Rice University Athletics
Road Swing Begins Monday for Owls
12/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2007
Rice begins a three-game road swing which includes stops at a pair of Top 25 programs as well as a third against an Oklahoma team which just knocked off a Top 25 school.
The week-long trek begins Monday when the Owls take on No. 14 Texas A&M at Reed Arena in College Station. Rice then travels to No. 15 Vanderbilt on Thursday before a Saturday afternoon contest at 10-3 Oklahoma.
Monday's game at A&M is set for a 1 p.m. tip-off is will air on Fox Sports Net Southwest as well as ESPN 97.5 FM - The Ticket.
The Vanderbilt game will be broadcast by NewsTalk 1070 KNTH-AM dues to The Ticket's obligations to broadcast the Bowl Championship Series. Saturday's game at OU will return to The Ticket and will also be broadcast by ESPN+.
Since a 78-67 loss at Arizona earlier this month, Texas A&M has put together a five-game winning streak in which the Aggies have outscored their opponents by an average of 3 points. The Aggies defeated Florida A&M 83-54 on Saturday.
In its 70-65 win over TCU on Saturday, Rice erased a 17-point halftime deficit. The Owls outrebounded TCU 48-20, scoring 24 second-chance points.
Rice sophomore guard Lawrence Ghoram had never scored in double figures in his career before a 26-point, 10-rebound effort against TCU. He was 10-for-16 from the field and eight of his rebounds came on the offensive glass. Rice had 23 offensive rebounds which led to 24 second-chance points in the game.
Paulius Packevicius had 14 rebounds in the game and leads Conference USA with a 10.1 rebounding average. Patrick Britton, who scored 13 points and had eight rebounds against TCU, is averaging 11.3 points to lead the Owls in scoring.
While Rice will have eight scholarship players plus a member of the Owl football team available for Monday's game, Texas A&M's roster stretches like a West Texas highway. The Aggies have 18 players on their roster with 11 seeing action in 11 or more games.
Texas A&M has used the same starting five in all 13 of its games and is led by junior swingman Josh Carter who averages 13.6 points and 4.2 rebounds.
The Aggies have outrebounded their opponents by an average of 12 boards. In addition to averaging double-figure scoring, senior Joseph Jones and true freshman DeAndre Jordan have been the team's leaders on the glass. Jones is averaging 11.1 points and 5.1 rebounds while Jordan, one of four players on the Texas A&M roster from Houston, is averaging 10.1 points and 6.8 boards.
