Rice men’s basketball hosts 4,000 grade schoolers for ‘School House Mania’

Freshman guard Marcus Evans scored a career-high 32 points to lead the Rice men’s basketball team over the University of St. Thomas, 67-54, in front of a raucous crowd Dec. 17.

Rice University’s Athletic Department hosted more than 4,000 local elementary school children for its third annual “School House Mania” in a special weekday matinee game at Tudor Fieldhouse.

“School House Mania” is designed to provide local elementary students the opportunity to visit Rice’s campus for an educational field trip along with having fun watching a basketball game. The event promotes education and a healthy lifestyle but also challenges students to learn in a fun way. Students received a Kids’ Day workbook with educational components binding basketball with core subjects that are taught in the students’ schools, a pregame presentation by the Rice University School Mathematics Project and a halftime drone presentation by Rice’s Center for Engineering Leadership and Trumbull Unmanned.

The Owls took the winning momentum on the road to Albuquerque, N.M., Dec. 19 and upset the University of New Mexico Lobos. Egor Koulechov sunk a free throw with 0.1 seconds left on the clock to win the game 90-89.

Photos by Tommy LaVergne and Jeff Fitlow.