ISO Spotlight: The Rice Owls have figured things out

At the end of the non-conference schedule, the Rice Owls – preseason favorites in Conference USA – sat at 5-6. A seven-point loss to Texas Southern and a 31-point loss to Oklahoma State were the lowest points of the year for the Owls, and solid play from other conference teams had us wondering what conference play would hold for the Owls. Could they get back on track? Would they drop a few too many games and end up in the WNIT?

Six games into conference play, it looks like we have an answer. The Owls are now 11-6 on the season, with four of their six conference wins coming by double digits. The hardest part of their schedule – Middle Tennesee, Old Dominion, and Charlotte all in an eight-day period – is still a few weeks away, so we can't definitively say the Owls are BACK back, but for now they're on a 25-game conference win streak and should be considered the favorites to walk away with the C-USA crown.