The 2023–24 Rice Owls men's basketball team represented Rice University during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team, led by seventh-year head coach Scott Pera, played their home games at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas as first-year members of the American Athletic Conference. The team finished the season 11–21, 5–12 in AAC play to finish in a five-way tie for 10th place. As the No. 12 seed in the AAC tournament, they lost in the first round to Wichita State.

On March 14, 2024, the school fired head coach Scot Pera. On March 24, the school hired Rob Lanier, who had been fired as head coach of SMU, as the team's new head coach.

The January 6 home game against UTSA was played in the Jerabeck Activity and Athletic Center on the campus of the University of St. Thomas due to water damage to Tudor Fieldhouse.

Previous season The Owls finished the 2022–23 season 19–16, 8–12 in C-USA play to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place. As the No. 6 seed in the C-USA tournament, they defeated UTSA before losing to UAB. They received an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational where they defeated Duquesne before losing to Southern Utah in quarterfinals.

This was the last season for the team as members of Conference USA before joining the American Athletic Conference on July 1, 2023.

Offseason Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure Jaden Geron 0 G 6'8" 175 Sophomore Fresno, CA Transferred to Montana Seryee Lewis 1 F 6'9" 245 Sophomore Chicago, IL Transferred Quincy Olivari 4 G 6'3" 200 Junior Atlanta, GA Transferred to Xavier Mason Jones 10 G 6'4" 200 Freshman Chicago, IL Transferred to New Orleans Ben Moffat 12 F 6'8" 225 Junior Wichita Falls, TX Walk-on; left the team for personal reasons Reed Myers 14 G 6'0" 180 Junior Phoenix, AZ Walk-on; left the team for personal reasons Damion McDowell Jr. 20 F 6'6" 190 Sophomore Inglewood, CA TBD Jake Lieppert 24 G 6'4" 200 Junior Scottsdale, AZ Transferred to Minot State

Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School Sam Alajiki 0 F 6'7" 230 Junior Dundalk, Ireland California Noah Shelby 1 G 6'3" 180 Sophomore McKinney, TX Vanderbilt Anthony Selden 4 G 6'6" 220 Senior Boston, MA Garder–Webb

Recruiting classes 2023 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

!colspan=12 style=|Exhibition

!colspan=12 style=|Non-conference regular season

!colspan=12 style=| AAC regular season

!colspan=12 style=| AAC Tournament

Source

See also 2023–24 Rice Owls women's basketball team

References