Owls Head West
11/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2009
Less than a week into the season and Rice will face one of its stiffest nonconference, road challenges of the year as the Owls take on Arizona Thursday night in Tucson. Tip-off is slated for 8:30 Mountain Standard Time (9:30 in Houston) and will be broadcast by ESPN 97.5.
At 3-0 following a sweep of the Rice Basketball Challenge presented by Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Medical Center, the Owls are off to their best start since the 2004-05 team began the year 6-0.
Rice's Connor Frizzelle was named the Most Valuable Player of The Challenge after averaging 14.7 points and 3.3 assists. Through three games the sophomore guard has converted on 10-of-14 three-point attempts. As a team, the Owls are averaging better than seven three-pointers per contest.
Freshman point guard Tamir Jackson is also scoring in double figures, averaging 10.3 points an outing.
Under first-year coach Sean Miller, Arizona opened its season with an 87-70 win over Northern Arizona on Sunday. The Wildcats shot 58 percent from the field in the first period to jump out to a 51-31 halftime lead.
Arizona freshman forward Solomon Hill came off the bench to lead the Wildcats with 17 points while junior Jamelle Horne had a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double.
One focus for the Owls during the preseason has been rebounding and Rice will continue to look and build on that fact of the game at Arizona. Rice was outrebounded by both South Alabama (39-34) and Houston Baptist (46-38) during this past weekend's tournament. For the year, Rice has a -0.3 rebounding maring.
Arizona outrebounded Northern Arizona 40-32.
Heading into Thursday's game, Arizona is the only Pac-10 member school Rice has never played in basketball. The Owls are 8-22 against the league.
The game will be a return to familiar ground for Rice head coach Ben Braun who spent 12 seasons at Pac-10 member California.
Following Thursday's game, the Owls are back home next Tuesday when they play host to Furman. The two-game home stand continues Nov. 29 when Rice takes on Texas in Tudor Fieldhouse.
