Rice Set to Battle LSU on Wednesday
12/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2010
Rice Game Notes 
LSU Game Notes
Old rivalries will be renewed in Tudor Fieldhouse on Wednesday as Rice plays host to LSU.
The series between the two programs was a semi-regular occurrence through the mid-1960s and the Owls enter Wednesday's game with a 24-17 edge in the rivalry. But the two schools had not met in more than 30 years when the series started up again last year with the Tigers posting a 65-61 win over Rice in a game played in Baton Rouge.
Wednesday's game will be the first on the Rice campus since December of 1965.
The contest will also resume a rivalry for former San Francisco Bay-area coaches. LSU head coach Trent Johnson, who served as an assistant coach at Rice for four seasons in the mid-1990s, became Stanford's head coach with the 2004-05 season. His four seasons in Palo Alto paralleled Rice head coach Ben Braun's final four seasons at the University of California.
Also working on the LSU bench will be Brent Scott, one of Rice basketball's all-time greats, who after concluding his professional playing career began coaching at the collegiate level at his alma mater during the 2007-08 season. He has been a member of the LSU coaching staff since 2008. Scott concluded his Rice playing career as the school's all-time leading scorer and currently ranks second in both career points and rebounds in program history.
In the end however, Wednesday's game comes down to two basketball programs looking to finish nonconference play on a high note. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally by CBS College Sports and can also be heard locally in the Houston market on 1560 The Game. The audio broadcast will also be available world wide by linking online through RiceOwls.com.
Rice heads into its final two nonconference games with a 6-6 record. Following Wednesday's game, the Owls play host to TCU Sunday afternoon before opening Conference USA play next week.
LSU is 8-5 and closes out the nonconference portion of its schedule next Sunday at Virginia.
Rice has had half of its games decided by three points or less this season and is 2-4 in those contests. The Owls are coming off an 80-78 loss to Oral Roberts on the final day of the 2010 Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic. In that game, ORU sank a jumper in the paint with 2.5 seconds to play to pick up the victory.
Despite the Owls going 1-2 last week in Las Vegas, Rice sophomore forward Arsalan Kazemi was named Conference USA's Player of the Week on Monday. Kazemi registered double-doubles in all three games. He averaged 21.7 points and 12.3 rebounds while shooting 61.8 percent from the field and knocking down 23-of-29 free throws.
Kazemi's week in Vegas included a career-high, 26-point effort to go with 14 rebounds in a 73-67 loss to Miami. He also scored 20 points against Oral Roberts.
For the year, Kazemi is averaging 17.2 points and 10.9 rebounds. He has had eight double-doubles during the season.
Also in Las Vegas last week sophomore guard Tamir Jackson posted a career scoring game. Jackson closed out the tournament with a 25-point effort against ORU.
Jackson is currently averaging 13.4 points per game and leads the Owls with 38 assists.
LSU's freshman guard tandem of Andrew Stringer and Ralston Turner lead the Tigers in scoring this season. Stringer is averaging 14.1 points per game. He has 36 assists and 14 steals. Turner averages 13.8 points and has started all 13 games this season.
