conference USA regular season ||||||
| 12/31/2016 12:00 pm | | at Old Dominion | L 56–62 | 10–4 (0–1) | Ted Constant Convocation Center (5,431) Norfolk, VA |
| 01/02/2017 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Charlotte | W 89–70 | 11–4 (1–1) | Dale F. Halton Arena (3,660) Charlotte, NC |
| 01/05/2017 7:00 pm, beIN | | Middle Tennessee | L 77–80 | 11–5 (1–2) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,513) Houston, TX |
| 01/07/2017 7:00 pm | | UAB | L 81–88 $^{OT}$ | 11–6 (1–3) | Tudor Fieldhouse (2,001) Houston, TX |
| 01/14/2017 2:00 pm | | North Texas | W 101–79 | 12–6 (2–3) | Tudor Fieldhouse (2,749) Houston, TX |
| 01/19/2017 6:30 pm | | at Louisiana Tech | L 64–74 | 12–7 (2–4) | Thomas Assembly Center (3,313) Ruston, LA |
| 01/21/2017 4:00 pm | | at Southern Miss | W 61–58 | 13–7 (3–4) | Reed Green Coliseum (2,366) Hattiesburg, MS |
| 01/26/2017 7:00 pm, CI | | Old Dominion | L 72–80 | 13–8 (3–5) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,460) Houston, TX |
| 01/28/2017 7:00 pm | | Charlotte | W 84–67 | 14–8 (4–5) | Tudor Fieldhouse (2,206) Houston, TX |
| 02/04/2017 2:00 pm | | at North Texas | W 95–80 | 15–8 (5–5) | The Super Pit (2,154) Denton, TX |
| 02/09/2017 6:00 pm | | at FIU | W 89–78 | 16–8 (6–5) | FIU Arena (802) Miami, FL |
| 02/11/2017 6:00 pm | | at Florida Atlantic | W 81–75 $^{OT}$ | 17–8 (7–5) | FAU Arena (1,655) Boca Raton, FL |
| 02/16/2017 7:00 pm | | UTSA | W 80–68 | 18–8 (8–5) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,713) Houston, TX |
| 02/18/2017 7:00 pm | | UTEP | L 71–79 | 18–9 (8–6) | Tudor Fieldhouse (2,988) Houston, TX |
| 02/23/2017 7:00 pm | | Southern Miss | W 72–71 $^{OT}$ | 19–9 (9–6) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,589) Houston, TX |
| 02/25/2017 7:00 pm | | Louisiana Tech | W 88–81 | 20–9 (10–6) | Tudor Fieldhouse (3,302) Houston, TX |
| 03/02/2017 6:00 pm | | at Marshall | W 89–88 | 21–9 (11–6) | Cam Henderson Center (4,994) Huntington, WV |
| 03/04/2017 7:00 pm | | at WKU | L 72–79 | 21–10 (11–7) | E. A. Diddle Arena (4,283) Bowling Green, KY |
| Conference USA tournament ||||||
| 03/08/2017 2:00 pm, CI | (5) | vs. (12) Southern Miss First round | W 86–75 | 22–10 | Legacy Arena (3,207) Birmingham, AL |
| 03/09/2017 2:00 pm, ASN | (5) | vs. (4) UTEP Quarterfinals | L 76–86 | 22–11 | Legacy Arena (3,228) Birmingham, AL |
| CBI ||||||
| 03/15/2017* 7:00 pm | | San Francisco First Round | W 85–76 | 23–11 | Tudor Fieldhouse (3,207) Houston, TX |
| 03/20/2017* 7:00 pm | | Utah Valley Quarterfinals | L 79–85 | 23–12 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,584) Houston, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. Source ||||||