Houston, TX—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team (5-4) makes its second trip to the Lone Star State this season where the Highlanders take on Houston Baptist on Tuesday, December 15 and Abilene Christian on Friday, December 18. Both games tip at 5 pm PT.
UCR is coming off of an 11-point loss to #28 UNLV on Saturday (
box score/
recap). The Highlanders trailed by just four with 57 seconds remaining, but the Rebels connected on seven of eight free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.
Taylor Johns recorded his third double-double in four games this season with 21 points and 12 rebounds against UNLV. Twelve of those points came in a second-half stretch that saw UC Riverside cut an 18-point, second-half lead to two. Johns' seasonal averaged of 20.3 points and 12.3 rebounds are both tops in the Big West, but he has not played enough games yet to qualify for league rankings.
Jaylen Bland added 16 points against the Rebels for his sixth straight double-digit scoring effort. He went four for nine from long distance, and ranks sixth in the nation in made three-pointers per game.
As a team, UC Riverside ranks 32nd in the nation in made threes per game (9.6), and 15th in three-point field goal percentage defense (26.6). Should they maintain their scoring average of 76.1 points per game, the Highlanders would shatter the program's Division I record of 69.0 set during the 2003-04 campaign.
Houston Baptist is 3-6 on the year, but the Huskies have won two of their last three games. Included in that stretch is a 77-73 home win over Rice, whom the Highlanders lost to on the road, 87-81, back on November 27 (
box score/
recap).
All three of HBU's wins this season are at home, where they have won 13 of their last 16 games. The Huskies are averaging 73.1 points per game, but boast just one double figure scorer in Anthony Odunsi at 13.3 points per game. Nine other players are averaging between four and 10 points per game. Odunsi is connecting on 53.2 percent of his field goal attempts this season, and leads the Huskies in assists and steals.
Houston Baptist is susceptible to the long ball allowing opponents to connect on 36.3 percent of their shots from three-point range.
The Highlanders and Huskies met for the only time in their history back on December 20, 2014. UC Riverside won, 78-67, at home behind a 28-point, 17-rebound effort from Johns (
box score/
recap).
Abilene Christian improved to 4-5 on the year Saturday with a, 69-46, win over Schreiner. Three of the team's four wins this season are at home.
Freshman Jaylen Franklin leads the Wildcats in scoring at 13.9 points per game, replacing Jalen Little in the starting lineup when he went down with a knee injury earlier this month against New Hampshire.
UC Riverside and Abilene Christian have face off against one another on two previous occasions, with the Highlanders winning both meetings (
view results). The teams played back on January 7, 1985 with UCR winning, 85-67, and on November 29, 2014 with the Highlanders beating the Wildcats 76-56 (
box score/
recap).
