Rice Continues Home Stand Thursday
11/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 16, 2011
Rice Game Notes (Southern Game) 
Fresh off its season-opening, 83-49 win over New Orleans, Rice continues a four-game home stand Thursday when the Owls begin play in the South Padre Island Invitational with a campus-site game against Southern. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. in Tudor Fieldhouse and the game will be broadcast by 1560 The Game (KGOW).
The South Padre Island Invitational continues next week with the Owls playing host to Florida A&M on Tuesday before heading to the Island for games against Northern Iowa (Nov. 25) and Iowa State (Nov. 26).
Southern is 1-1 on the young season following an 83-58 loss to Texas A&M on Sunday. The Jaguars began the season with a 67-48 victory over Dillard last Friday at home.
SU junior guard Derick Beltran scored 19 points in the loss to Texas A&M and for the year is averaging 13 points a game while shooting 53 percent from the field.
Sophomore Michael Celestin is averaging 11 points and three rebounds while senior forward Quentin Doggett is averaging 9.5 points and a team-leading 7.5 rebounds through two games.
Southern posted a 4-26 record a year ago, going 3-5 in Southwestern Athletic Conference play. Roman Banks is in his first season as the head coach at Southern.
Rice fourth-year head coach Ben Braun and Banks share coaching ties. Banks was an assistant to current Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy at Southeastern Louisiana. Kennedy was an assistant to Braun at California.
In Saturday's 83-49 win, Rice junior Arsalan Kazemi recorded his 28th career double-double, finishing with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Freshman Julian DeBose came off the bench to lead Rice with 12 points as the Owl rookie class accounted for 39 points in the win. For over eight minutes against New Orleans, Rice had four freshmen on the court at the same time.
Defensively, Rice held UNO to 24.1 percent shooting and blocked nine shots in the game, two shy of a school record.
Following Saturday's win over New Orleans, Braun talked about the support shown by the Rice student body during the game and the effort the players and coaching staff have put in to get the word out about the basketball program and the need to help give the Owls a home-court advantage.
"That was a great turnout," Braun said of the student's support on Opening Night. "It's something we don't take for granted or assume is going to happen.
"That's the beauty of Rice. Those students ... we're their team. They can not only see us play, but they are with us after the game. They are with us in class. They are with us for lunch. This is not a program where there is a separate group of student-athletes. We are all a part of the student body. I think they really appreciate being a part of it."
As the semester comes to a close, Rice students will have plenty of opportunities to see their team in action. Following Thursday's game against Southern, the Owls are back at home Sunday when they play host to Maryland-Eastern Shore in a 3 p.m. matinee. The Owls also have a four-game home stand during the month of December.
