Back on Campus
11/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 13, 2008
Rice Notes l Portland State Notes l Conference USA Releas
HOUSTON - When Rice tips off its 2008-09 season Saturday afternoon in Tudor Fieldhouse, 623 days will have separated the program from its last game played on campus. The Owls return to South Main and a renovated arena opening the season against defending champion Portland State. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
Rice played its home schedule last season at various venues around Houston. Now the squad returns to campus and into a facility which originally opened in 1950. In the past 20 months the Owls' home court has been transformed into a state-of-the-art facility with the amenities fans have come to expect from new stadiums.
Rice last played at home March 3, 2007 against Tulsa.
In addition to a new facility, the Owls begin play under a new coach as Ben Braun begins his first season leading the program. Braun brings over 30 years of experience to the position and with 552 career victories ranks among the top 10 active coaches in Division I in terms of victories.
And the Owls have plenty of fresh, new faces to go along with six returning lettermen. This year's squad includes eight newcomers including sophomore post player Trey Stanton. Stanton practiced with the Owls last year while gaining his eligibility after transferring from the Naval Academy. At Navy, he averaged 8.0 points and 3.9 rebounds while blocking 24 shots during his freshman season (2006-07).
All six of the Owls' returning lettermen having experience as starters.
Heading the group is senior guard Rodney Foster who was leading the team in scoring last year when he suffered a broken hand the final week of the season. Last year he averaged 11.2 points and 2.8 rebounds while leading the team with 79 assists.
Also back for his senior year is forward Aleks Perka who averaged a career-best 3.6 points along with 2.1 rebounds last year.
Cory Pflieger was granted a medical red-shirt and returns as a junior. He averaged eight points in the Owls' first five games last year before an injury sidelined him for the remainder of the year. Junior Lawrence Ghoram was the only upperclassman on last year's team to play in all 30 games. After averaging 19 points as a freshman, he averaged 8.5 points last season and averaged double figures scoring in conference play.
Rice also returns Bryan Beasley and Suleiman Braimoh who both saw significant playing time last year as freshmen. Beasley started 20 games as a red-shirt freshman and averaged 3.3 points and had 53 assists a year ago. Braimoh averaged 4.0 points, started seven games and was the squad's first substitution in a team-high 11 games. Both Beasley and Braimoh played in all 30 games last year.
After posting a 23-10 record last year, Portland State was selected by both the coaches and media of the Big Sky Conference to repeat as league champions in 2009.
The Vikings return Big Sky MVP Jeremiah Dominguez who averaged 14.2 points and four assists last year as a junior. While Portland State loses more lettermen than the team returns (seven-to-six), the Viks' roster will benefit from the addition of three student-athletes who sat out last year after transferring from Division I institutions.
Last week Portland State defeated Western Oregon 101-78 in an exhibition game. Sophomore Phil Nelson came off the bench to lead the Vikings with 19 points. Dominguez came off the bench to score 11 points (5-for-8 from the field) and had five steals in 22 minutes of play.
Season tickets continue to be sold through the athletic ticket office and single game tickets are also available for the season. For more information, contact the ticket office at (713) 522-OWLS.
Following Saturday's game, Rice travels to the Basketball Travelers Invitational set for Nov. 20-22 at BYU. The Owls will play Cal Poly, host BYU and North Florida at the tournament. Rice is back at home Nov. 25th when it plays host to Lamar.
