Houston, TX—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team packs its bags for the Lone Star State this week, as the Highlanders spend Thanksgiving Break playing their final two games of the Roundball Showcase at Rice (Friday at 5 pm PT) and Lamar (Sunday at 12 pm).
UCR brings with it a 3-1 record, which ties the program's Division I era mark for best four-game start to a season. The 2008-09 version of the Highlanders began the year with wins in four of its first five games, en route to the program's first winning record since making the transition to Division I.
UC Riverside secured its third win of the season on Tuesday night with an 81-55 victory over visiting Delaware State (
box score/
recap). Gentrey Thomas and Jaylen Bland each scored 16 points to pace the team's offense, as UCR shot 49.1 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three-point range.
That continues a stretch of hot shooting by the Highlanders who are connecting on 46.6 percent of their attempts from the floor, and 42.5 percent from beyond the arc on the year. UC Riverside has been equally as effective on the defensive side of the ball, allowing opponents to make 36.0 percent of their shots from the field and 20.8 percent from downtown—the third lowest defensive three-point field goal percentage in the nation.
Rice (0-4) is still looking for its first win of the year, and the Owls take on Lamar on November 25 before welcoming the Highlanders to Tudor Fieldhouse. They are being outscored by more than 20 points per game, and allowing opponents to make 51.7 percent of their shots from the field, including 45.6 percent from long distance.
Offensively, the Owls are led by Marcus Evans (18.8 points per game) and Egor Koulechov (17.5). The remainder of the team averages 25.9 points per game.
This is the first-ever meeting between UC Riverside and Rice.
Lamar is 2-1 on the season pending the outcome if its game Wednesday against Rice. The Cardinals moved one game over the .500 mark with a 77-66 road win over Delaware State on Saturday.
Nick Garth leads three Lamar players in double digit scoring at 13.7 points per game. He is joined by Lincoln Davis (13.3) and Kevin Booze (10.7). The Cardinals are outscoring opponents by 15.3 points on the year thanks mostly to a defense that is allowing made shots at a 32.5 percent clip including 22.0 percent from three-point range.
This is the third meeting between UC Riverside and Lamar (
view results). The two teams first met back on December 17, 1986 in a game that the Cardinals won 89-55. They met again 24 years later at the SMU Invitational with Lamar once again picking up the victory, 90-75 (
box score/
recap).
