Preseason MVP: The two-time C-USA Defensive Player of the Year, Nancy Mulkey, is already considered a complete player. She’ll be central to how Rice operates on both sides of the floor this season. 

The Ceiling: Rice has ascended into a class of its own within Conference USA under Langley. It could earn at least 20 wins for the fifth consecutive year. COVID-19 denied the Owls a chance to qualify for a second straight NCAA Tournament, but the team should be a favorite to win the league tournament if it can stay healthy. 

The Floor: Even barring a less-than-stellar start or run, Rice are in position to still win no fewer than 15 games at worst. Despite losing Erica Ogwumike, the Owls roster is nearly identical to last season and just needs a moderate amount of contribution from some new faces in a C-USA Conference that isn’t too deep this season.

Game of the Year: Old Dominion

 

Projected Starting Five:

Jasmine Smith
G | 5-7 | Jr. | Cypress, Texas

Destiny Jackson
G | 5-9 | So. | Mansfield, Texas

Sydne Wiggins
G | 5-11 | Sr. | Powder Springs, Ga.

Lauren Schwartz
F | 5-11 | So. | Union, Ky.

Nancy Mulkey
C | 6-9 | Sr. | Cypress, Texas

TINA LANGLEY
Head Coach

Impact-First Year Player: Maya Bokunewicz

 

Season Preview

It’s tempting to expect a drop-off when a team loses a historically productive player.

But Rice might weather such a departure after COVID-19-related shutdowns prematurely ended star guard Erica Ogwumike’s college career in March.

The former guard’s list of accomplishments is exhaustive. In three years, she was a two-time C-USA Player of the Year and helped lead the school to its first NCAA Tournament berth in nearly 15 years.

She’s also the team’s only major loss this year—the others, center Alexah Chrisman and forward Temi Alao, played the second and third-fewest games of any Owl last season, respectively.

That’s created the space for Rice’s four returning starters and five returning freshmen to establish their own team legacy in the post-Ogwumike era.

“We have a really good team this year,” coach Tina Langley said. “I'm excited for what this team can do. To be able to return a lot of experience is definitely something they get excited about.”

Part of that excitement revolves around 6-foot-9 center Nancy Mulkey.

Mulkey transferred to Rice a year after Ogwumike, her former high school teammate. In her shadow, Mulkey quietly acquired her own catalog of accolades and a more pronounced reputation as the best defensive player in Conference USA.

She’s amassed 171 blocks—third in school history—in two years at Rice. This season, Langley expects her to be an even greater force.

“There's really not an aspect of the game that she has a weakness in,” Langley said. “I think where she's probably grown the most in the last couple of years is her low-post presence because she's always had a lot of perimeter skill, which surprises a lot of people. I think the one thing that you'll see from her this year is her ability to score from any place on the floor.”

Multi-year starters Jasmine Smith and Sydne Wiggins return to the starting lineup alongside Mulkey, as does 2020 C-USA All-Freshman Team selection Lauren Schwartz.

Schwartz was one of five true freshmen who integrated into last season’s team—all five played in at least 20 games. With a year under their belts, Langley believes Rice has the experience to maintain its recent success, although she’ll need greater production from those sophomores to achieve that.

“It's going to be really neat to have a group of people that have that knowledge of who we are, what we've done in the past, but also just have the work ethic to allow us to change a little,” Langley said. “We're in a COVID situation and while we might not have as much time together as a unit as we would in the past, we do have that history where we have some things we can draw on.”