Last season, the Rice Owls gave Texas all they could handle when the two teams met at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston. The Owls were within seven points with 6:23 to go before the Longhorns pulled away on the strength of Dexter Pittman‘s inside play. Pittman is gone now, but the majority of that Rice team has returned. Four of last year’s starters will be on the court for the Owls this afternoon when the teams rekindle the old Southwest Conference rivalry.

Year Two of the Ben Braun era was one where the program simply treaded water. Although the Owls had won four early season games before their matchup with Texas, Rice won just four more games the rest of the year. This season, the Owls have padded their résumé with a pair of wins over NAIA schools and added a blowout victory against Grambling. The returning experience has clearly made a difference, though, as Rice hung close in tough road losses to Santa Clara and North Texas.

By the numbers

This afternoon will be a clash in styles, as the Owls come into this one averaging just 67.4 possessions per game. The Longhorns, meanwhile, are pushing the tempo to the tune of 71.3 possessions per contest. While a four-possession differential may not seem like much, in the world of tempo stats, it is a massive gap. The Owls will likely play a calm, deliberate style of half-court hoops, but look for the Horns to pressure the basketball and push the tempo on offense.

In their two NCAA contests, Rice’s free-throw rate is absolutely abysmal. A measure of how often a team gets to the line, the Owls’ FTR puts them 322nd out of 345 Division I teams. This means that Rice is settling for far too many jumpers, and isn’t attacking the paint.

On defense, Rice also has a terrible FTR. They are sending opponents to the line 57% of the time, which puts them 326th nationally. If Texas attacks inside, the Longhorns could attempt roughly 3,283 free throws in this game. You may want to add an extra 90 minutes to your DVR recording.

The other statistical concern for Rice is a very high turnover rate. More than once in every five trips down the court, the Owls are coughing up the basketball. Fortunately for Coach Braun, his team is hitting 42% of their shots, so when they actually hang on to the ball long enough to shoot it, the Owls are making it count.

Rice also seems to be a bit bi-polar behind the arc. In their three NCAA contests, the Owls are hitting 40% of their three-point attempts. But against the NAIA schools, Rice struggled mightily. The Owls fired up three-pointers indiscriminately in those two games, making just 6 of their 39 attempts. Although Rice was just 1-of-10 behind the arc against Texas last season, the Horns still need to keep an eye on the perimeter. Unless, of course, Texas changes its classification to NAIA sometime in the next two hours.

Meet the Owls

Last season, Arsalan Kazemi nearly had a double-double off the bench against Texas. He logged eight points and nine boards in only his sixth collegiate game. Now a sophomore, Kazemi has developed into the team leader. He’s tops on the team in both points and boards, logging 14.4 and 12 a game. He’s still a one-trick pony, as he does all his work inside. At 6’7″, that could lead to some frustrating nights for the Iranian-born Kazemi when the Owls square off against bigger frontcourts.

Another sophomore making an impact is guard Tamir Jackson. He’s hitting more than 36% of his three-point attempts, and is second on the team with 13.2 points a night. He’s also the most-used player, seeing more than 30 minutes a game. The main concern with the sophomore guard is ball control, as Jackson is averaging more turnovers than assists. Last year, he coughed it up four times against Texas.

Joining Jackson in the backcourt is junior Connor Frizelle. He had a standout freshman campaign in Conference USA, but struggled as a sophomore. Those struggles were never more apparent than in last year’s game with Texas, where Frizelle missed all ten of his shots. He’ll certainly score points this afternoon, so the Horns must work to limit this aggressive guard to jump shots.

Senior guard Cory Pflieger is in his sixth year of eligibility after missing all of last season due to an ankle injury. He’s playing about 23 minutes a game, and is a threat from long range. In 2008-09, his last full season, he made more than 36% of his long range attempts, but is off to a slower start this season with just 30% of his threes going down.

In the frontcourt, Lucas Kuipers is the only Owl besides Jackson who has started every game. At 6’8″, the junior is built more for the power forward role in the Rice offense, but generally plays more of a wing thanks to Kazemi’s preference to play down low. Despite starting every contest, Kuipers only plays about half of each game.

The real workhorse in the frontcourt is Trey Stanton. He’s the biggest guy on the Rice roster that gets any significant playing time, and he ate up a ton of minutes down low last season. This year, he’s the second-leading rebounder on the team with 6.4 boards a night and is averaging 7.2 points. He’s actually attempted two threes per game this season, but has only made 10% of them so far. He’s due to make quite a few, though, as the former Navy big man made 35% of his long-range attempts last season.

Off the bench, the Owls are getting a ton of production out of Nigerian-born senior forward Suleimon Braimoh. Although he’s playing just 15.8 minutes a night, he’s scoring a quick rate, chipping in 7.4 points in his limited action.

In addition to the three main guards in Ben Braun’s stable, the Owls also rely on minutes from freshman Trev Abraham and Nate Schwarze. Abraham has started two games, and Coach Braun expects big things from him in the near future. He’s a quick ballhandler and gets in your shirt on defense.

Schwarze, meanwhile, has seen his role increase dramatically. After playing less than seven minutes a night last season, he’s playing more than 15 a game this year. He’s currently leading the team with a 67% three-point percentage, but that number is skewed by the fact that he’s only taken three attempts all season.

Keys to the game

This afternoon, the Longhorns must attack the paint. The Owls foul often, and lately the Longhorns have actually made enough free throws to make trips to the charity stripe useful. If Texas can get the Rice bigs in foul trouble, as they did against Pittsburgh, Coach Braun will have to rely on his inexperienced frontcourt reserves. The Owls do have a 7’2″ Egypitan product in Omar Oraby, but he’s only played 10 minutes all season. If Rice gets to the point where he’s eating up a ton of minutes, the Longhorns will likely have an easy victory.

The second part of a commitment to attacking the paint is that it means the Longhorns won’t be settling for threes. That’s exactly what the Longhorns did against the Rice zone last year, and it let the Owls stay in the game for far too long. Until Texas made a commitment to getting the ball to Pittman, their putrid 23% mark from long range was scuttling the offense.

On defense, Texas needs to force Kazemi outside. The sophomore makes his living down low, so if the Longhorn defense can force Kazemi to take midrange jumpers, it will cripple the offense. It will also take him away from the glass, hampering Rice’s ability to rebound.

Texas would also benefit from putting a ton of pressure on the basketball. Jackson and Frizelle, the two guards who play the most for Rice, have a combined assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.62! That’s a number you’d expect from a stone-handed big man, not two of your primary ballhandlers.

As a team, Rice is losing possession nearly once in every four trips down the court. By pressuring the basketball, the Longhorns will not only limit the Owl offense, but will also fuel their own fast break game.

Cheap tickets remain

Sure, it’s cold outside, at least by Texas standards. But one of the many great things about college basketball is its climate-controlled arenas. Take thirty seconds to print out this web coupon and snag yourself $6 tickets to the game. The offer is only good for mezzanine tickets, but on a holiday weekend, you’ll easily be able to sit in the lower level.