Rice Rallies for 65-55 Victory Over UALR

Rice sophomore guard Tamir Jackson matched a career high with eight assists to go along with 12 points and six rebounds as Rice began play in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic with a 65-55 win over UALR Thursday in Tudor Fieldhouse.

Both teams move on to Las Vegas and the South Point Arena located south of The Strip for games next Tuesday through Thursday. Rice, now 5-4, will take on Stetson while UALR, 6-5, will play Akron in tournament action on Tuesday.

For more details including video highlights and interviews, a game recap and statistics, click on the following RiceOwls.com Link.

Owls Return to the Hardwood Thursday

The title of the tournament is the 2010 Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic, but the venue for the Owls' opening round game will be Tudor Fieldhouse when Rice plays host to Arkansas-Little Rock Thursday. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast locally by ESPN 97.5 as well Rice All-Access.

In 2006, the NCAA added legislation for Multi-Team Events which allows schools to compete in up to four games as part of a tournament and the event only count as one game against teams' schedules. The round-robin tournament continues next week at South Point Arena in Las Vegas with the Owls playing Stetson, Miami and Oral Roberts.

Read more at RiceOwls.com by going to this Link.

Braun, Herndon Help Tip-Off Ticket To Reading Rewards

Rice University basketball coach Ben Braun and junior forward Emerson Herndon helped tip-off the Ticket To Reading Rewards program at Pershing Middle School on Tuesday. Both coach and player spoke about the benefits of reading during their visit to the Houston Independent School District middle school campus located just minutes from the Rice campus.

Braun challenged the middle school students to find books about subjects which interested them. He also encouraged students to share books with their classmates. Herndon, who is a graduate of the Houston ISD system, spoke about reading and how it prepared him for college. He also singled out the young people involved in athletics and told them how academic success could help lead to an athletic scholarship.

The reading incentive program encourages Middle School students to read books outside the classroom and obtain rewards for reading. Ticket To Reading Rewards has three primary components: reading rewards, tickets to local college basketball games and a coaching component for middle school coaches.

The reading component encourages students to read in an effort to obtain predetermined rewards such as subscriptions to Sports Illustrated for Kids, miniature basketball hoops, medals, basketballs autographed by NCAA coaches, books and gift certificates.

The NABC Foundation provides free tickets to local college games or practices to all students who enter the program. Teachers often remark that having middle school students visit a local college campus and visualize themselves attending the college can be the single most important element of the program.

Finally, the NABC Foundation often runs a Coach the Coaches clinic for middle school basketball coaches in each school district. The clinics not only focus on basketball techniques but also on motivating coaches to encourage their players to reach a high level of reward in the program and to provide leadership within the school to promote reading.

The Ticket To Reading Rewards program was founded in 2002 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Foundation. Over the life of the program, students have read an estimated 4,000,000 books, obtained nearly 1,000,000 rewards and attended 125,000 local men’s and women’s NCAA basketball games – all at no cost to the schools or students.

Owls Dispatch Lamar, 75-73

Arsalan Kazemi scored a career-high 24 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and sparked Rice to a 75-73 victory over Lamar Saturday.

Check out statistics, video and comments following the win at RiceOwls.com.

Link to RiceOwls.com Recap.

Owls Take on High-Scoring Cards Wednesday

Rice will look to stop one of the most prolific scoring offenses in Division I Saturday afternoon when the Owls play host to Lamar. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. in Tudor Fieldhouse.

The Cardinals began the week leading the nation in scoring and currently averaging 90.1 points per game.

RiceOwls.com Link

Rice Falls to Arizona, 84-57

Rice suffered its first home court loss of the season, dropping an 84-57 decision Wednesday night to a hot-shooting Arizona team.

For a full recap, go to RiceOwls.com.

Link to Game Story

Rice Plays at Texas Saturday

For the second time in as many games, Rice University’s basketball team will look to stop Tristan Thompson when the Owls take on Texas Saturday in Austin.

Earlier this week, North Texas’ Tristan Thompson scored 26 points to help lead the Mean Green to a 68-65 win against Rice. UNT’s Thompson scored 11 straight points early in the second half and was a catalyst to the Mean Green retaking a lead in the game. His free throw with 1:37 to play gave North Texas the lead for good.

Now, the Owls face a Texas team whose roster also includes a player named Tristan Thompson. The Longhorns’ Thompson ranks second on the Texas team in scoring with a 12.6 points per game saverage. He leads the Longhorns with 13 blocks through five games and is also averaging 6.2 rebounds.

Saturday’s game between Rice and Texas is slated for 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast within the Lone Star State on Fox Sports Net Southwest and will be broadcast locally in Houston by 1560 the Game.

For the full story, go to RiceOwls.com.

Rice vs. Texas preview.