RUSTON – Louisiana Tech faces Rice for a second time this season as the two teams meet up on Thursday in Ruston.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Thursday, Feb. 2 | 6 p.m. CT
Location: Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court (Ruston, La.)
TV/Stream: ESPN+
Talent: Chris Mycoskie (pxp), Teddy Allen (analyst)
Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats | LA Tech Athletics app
Radio: LA Tech Sports Network | LA Tech Athletics app
Tickets: LATechSports.com/Tickets
 
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (12-10, 5-6 C-USA)
LA Tech, who is in a two-way tie for sixth in the conference standings, snapped its two-game losing streak this past Saturday, defeating UTSA in San Antonio by a final score of 66-55. After a sluggish first half, the Bulldogs shot 59.3 per­cent from the field in the second half as they completed the sweep over the Roadrun­ners while also extending their winning streak in the series to six games.
 
Isaiah Crawford and Cobe Williams were a tough tandem at UTSA, combining for 37 points (56 percent of the team's scoring), 13 rebounds, seven assists, and three steals.
 
Cobe Williams' streak of four straight games with 20+ points ended at UTSA after scoring 18. He did continue his streak of games with at least 16 points, extending that to 12 games which is the longest streak of anyone in C-USA this season and the third longest streak of any Bulldog in the last 20 years.
 
There were a handful of milestones hit by Bulldogs in the win over the Roadrun­ners. Cobe Williams reached 300 career assists, Keaston Willis reached 150 career three-pointers made (as a Bulldog), and Isaiah Crawford reached 100 career steals.
 
ABOUT RICE (15-6, 6-4 C-USA)
Rice is alone in third place in the league stand­ings as the calendar flips to February. The Owls had won four straight conference games prior to suffering a 70-52 home loss to the UAB Blaz­ers this past Saturday.
 
Rice, who has started the same starting line­up the entire season, enters Thursday with the second best scoring offense in C-USA, averag­ing 79.3 points per game which ranks 29th in the country. They are tops in the league and top 20 in the nation in effective field goal per­centage (55.6) and assists per game (16.7). Their offensive output has dipped over the last three games, averaging just 63.0 points.
 
Defensively, the Owls limit their opponents to one shot more often than not. They rank 17th in the country in defensive rebounds per game with an average of 28.00.
Rice has arguably the scariest backcourt duo in C-USA in Quincy Olivari and Travis Evee. Both rank in the top six in the league in scor­ing with Olivari being No. 1 with an average of 19.5 points per game. The two combine for 44 percent of the Owls scoring, having totaled 17 20-point scoring performances while also ac­counting for 116 made three-pointers.
 
Another vital piece to Rice's success this sea­son has been the play of center Max Fielder who averages 10.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, and a league-best 5.3 assists per game. He was re­cently named C-USA Player of the Week after recording the second triple-double in Rice history.
 
THE SERIES
LA Tech leads the all-time series over Rice, 21-7.  The Bulldogs have won 14 of the 16 matchups, including the last six. The last two wins have been tough to come by though, defeating the Owls 83-79 last season and 88-82 in overtime this season (both meetings happened in Houston).
 
After the Owls' Travis Evee forced OT with a 40-foot buzzer beater, the Bulldogs were unstoppable offensively in the extra frame. They outscored the Owls, 19-13, getting 18 points apiece from Keaston Willis, Kenny Hunter, and Cobe Williamss to win the first meeting back on Jan. 5.
 
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