Louisiana Tech to host Rice in league series

RUSTON, La. – After having its first games of the season postponed, Louisiana Tech makes its return to the court this weekend with a two-game home series versus Rice inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.

Game one is set for Friday at 6:30 p.m. with Saturday’s game set to start at 1 p.m.

Louisiana Tech (17-6, 10-4 C-USA) last played two weeks ago, finishing off a two-game sweep of UAB. Coupled with the Blazers split with Old Dominion this past weekend, the Bulldogs are now tied for second in the West Division.

The Bulldogs have won nine of their last 11 games, including the 70-58 and 69-64 victories over UAB. In that series, Cobe Williams shined by averaging 15.5 points and 4.5 assists.

Kenneth Lofton Jr. continued his stellar play as well, averaging 17.0 points and 9.5 rebounds to help earn his seventh C-USA Freshman of the Week honor.

This duo is part of a balanced scoring attack for Louisiana Tech that includes six players averaging at least nine points per game – Isaiah Crawford (11.5), Lofton, Jr. (10.8), Kalob Ledoux (10.4), Amorie Archibald (10.4), JaColby Pemberton (9.3) and Williams (9.2).

Defense has been the name of the game though for the Bulldogs.

Over the last seven contests, opponents are averaging just 60.3 points per game.

They currently rank 39th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency and are top two in the league in field goal percentage defense and three-point field goal percentage defense.

That defense will be put to the test twice this weekend with Rice (12-10, 6-8 C-USA) coming to town.

The Owls are one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country, ranking first in C-USA and sixth in the country with an average of 10.6 made threes per game.

They are shooting at a 37.1 percent clip from deep and have taken 148 more three-point attempts than the Bulldogs this season.

Rice also had last weekend’s games against Marshall postponed. They were last in action two weeks ago, suffering losses of 77-71 and 89-66 at Western Kentucky, putting them in a tie for fifth in the West Division with UTEP.

Quincy Olivari and Travis Evee are a pair of dynamic guards averaging over 15 points per game.

The duo has combined to make 133 three-pointers this season.

Louisiana Tech leads the all-time series over Rice, 16-7. Since becoming C-USA opponents, the Bulldogs have won nine of the 11 meetings.

Six Bulldogs – Lane Hartley, Exavian Christon, Xaiver Armstead, Pemberton, Ledoux and Archibald – will take part in Senior Day on Saturday in a pregame ceremony honoring the group for their contributions to the program.