Men’s Hoops Closes Non-Conference Slate against Sam Houston State

HOUSTON — Rice concludes its non-conference schedule when it hosts Sam Houston State this Sunday, Dec. 29. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the game will be livestreamed by CUSAtv.

Scouting Rice
• Rice enters today's game with an 8-4 record. The Owls are looking for their third straight win after defeating St. Thomas, 103-70, on Dec. 19.
• Sophomore Trey Murphy III leads the Owls and is 10th in Conference USA with 14.1 points per game. He also leads the team with 1.2 steals per game and is fourth in rebounds (5.3) while placing fifth in the league in three-pointers made per game (2.6).
• Senior Robert Martin is second on the team with 11.9 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game.
• Senior Ako Adams is third on the team with 11.3 points per game and second with 2.3 assists per game. He is also fourth in Conference USA in free throw percentage (89.5%) and seventh in three-pointers made per game (2.3).
• Sophomore Drew Peterson is fourth on the team in scoring (10.3) and leads the team and is sixth in C-USA with 7.2 rebounds per game. He also leads the team in assists (3.6) and three-point field goal percentage (40.0%).
• Rice is averaging 75.8 points while allowing 73.3.
• The Owls are connecting on 43.7% from the floor and 34.7% from three while allowing their opponents to connect on 43.6% from the field but just 30.1% from three, which is third in the conference.
• Rice is outrebounding its opponents, 38.5-to-37.8 and is second in the conference in three-pointers made per game (10.0).
• Head coach Scott Pera is in his third season leading the Rice men's basketball program. He holds a record of 28-47.

Scouting Sam Houston State
• Sam Houston State enters Sunday afternoon's contest with an 8-4 record. The Bearkats are looking for their fifth consecutive victory after defeating New Orleans, 87-79, last Saturday.
• Senior forward/center Kai Mitchell leads the team points per game (14.2), rebounds per game (7.1) and field goal percentage (53.8%). He is also fourth in the Southland Conference with 1.4 blocks per game.
• Sophomore guard Zach Nutall is second on the team with 13.9 points per game and third with 5.3 rebounds per game.
• Junior guard Demarkus Lampley is third on the team with 10.0 points per game and senior guard Chad Bowie is averaging 9.3 points and is second in the Southland with 2.6 steals per game.
• Sam Houston State is scoring 82.2 points per game while allowing just 70.5 points per game.
• SHSU is connecting on 44.7% from the floor and 37.1% from three while its opponents are connecting on 40.0% from the floor, which is second in the league and 31.3% from beyond the arc.
• The Bearkats are outrebounding their opponents, 38.1-to-35.3 and lead the Southland Conference in assists per game (17.4).
• Head coach Jason Hooten is in his 10th season at the helm of the Sam Houston State men's basketball program where he owns a 187-129 (.592) record.

Rice-Sam Houston State Series History
• Rice and Sam Houston State have met 45 times, the 10th-most games played in Rice's 106-year basketball history.
• Rice holds a 35-10 record against the Bearkats.
• The series dates back to the 1922-23 season when they split a pair of games at Autry Court.
• This is the first meeting since 1994-95. In fact, it is just the third meeting in the last 50 years as the first 42 games came before 1970.
• Rice has won the last three games and 10 of the last 11.

Rice vs. the Southland Conference
• When the Owls face Sam Houston State, it will be the 74th meeting against the Southland Conference.
• Rice is 40-33 all-time against the Southland.
• This will be the fourth meeting against the Southland Conference this year. Rice defeated Northwestern State on Nov. 12 and Houston Baptist on Dec. 14 and fell to Lamar on Dec. 7.
• This is the seventh straight season that Rice will face at least one team from the Southland Conference and the 13th in the past 14 seasons. Rice is 16-14 against the Southland in the past 12 seasons.

Next Up
• Rice begins its Conference USA schedule this Thursday, Jan. 2, when it travels to Huntington, W.V., to face Marshall. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT and the game will be livestreamed by the ESPN+.

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