Rice Opens Air Force Reserve Conference USA Tournament against Southern Miss

HOUSTON — Rice will open the 2021 Air Force Reserve Conference USA Tournament as the West Division sixth-seed and face West seventh-seed Southern Miss this Tuesday, Mar. 9. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and the game will be livestreamed by ESPN+.

Scouting Rice
• Rice enters the Conference USA Tournament with a 13-12 record after defeating Our Lady of the Lake in its regular season finale.
• Sophomore Quincy Olivari leads the Owls with 16.3 points per game, which is seventh in Conference USA. He leads the league in three-point field goal percentage (41.4%) and three-point field goals made per game (3.2) and is 10th in field goal percentage (41.2%). He is also second on the team with 4.9 rebounds per game.
• Sophomore guard Travis Evee is second on the team with 14.3 points per game. He is second in C-USA in three-point field goals made per game (3.0) and three-point field goal percentage (40.2%). He also leads the team with 1.2 steals per game.
• Sophomore forward Max Fiedler is averaging nearly a double-double, scoring 10.6 points per game while pulling down 8.7 rebounds per game, good for second in the conference. He leads the team in field goal percentage, connecting on 68.0% from the field while placing second in Conference USA in double-doubles, (7), eighth in assists per game (3.7) and assist/turnover ratio (1.6) and 10th in blocks per game (0.9).
• Junior guard Chris Mullins is scoring 10.6 points per game while redshirt sophomore forward Riley Abercrombie is adding 7.9 points per game and is third on the team with 4.2 rebounds per game.
• Rice is averaging 75.0 points per game while allowing 74.8.
• The Owls are connecting on 43.8% from the floor and 35.4% from three while their opponents are connecting on 45.1% from the field and 36.3% from three.
• Rice is also outrebounding its opponents, 37.8-to-35.3 while placing second in the league with 15.4 assists and 10.4 three-pointers per game, which is also sixth in the nation (as of Mar. 6).
• Head coach Scott Pera begins his fourth season leading the Rice men's basketball program. He holds a record of 48-72.

Scouting Southern Miss
• Southern Miss enters the Conference USA Tournament with an 8-16 record and finished 4-13 in Conference USA. The Golden Eagles have had a week off after dropping a pair of games against Florida Atlantic.
• Junior forward Tyler Stevenson leads the Golden Eagles with 14.2 points per game. He is fifth in the league in rebounding (7.3) and third in field goal percentage (51.8%).
• Junior guard Tae Hardy is second on the team with 11.0 points per game while leading the team with 2.5 assists per game.
• Freshman guard Jaron Pierre Jr. is averaging 9.0 points per game and 3.6 rebounds per game.
• Southern Miss is averaging 64.7 points per game while allowing 67.0 points.
• USM is connecting on 43.4% from the field and 32.4% from three while allowing just 42.1% from the floor and 33.3% from beyond the arc.
• The Golden Eagles are outrebounding its opponents, 35.3-to-34.3.
• Head coach Jay Ladner is in his second season at the helm of the Southern Miss men's basketball program where he owns a 17-38 (.309) record. In seven seasons as a head coach, Ladner is 93-126 (.425).

Rice-Southern Miss Series History
• Rice and Southern Miss will meet for the third time this year and 25th time overall.
• Rice holds a 14-10 record in the series.
• The Owls have won the last three meetings and 10 of the last 12 dating back to 2015.
• This is the third meeting between the two teams in the Conference USA Tournament, with the teams splitting the previous two meetings. USM defeated the Owls, 58-50, in the 2008 first round but Rice earned an 86-75 victory in the 2017 first round.
• Twenty-22 of the 24 meetings have come as members of Conference USA.

Rice in the Conference USA Tournament
• Rice owns an all-time record of 6-14 in in the C-USA Tournament since joining Conference USA prior to the 2005-06 season.
• The Owls made their only semifinals appearance in 2007.
• Rice will enter the tournament as the West Division seventh seed.

Next Up
• With a victory, Rice will face East third-seed Marshall in the second round of the Conference USA Tournament tomorrow, Mar. 10. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. and the game will be livestreamed by ESPN+.

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