Rice will go on the road for the second time this season when it travels to MTSU on Tuesday night. The Owls will be hoping for a much better showing this time around, as they were blown out at Pepperdine in their season opener. MTSU is in a bounce back spot of its own after losing to Winthrop on Saturday—this is the Conference USA opener for both teams.
Rice got off to a miserable start this season, getting blown out by Pepperdine last Monday. The 106-67 final was one of the most shocking results of the opening week of the college basketball season, as Pepperdine was only a 5-point favorite. Rice bounced back with an 85-48 win over St. Thomas in a game that did not have a Vegas line. Travis Evee led the way, knocking down seven 3-pointers and scoring a game-high 27 points. The Owls shot 48.3% from the floor and 36.8% from beyond the arc as a team. They also knocked down 15 of 20 free throw attempts.
Make no doubt about it #GoOwls?? x #GreenLightU pic.twitter.com/5Kc3UyhQ6r
— Rice Men's Basketball (@RiceMBB) November 13, 2022
The Owls are playing an up-tempo brand of basketball early in the year, which includes a ton of 3-point attempts. Their 38 3-point tries tied the second-most in school history, with Evee moving into eighth place on Rice’s all-time list for career 3-pointers (169). They come into this game ranked No. 23 nationally in ratio of triples to overall shot attempts from the floor. Middle Tennessee has had some issues defending outside shooters this year, ranked No. 298 in that category. However, the Blue Raiders are the No. 1 defensive rebounding team in the country, and Rice has had zero success on the offensive boards, ranked No. 305.