The 2016–17 Rice Owls men's basketball team represented

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

during the

2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 11, 2016. The first early-season tournaments were the 2K Sports Classic, Charleston Classic, and Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The season ended with the 2017 NCAA Division I men' ...

. The Owls, led by third-year head coach

Mike Rhoades Michael David Rhoades (born September 21, 1972) is an American basketball coach. He is the head men's basketball coach at Penn State University, where he was hired on March 29, 2023. Prior to his position at Penn State, Rhoades served as the hea ...

, played their home games at

Tudor Fieldhouse Tudor Fieldhouse is a multi-purpose arena in Houston, Texas. Previously known as Rice Gymnasium, it was renamed in honor of Rice University alum Bobby Tudor, who spearheaded the renovation of the facility with a multimillion-dollar donation. The ...

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

as members of

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

. They finished the season 23–12, 11–7 in C-USA play to finish in fifth place. They defeated

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

in the first round of the C-USA tournament before losing in the quarterfinals to

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the University of Texas Syste ...

. They received an invitation to the

College Basketball Invitational The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI sel ...

where they defeated

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in the first round before losing in the quarterfinals to

Utah Valley Utah Valley is a valley in North Central Utah located in Utah County, Utah, Utah County, and is considered part of the Wasatch Front. It contains the cities of Provo, Utah, Provo, Orem, Utah, Orem, and their suburbs, including Alpine, Utah, A ...

. 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 Scott Pera (born August 27, 1967) is an American college basketball coach, most recently serving as the Head Coach for the Rice Owls men's basketball team. Coaching career Pera started his coaching career at Elizabethtown College in 1992, befor ...

to head coach.

Previous season

The

Owls Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vis ...

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

Recruiting class of 2016

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Exhibition , - !colspan=9 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, Conference USA regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Conference USA tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, CBI

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 Rice Owls men's basketball team Rice Owls men's basketball seasons

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

Rice Owls men's basketball The Rice Owls men's basketball program is the intercollegiate men's basketball program of Rice University. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I, and the team competes in the American Athletic Conference. They previously participat ...