Owls Play Host to TCU Sunday
12/31/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2010
Coming off a 74-68 win over LSU, Rice will look to continue the momentum into 2011 prior to the start of conference play. The Owls close out the nonleague portion of the season against Mountain West Conference member TCU on Sunday.
Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. and the game will be broadcast locally by ESPN 97.5 as well Rice All-Access.
Rice (7-6) shot better than 50 percent from the field for the second straight game and knocked down 9-of-10 free throws in the final minute en route to beating LSU on Wednesday. Sophomore forward Arsalan Kazemi responded to being named the Conference USA Player of the Week by grabbing a career-high 17 rebounds to go along with 19 points.
Sunday's game is the second of back-to-back contests against Conference USA-member schools for TCU. The Horned Frogs (9-5) dropped a 69-66 decision at Tulsa on Thursday.
TCU junior guard Ronnie Moss averages 15.3 points per game to lead the Frogs in scoring. Against Tulsa, Moss was 6-for-19 from the field and scored a team-high 19 points. He needs just four points to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
Sophomore Garlon Green, who played at Hightower High School is averaging 11.9 points an outing. He is shooting 54.8 percent from three-point range. As a team, the Frogs shoot 37 percent from behind the arc and average seven treys per game.
Sunday's game against Rice will be TCU's fourth contest against a Conference USA-member school this season. In addition to play Tulsa, the Horned Frogs beat SMU (84-64) and Houston (79-63) earlier in the year.
Kazemi remains the lone player in Conference USA to be averaging a double-double. The LSU game marked Kazemi's fourth straight double-double and ninth of the year. He is currently averaging 17.3 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.
Rice outrebounded LSU 39-31, the sixth-straight game in which the Owls have outrebounded their opponent. The Owls are currently averaging 35.5 rebounds per game and own a +2.8 rebounding margin.
TCU has a +1.4 rebounding margin. The Horned Frogs have outrebounded their opponents in seven of the last nine games.
Following Sunday's game, the Owls continue the home stand on Wednesday when they play host to Tulane in both teams' Conference USA opener. The Green Wave is 8-3 following a 93-77 win over Lamar. The Wave plays host to Texas-Pan American on Sunday.
