Conference USA Tournament Preview: Rice
Once the Shuckers hit the road for their five-game road trip Conference USA will do some house sitting at MGM Park for the league tournament. The defending champion Rice Owls are already in town.
Head Coach Wayne Graham says the team arrived in Gulfport on Sunday, following its series at Florida International. As the seventh seed in the tourney, Rice is flying under the radar, having battled through a multitude of injuries in 2018.
Win or lose, Graham is approaching the end of his 27th and final year with the Owls and he says it wouldn’t be out of the question to go for a repeat after last year’s championship run. “Well, they know it’s possible. I think that’s the good thing. They know if they pay attention to detail and play as well as they can play they’ve got a shot. It’s a good venue here, for one thing. And the competition is excellent. We have a lot of good players in this conference, some that are going to play in the big leagues for sure. So, it’s an interesting weekend.”
Last year, Rice went 4-0 in the tournament with a 5-4 walk-off versus Southern Miss on Championship Sunday. Coach Graham will retire with more than 1,100 wins at Rice in his career.
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