2016–17 Rice Owls men's basketball team

2016–17 Rice Owls men's basketball
CBI, Quarterfinals
ConferenceConference USA
Record23–12 (11–7 C-USA)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
Home arenaTudor Fieldhouse
2016–17 Conference USA men's basketball standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Middle Tennessee 17 1   .944 31 5   .861
Louisiana Tech 14 4   .778 23 10   .697
Old Dominion 12 6   .667 19 12   .613
UTEP 12 6   .667 15 17   .469
Rice 11 7   .611 23 12   .657
Marshall 10 8   .556 20 15   .571
UAB 9 9   .500 17 16   .515
Western Kentucky 9 9   .500 15 17   .469
UTSA 8 10   .444 14 19   .424
Charlotte 7 11   .389 13 17   .433
Florida Atlantic 6 12   .333 10 20   .333
Southern Miss 6 12   .333 9 22   .290
FIU 3 15   .167 7 24   .226
North Texas 2 16   .111 8 22   .267
2017 C-USA Tournament winner

The 2016–17 Rice Owls men's basketball team represented Rice University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Owls, led by third-year head coach Mike Rhoades, played their home games at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas as members of Conference USA. They finished the season 23–12, 11–7 in C-USA play to finish in fifth place. They defeated Southern Miss in the first round of the C-USA tournament before losing in the quarterfinals to UTEP. They received an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational where they defeated San Francisco in the first round before losing in the quarterfinals to Utah Valley.

On March 21, 2017, head coach Mike Rhoades resigned to become the head coach at VCU. He finished at Rice with a three-year record of 47–52. On March 23, the school promoted assistant coach Scott Pera to head coach.