Men’s Basketball Opens 2020-21 Season at Thanksgiving Invitational

HOUSTON — Rice opens the 2020-21 regular season when it travels to San Antonio for the Thanksgiving Invitational. Rice will open the tournament against host Incarnate Word on Friday, November 27. The next day, the Owls will face Our Lady of the Lake. Both games are scheduled for 1 p.m. and will be livestreamed at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/uiw/.

Scouting Rice
• Rice returns just six letterwinners and one starter from last year's squad that finished 15-17 overall and 7-11 in Conference USA.
• Rice looks to replace its top five scorers from last year. Guard Chris Mullins is its leading returning scorer, averaging 7.3 points per game last year.
• Guard Quincy Olivari averaged 6.0 points per game while connecting on a team-high 38.0% from three, which led the team and was 12th in Conference USA. It also led all C-USA freshman.
• Forward Max Fiedler averaged 4.1 rebounds and connected on 55.8% from the floor.
• This year's squad features a total of eight newcomers, including three freshmen, two graduate transfers, two transfers and one junior college transfer. The three freshmen include guard Noah Hutchins (Buffalo, N.Y.), guard/forward Cameron Sheffield (Alpharetta, Ga.) and forward Mylyjael Poteat (Reidsville, N.C.), graduate transfer guards Tre Clark (Palmetto, Fla./Furman) and Cavit Ege Havsa (Istanbul, Turkey/Utah Valley State), transfers guard Travis Evee (Randolph, Mass./VMI) and forward Riley Abercrombie (Wollongong, Australia/Boise State) and junior college transfer guard Jake Lieppert (Scottsdale, Ariz./Pima CC).
• Head coach Scott Pera begins his fourth season leading the Rice men's basketball program. He holds a record of 35-60.

Scouting Incarnate Word
• Incarnate Word begins the season after finishing 9-22 last year and 6-14 in the Southland Conference.
• UIW welcomes back seven letterwinners from last year's squad, including four starters. Incarnate Word also welcomes eight newcomers
• The Cardinals return three of its top five scorers, led by Southland Conference Freshman of the Year, sophomore guard Keaston Willis. Willis led the team with 13.3 points per game, 81 three-pointers and was seventh in the Southland in three-point field goal percentage, connecting on 34.9%.
• Sophomore guard Drew Lutz was second on the team with 11.6 points per game. He led the SLC in free throw percentage (88.6%), was sixth in assists (3.5 apg) and seventh in assists/turnover ratio (1.2).
• Head coach Dr. Carson Cunningham begins his third season leading the Incarnate Word men's basketball program, where he holds a 15-47 (.242) record. He holds a record of 122-99 (.552) in six seasons as a collegiate head coach.

Scouting Our Lady of the Lake
• Our Lady of the Lake begins the season after finishing 10-18 last year and 6-12 in the Red River Athletic Conference.
• OLLU welcomes back nine letterwinners from last year's squad, including two starters.
• The Saints are led by Second Team All-Red River Conference forward Ruben Monzon. Monzon is the leading returning scorer, averaging 13.1 points per game. He was also fourth in the league in rebounds, pulling down 7.8 per game while connecting on 78.6% from the free throw line, good for 11^th in the RRAC.
• Senior guard Darrin Minniefield averaged 8.8 points per game and led OLLU with 4.2 assists per game.
• Head coach Chris Dial begins his third season leading the Our Lady of the Lake men's basketball program, where he holds a 17-37 (.315) record.

Rice-Incarnate Word Series History
• This will be just the third meeting between Rice and Incarnate Word.
• This teams split their first two meetings.
• Incarnate Word won the initial meeting, 82-76, on Dec. 29, 2015 in Houston.
• A year later, Rice defeated the Cardinals, 87-79, on Nov. 26, 2016 in San Antonio.
• This will be the first of two meetings, as they will also face off in Rice's non-conference finale on Dec. 21 in Houston.

Rice-Our Lady of the Lake Series History
• This will be the first-ever regular season meeting between the schools.
• They previously met in an exhibition game in 2016, with Rice earning a 96-86 victory.

Rice vs. the Southland Conference
• When the Owls face Incarnate Word, it will be the 75th meeting against the Southland Conference.
• Rice is 40-34 all-time against the Southland.
• This will be the first of five meetings against the Southland Conference this year. Rice will face Houston Baptist on Dec. 5 and Dec. 15. It will also travel to Sam Houston State on Dec. 19 before closing the non-conference schedule against Incarnate on Dec. 21.
• This is the eighth straight season that Rice will face at least one team from the Southland Conference and the 14th in the past 15 seasons. Rice is 16-15 against the Southland in the past 12 seasons.

Rice vs. Non-Division I
• Since 2000, Rice is 28-2 against non-Division I teams, including having won its last 12.
• This will be the first of two straight games against non-Division I teams. Rice will open its home schedule against LeTourneau on Dec. 3.
• Rice's last loss was a 65-54 defeat to Alaska-Anchorage in the 2014 Great Alaska Shootout.

Rice in Season Openers
•    Rice is 59-48 all-time in season openers.
•   Rice opened the season on the road for the second straight year and the 36th time overall. When opening on the road, Rice is 8-29.
•   This is the fourth time that Rice has opened the season against the Southland Conference but the first since 1972. Rice has also opened against Trinity, Abilene Christian and Lamar. The Owls are 2-1 when opening the season against the Southland.

Next Up
• Rice opens its home schedule next Thursday, Dec. 3, when it hosts LeTourneau. Tip-off time is to be determined.

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