BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University men's basketball team returns to action Wednesday evening in Houston, Texas to face Rice – a game that closes out a three-game road swing. The Cards enter the game looking for consecutive non-conference road wins, while the Owls are still looking for their first win (0-4) of the season.
Although Big Red trails the all-time series to Rice, LU might be hoping lightning strikes again – at least in terms of recent history. The Cards have won five of the last six meetings, including a seven-point overtime victory in the Montagne Center last year prior to the Christmas holiday.
Despite their overall youth, the Cardinals enter the week with some strong play from several different players, including reigning Southland Conference Player of the Week (according to CollegeSportsMadness.com)
Lincoln Davis. Averaging better than 13 points and six rebounds over the course of the past two games, Davis guided LU to an 11-point performance at Delaware State.
In addition to Davis, freshman guard
Nick Garth leads the team averaging nearly 14 a game, while sophomore
Kevin Booze is averaging just under 11. In addition to the scoring the Red and White receives from its underclassmen, head coach
Tic Price's squad is averaging better than 50 rebounds per game, and is outrebounding opponents by eight per contest – a potential issue for a Rice team that is pulling down 30 boards per game despite shooting less than 40 percent from the field.
LU is making it tough on opponents on the defensive end as well. The Cardinals lead the Southland Conference averaging better than eight blocks per game, led by freshman
Dorian Chatman and junior college transfer
Christian Kennedy. Each have recorded four-block efforts this season and are tied for the league lead (2.7 bpg).
The Owls are averaging better than 63 points per game in their first four games, but are being outscored by nearly 21 points per game. Rice is led by Marcus Evans (18.8 ppg) and Egor Koulechov (17.5 ppg) who are averaging nearly 37 points between them, but the rest of team is averaging just 27 points.
The game against the Owls is slated to tip off at 7 p.m. from Tudor Fieldhouse, and will close out a three-game road swing. Big Red opens a three-game homestand Sunday when UC Riverside comes to town. The game against the Highlanders will tip off at 2 p.m. from the Montagne Center.
-LU CARDINALS-
