Men’s Basketball Hosts Home Series against Southern Miss

HOUSTON — Rice returns home this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 5-6, to host Southern Miss. Both games are scheduled to tip-off at 2 p.m. Friday's game will be livestreamed at ESPN+ while Saturday's game will be livestreamed at CUSAtv.

This weekend's games will not be open to the public in accordance with the Rice University's COVID-19 mitigation policies. Rice continues to work with the Rice Crisis Management Team on potential seating layouts to accommodate some level of attendance for future games and will communicate those plans to our season ticket members and the public at the appropriate time.

Scouting Rice
• Rice enters this weekend's games with a 10-8 record and 4-6 in Conference USA after dropping a home-and-home series to North Texas last weekend.
• Sophomore guard Travis Evee leads the team and is eighth in C-USA with 15.4 points per game and leads the team in steals (1.3 spg). He also leads C-USA in three-point field goals made per game (3.3) and is second in three-point field goal percentage (41.3%).
• Sophomore Quincy Olivari is second on the Owls with 14.9 points per game, which is 10th in Conference USA. He leads the league in three-point field goal percentage (45.2%), is second in three-point field goals made per game (2.9) and is second on the team with 4.8 rebounds per game.
• Sophomore forward Max Fiedler is averaging nearly a double-double, scoring 11.5 points per game while pulling down 9.3 rebounds per game, good for second in the conference. He leads C-USA and is second the country (as of Feb. 2) in field goal percentage (68.9%) while placing fifth in the league in assists per game (4.1) and ninth in assist/turnover ratio (1.7).
• Junior guard Chris Mullins is scoring 11.5 points per game while redshirt sophomore forward Riley Abercrombie is adding 8.1 points per game and is third on the team with 4.4 rebounds per game.
• Rice is averaging 76.6 points per game while allowing 73.1.
• The Owls are connecting on 45.3% from the floor and 36.6% from three while holding their opponents to 44.5% from the field and 34.2% from three.
• Rice is also outrebounding its opponents, 37.6-to-34.7 while leading the league with 15.9 assists per game.
• Head coach Scott Pera begins his fourth season leading the Rice men's basketball program. He holds a record of 45-68.

Scouting Southern Miss
• Southern Miss enters this weekend with a 7-10 record and 3-7 in Conference USA after dropping a pair of games against Louisiana Tech last week.
• Junior forward Tyler Stevenson leads the Golden Eagles with 14.2 points per game. He is third in the league in rebounding (7.4) and fourth in field goal percentage (51.6%).
• Junior guard Tae Hardy is second on the team with 10.8 points per game while leading the team with 3.0 assists per game.
• Freshman guard Jaron Pierre Jr. is averaging 10.2 points per game and 4.2 rebounds per game.
• Senior guard LaDavius Draine is averaging 9.3 points per game and is third on the team with 4.9 rebounds per game.
• Southern Miss is averaging 65.1 points per game while allowing 64.5 points.
• USM is connecting on 43.5% from the field and 34.6% from three while allowing just 40.2% from the floor and 31.3% from beyond the arc.
• The Golden Eagles are outrebounding its opponents, 36.8-to-34.1.
• Head coach Jay Ladner is in his second season at the helm of the Southern Miss men's basketball program where he owns a 16-32 (.333) record. In seven seasons as a head coach, Ladner is 92-120 (.434).

Rice-Southern Miss Series History
• Rice and Southern Miss will meet for the 23rd time overall.
• Rice holds a 12-10 record in the series.
• The Owls have won eight of the last 10 meetings dating back to 2015.
• When played in Houston, Rice holds a 7-2 record, having won the last four meetings.
• Twenty of the 22 meetings have come as members of Conference USA.

Next Up
• Rice goes back on the road next weekend when it travels to Bowling Green, Ky., to face East Division leader WKU. Friday's game is scheduled to tip-off at 7 p.m. and will be livestreamed by ESPN+ while Saturday's game is scheduled for 5 p.m. and will be nationally televised by CBS Sports Network.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results