Rice Basketball is two games into conference play with the men 0-2 and the women 2-0. Both face a new test on Thursday against FAU. Here’s a preview of both games.
Time: 7:00 p.m. CT
Venue: Tudor Fieldhouse
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: ESPN+ (If you don’t have ESPN+ you can access a free trial or subscribe here.)
FAU 10-5 (2-0), Last 5 (4-1)
- 84-35 (W) vs Tampa
- 65-50 (W) at Mercer
- 60-58 (L) at USF
- 70-64 (W) vs UTSA
- 59-56 (W) vs UTEP
Rice 8-7 (0-2), Last 5 (2-3)
- 96-84 (W) vs HBU
- 103-70 (W) vs St. Thomas
- 75-61 (L) vs Sam Houston St
- 89-69 (L) at Marshall
- 66-61 (L) at WKU
FAU players to watch
Cornelius Taylor leads the team in scoring (10.4 points per game) with Michael Forrest right behind him (9.9 points per game). Forrest has been in a bit of shooting slump of late, but his tremendous work from the charity stripe has made him a valuable offensive asset. Madiaw Niang (4.8 per game) and Jailyn Ingram (3.9 per game) are the top rebounders.
Rice keys to victory
FAU is an extremely balanced team. They’ve had four leading scorers in five games, but have one 20-point individual performance since their season opener. Unlike other team’s Rice will face in C-USA, that the Owls will have to key in on more than others. Nevertheless, standing tall on defense has to be the priority. Rice is 5-1 when holding their opponent to 70 points or fewer, with that lone loss coming last weekend to WKU.
Time: 6:00 p.m. CT
Venue: FAU Arena
TV: ESPN+ (If you don’t have ESPN+ you can access a free trial or subscribe here.)
FAU 7-6 (1-1), Last 5 (2-3)
- 72-54 (L) vs Central Connecticut
- 69-63 (L) vs Furman
- 69-51 (L) vs Harvard
- 80-53 (W) vs UTSA
- 96-65 (L) vs UTEP
Rice 7-6 (2-0), Last 5 (3-2)
- 77-55 (W) vs Prairie View A&M
- 54-45 (L) vs Virginia Tech
- 54-52 (L) vs Georgia Tech
- 81-43 (W) vs Marshall
- 73-65 (W) vs WKU
FAU players to watch
Crystal Primm has cooled down since conference play began, but her 31-point performance against Little Rock earlier this year is proof of how dangerous she can be. She’s the top scorer for FAU this season, averaging 13.7 points per game, also registering three double-doubles along the way. Lotta Vehka-Aho is the key distributor, averaging 3.2 assists per game, top 10 in C-USA. Juliette Gauthier and Astou Gaye round out the rest of the key pieces.
Rice keys to victory
FAU doesn’t force many turnovers and ranks 12th in C-USA in assist/turnover ratio. Rice is going to get extra possessions on Thursday and they’ll need to take advantage of them. Turnovers have been an issue for Rice lately, including 20 last time out against WKU. Taking care of the basketball on both ends of the court will go a long way toward Rice coming home with a victory.
