Owls Return to Hardwood Thursday
12/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2010
Rice Game Notes 
UALR Game Notes
The title of the tournament is the 2010 Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic, but the venue for the Owls' opening round game will be Tudor Fieldhouse when Rice plays host to Arkansas-Little Rock Thursday. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast locally by ESPN 97.5 as well Rice All-Access.
In 2006, the NCAA added legislation for Multi-Team Events which allows schools to compete in up to four games as part of a tournament and the event only count as one game against teams' schedules. The round-robin tournament continues next week at South Point Arena in Las Vegas with the Owls playing Stetson, Miami and Oral Roberts.
This is the first year Rice has played a four-game Multi-Team Event. The Owls are a combined 5-1 over the past two seasons in a pair of MTEs.
Rice, 4-4 this season, has not played since beating Lamar 75-73 back on Dec. 4th. Sophomore forward Arsalan Kazemi scored a career-high 24 points and had 11 rebounds in the win before the Owls began a 12-day break for finals.
Rice athletic teams have traditionally taken off at least a week from games to focus on academics. In recent seasons the break for the basketball program has ranged anywhere from 10 to 14 days. The Owls will look for another quick start with its return to the hardwood. Over the last 21 seasons, Rice is 15-6 in its first game played following the extended break.
Heading into Thursday's game, Kazemi is averaging 15.8 points and began the week ranked 12th nationally in rebounding with a 10.6 per game average. In his last week of play, Kazemi was 9-for-10 from the field and converted 23-of-28 free throw attempts in games against Arizona and Lamar. His 18 free throw attempts in the win over Lamar was the eighth-most in school history.
Senior guard Cory Pflieger is coming off a 13-point game against Lamar. Pflieger was 3-for-4 from three-point range, had four rebounds and four assists in the win. For the year, Pflieger is averaging 6.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and is the team's co-leader with 17 assists.
Tamir Jackson has scored in double figures in the last seven games for the Owls and is the team's second-leading scorer behind Kazemi. Jackson is currently averaging 12.9 points and also has 17 assists on the year.
UALR is 6-4 with two of its victories coming against Conference USA opponents - a 57-47 win at SMU in the season opener and a 69-67 victory at home against Tulsa earlier this month.
Senior guard Solomon Bozeman is the lone UALR player to be averaging double figures in terms of scoring at 12.8 points per game. He has got to the free throw line almost twice as many times as any teammate and has made 55-of-65 attempts (.846).
Freshman Daylon Guy comes off the bench to average 8.2 points per game. He has 30 assists and 10 steals this season.
This is the third meeting between Rice and UALR since the 2007-08 season and the past two games were won by the road team.
During the renovations to Tudor Fieldhouse, UALR defeated the Owls 59-52 in a game played in Reliant Arena back in 2007. The following year Rice posted a 79-72 victory in Little Rock.
