Rice Owls prep for season opener against Texas A&M Aggies

November 6, 2018 -- 9:20 a.m.

The Rice Owls head to College Station, TX, to face the Texas A&M Aggies Wednesday night, November 7. Tip is set for 6 p.m.

Last season, the Aggies (26-10) defeated the Owls (23-10) 82-76 in a closely contested ball game.

Rice Head Coach Tina Langley has looked at hours of film to prepare her team for the season opener; and, Langley says she has looked at last year's match-up to see what went well and what didn't go well as a guide to help prepare for Wednesday's game.

"Sure. You definitely look at previous games you played against your opponents and try to improve in areas that you didn't do well the first time around," Coach Langley said. "Look at the areas you were successful in and see if you want to do anything similar again."

The Owls led the Aggies 25-17 after the first quarter. The game was tied at 55 after three quarters; and, Rice led 64-62 with 6 minutes remaining in the game.

However, points off turnovers and the Aggies' second chance points hurt the Owls' chances and, ultimately, resulted in the loss.

"Our biggest struggle for us was rebounding," Langley acknowledged. "We really struggled in giving them second-chance points; and, then, live ball turnovers that just led to scores for them. So, points off turnovers and points off putbacks were two stats that we were just killed in down there."

The Owls were outrebounded 32-20; and, the Aggies outscored the Owls 22-11 in second chance points. The Aggies also outscored the Aggies 28-10 in points off turnovers.

Rice shot very well from the floor: 55.1% (27 for 49) including 55.6% (15 for 27) from three.

"We moved the ball incredibly well. We shot it well there," Langley said. "And, I thought we defended pretty solid in the half-court; so, if we could do a little bit better in those two statistical areas, I think it would give us a better look."

Texas A&M's Chennedy Carter, last year's National Freshman of the Year, scored 17 points in 23 minutes against Rice in last year's match-up.

"She's (Carter) an outstanding player," Langley stated. "We'll just try to play good position defense on her and have the help side that we need."

Wednesday's game can be seen on SEC Network Plus. (Click here.)

The game is part of Texas A&M's Maroon Madness; and, it's the first game of a doubleheader. The second game is Texas A&M and Savannah State in a men's game that is slated to tip at 8:30 p.m.