Rice On the Road at Lamar Wednesday
12/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2009
Rice Game Notes l Lamar Game Notes
For the second time in less than a week, Rice travels east on Interstate 10 as the Owls take on Lamar Wednesday in Beaumont. Tip-off for Saturday's game in the Montagne Center is set for 7:05 p.m. and the contest can be heard in Houston on ESPN 97.5 as well as world wide via RiceOwls.com.
Following Wednesday's game, the Owls take a couple days off during the holidays before beginning preparations for a home date with McNeese State on Dec. 29.
This week's game at Lamar is the second straight on the road Rice which dropped a 65-61 decision at LSU last Saturday. The Owls are now 5-5 on the year. Lamar heads into this week's game with a 4-7 record.
Rice freshman Tamir Jackson scored a career-high 19 points in the game while senior Lawrence Ghoram scored a season-high 17 points and matched another season mark with eight rebounds in a return to his native Louisiana.
The Owls led by as many as seven points in the first half at LSU and the contest was a two-possession game through the final minutes as the Tigers held on for the win.
Jackson is currently averaging 10.4 points per game to lead the Owls in scoring. He also leads the team with 28 assists and 22 steals. Freshman forward Arsalan Kazemi is averaging 7.3 rebounds and has blocked seven shots in the nine games he has played to lead the Owls in two other statistical categories. Kazemi is the Owls' leading scorer off the bench, averaging 8.9 points per game.
Ghoram is second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.2 points per game.
Rice holds a 16-8 lead in its series with Lamar but the Cardinals have won the last two games by an average of 12 points.
Lamar opened the season 2-0 but is 2-7 over its last nine games. The Cardinals dropped a 68-60 decision at home to Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday.
Lamar sophomore Anthony Miles, who did not score in seven minutes of action against Rice last year, leads the Cardinals in scoring this season, averaging 13.3 points per game. He also leads the squad with 42 assists.
Senior forward Justin Nabors is one rebound shy of averaging a double-double (he has 109 total rebounds in 11 games). For the season, Nabors is averaging 12.7 points and 9.9 rebounds.
As a team, Lamar is outrebounding opponents by 6.9 boards per game (ranked 41st nationally).
Rice is in the midst of closing out the pre-Conference USA portion of its second with three of its final four nonconference games on the road. Following next Tuesday's home game against McNeese State, the Owls travel to TCU on Saturday.
