UTEP starts their Conference USA schedule with a Texas Two Step starting with Rice on Friday, and then North Texas rolls into El Paso on Sunday.
To say the start of the 2015-16 season for Rice has been a roller coaster is somewhat of an understatement.
The Owls looked to be a C-USA dark horse in October with a un-Rice-like 2015 recruiting class, and returning two of the top guards in the league, plus a Pac-12 transfer.
But disaster struck before a single regular season minute was logged.
Rice lost their top player in junior guard Marcus Jackson, and highly touted 2015 3-star prospect Chad Lott tore his meniscus as well, thus delivering a big blow to Mike Rhoade's projected depth.