The Rice Owls will open the Conference USA championship tournament Thursday night in Frisco, TX against the North Texas Mean Green. Rice comes into the conference tournament after losing four of the last five games of the regular season including two in a row following eleven point loss to UTSA to end the year. Defensively Rice struggled as the Roadrunners shot 51.7% from the floor and 48.1% from beyond the art leading to the double digit victory.
Carl Pierre led all scorers for Rice with 16 points on 6/11 shooting in 36 minutes on the floor. Terrence McBride added 12 points and Max Fielder chipped in 11 points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes.
The North Texas Mean Green come into the conference tournament after finishing the year with the best record overall despite losing the last game of the season. North Texas ended their season after losing 70-68 to UTEP after the Mean Green allowed the Miners to shoot 48.9% from the floor to score 70.
Offensively North Texas shot the ball well making 51.1% of their shots but turned the ball over 14 times in the last. Thomas Belll was the leader of the North Texas offense with 20 points and 11 rebounds in 36 minutes on the floor. Mardrez McBride chipped in 12 points and Tyler Perry added 15 points to lead the way off the bench.
