VOLUME 108, ISSUE NO. 22 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2024
Women’s basketball callin’ Baton Rouge Owls head to first March Madness since 2019
KATHLEEN ORTIZ / THRESHER Rice women’s basketball players celebrate while watching Selection Sunday on March 17. No. 14 Rice will face No. 3 Louisiana State University on Friday.
HOW RICE GOT HERE
GAME INFORMATION
Rice won the American Athletic Conference Tournament to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The game: No. 14 Rice at No. 3 LSU
Rice was the lowest-ever seed (No. 10) to win the AAC Championship. LSU was the 2023 National Champion, beating Iowa 10285 in the final. LSU is led by Angel Reese, the SEC player of the year.
Tip-off: Friday at 3 p.m. in Baton Rouge, La. Watch: ESPN or Fubo Tickets: Available on SeatGeek
SEE PAGE 10 FOR MORE
Jeremy Zucker announced as X-Fest headliner ‘all the kids are depressed’ singer-songwriter to be lead act at second Moody Foundation concert April 19 VIOLA HSIA
ASST. NEWS EDITOR Singer-songwriter Jeremy Zucker will headline the second annual Moody X-Fest on April 19, according to Jeremy Miller, Rice’s communications director for Development and Alumni Relations. Zucker is known for songs like “comethru,” “you were good to me” and “all the kids are depressed,” which have each garnered hundreds of millions of streams on Spotify. “I am so excited to come to Rice University,” Zucker wrote in an email to the Thresher. “Houston I’ll see you soon!” X-Fest will be held in Founder’s Court, rain or shine. There will be a stage, food vendors and giveaways, though Miller said further details about the festival’s layout — including weather accommodations — have not been figured out as of publication. Vendors will include Oh My Gogi, Wokker HTX, Dripped Birria, Raising Cane’s, Pudgy’s Cookies and Dough Cone, Miller said. The festival’s organizers have reached out to several student groups to perform, with Basmati Beats and Rice Lions already confirmed. Full event details can be found on the official Moody X website. Miller said Zucker was selected after Moody reached out to a couple of talent agencies for potential acts within the organization’s budget, which Miller declined to share. A survey
was then sent out last month to both undergraduate and graduate students to gauge interest and rank potential performers, garnering a total of 841 responses. According to Miller, 48% voted Zucker as their first choice, with 16% voting him as their second. GROUPLOVE headlined the inaugural X-Fest last year, held in Tudor Fieldhouse, which saw around 1,500 students in attendance — this year, Miller said they’re anticipating a crowd of 1,500 to 2,000 people. The festival began as a celebration of the Moody Foundation’s record-high $100 million donation to Rice. “Given that this is our second year to host this event, we think our campus will be aware of what to expect and excited to see the performers,” Miller wrote in an email to the Thresher. “All of these events, including our signature food and music festival on April 19, are continuing to build awareness about the transformational gift from the Moody Foundation known as the Moody Experience. Ultimately, we are looking forward to the students’ enthusiasm when they experience all that is Moody X-Fest this year.” One additional change to this year’s festival, Miller wrote, is the introduction of Inquiry Weeks, a series of events designed to showcase “research, design, and creative work” by undergraduate students, which will happen in the weeks leading up
SEE MOODY X-FEST PAGE 2
COURTESY KATHERINE HUI Jeremy Zucker at his “is nothing sacred?” tour Nov. 7, 2023 at Terminal 5 in New York City. Zucker is headlining Rice’s second Moody X-Fest.