Men’s Hoops Goes for Third Straight Win; Heads to Middle Tennessee

HOUSTON — Rice will try to continue its momentum when it travels to Murfreesboro, Tenn., on a two-game winning streak to face Middle Tennessee this Saturday, Feb. 8. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT and the game will be livestreamed by the CUSAtv.

Scouting Rice
• Rice enters Saturday night's contest with an 11-13 record, including 3-8 in Conference USA. The Owls are going for their third straight victory after defeating UAB on Thursday, 86-72.
• Sophomore Trey Murphy III leads the Owls with 13.4 points per game. He is second with a 37.5% three-point field goal percentage while placing third in rebounds (5.5). He is also fifth in the league in three-pointers made per game (2.6).
• Senior Robert Martin is second on the team with 11.7 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game.
• Senior Ako Adams is third on the team with 11.0 points per game and is second with 2.5 assists per game while leading the team with a 39.5% three-point field goal percentage. He is also second in Conference USA in free throw percentage (89.1%) and fourth in three-pointers made per game (2.6).
• Sophomore Drew Peterson is fourth on the team in scoring (10.1) and leads the team and is 10th in C-USA with 6.3 rebounds per game. He is also seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.4) and ninth in assists (3.3).
• Redshirt junior Josh Parrish is averaging 7.3 points on the year, but 10.9 points per game in conference play. He is also second in the league in field goal percentage during conference play, connecting on 67.1% from the field.
• Rice is averaging 73.9 points while allowing 75.5.
• The Owls are connecting on 43.3% from the floor and 35.0% from three while allowing their opponents to connect on 46.3% from the field and 32.9% from three.
• Rice's opponents are outrebounding the Owls, 36.8-to-35.6 but the Owls lead the conference and are eighth in the country in three-pointers made per game (10.2).
• The Owls are also second in Conference USA in assists with 14.4 per game.
• Head coach Scott Pera is in his third season leading the Rice men's basketball program. He holds a record of 31-56.

Scouting Middle Tennessee
• Middle Tennessee enters today's contest with a 6-18 record, including 2-9 in Conference USA. The Blue Raiders are looking for their third win in five games after falling to North Texas on Thursday, 75-70.
• Redshirt junior guard C.J. Jones leads the team and is fourth in the conference in scoring with 16.1 points per game. He is also fourth in the league in free throw percentage (87.3%), tied for sixth in three-pointers made per game (2.3) and ninth in three-point field goal percentage (39.2%).
• Redshirt senior guard Antonio Green is second on the team with 12.6 points per game. He is tied for sixth in C-USA in free throw percentage (85.7%) and eighth in three-pointers made per game (2.3).
• Junior guard Donovan Sims is third on the team with 9.0 points per game and seventh in the conference with 1.7 steals per game. He's also eighth in the league in assists (3.5) and assist/turnover ratio (1.4).
• Middle Tennessee is scoring 71.8 points per game while allowing 76.1.
• The Blue Raiders are connecting on 42.2% from the floor and 33.9% from three while allowing their opponents to connect on 46.4% from the field and 38.9% from three.
• Middle Tennessee is pulling down 36.1 rebounds per game while allowing 36.6.
• Head coach Nick McDevitt is in his second season at the helm of the Middle Tennessee men's basketball program where he owns a 17-39 (.304) record. In seven seasons as a head coach, McDevitt holds a 115-105 (.523) record.

Rice-Middle Tennessee Series History
• Rice and Middle Tennessee will meet for the 11th time overall.
• MT holds a 6-4 record in the series but the Owls have won the last two meetings.
• Rice is looking for its first victory in Murfreesboro as the Blue Raiders have won the previous four games.
• Last year, Rice swept the season series with both games coming in Houston, defeating Middle Tennessee, 79-68 on Jan. 24 and 67-61 on Mar. 3.

Next Up
• Rice returns home for its final two games before C-USA Bonus Play, beginning next Thursday, Feb. 13, against Old Dominion. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and the game will be livestreamed by the ESPN+.

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