Rice basketball preview: Rice vs. Vanderbilt

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this season to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA sports coverage. Today, our new Rice Correspondent Bob Schlanger previews the basketball game between Rice and Vanderbilt.

After an eleven-year hiatus, Rice renews its basketball rivalry with the Vanderbilt Tuesday night at Autry Court. The Commodores enter the game with a deceptive 9-4 record having played only two games on the road.

Morris Almond continues to lead the Owls as the nation’s top scorer led all players with 64 points in last weekend’s Shamrock Office Solutions Classic hosted by St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California.

Rice will need to play a complete forty minutes against Vanderbilt after failing to finish games with large leads against Belmont last week and undefeated Oregon earlier in the season at Autry Court.

Lorenzo Williams appears to be back in shape but his play has been unremarkable since returning from a nagging foot injury last week.

Vanderbilt enters the game with a 9-4 record, however, included as victories are wins over Lipscomb, Nicholls State, UPR-Mayaguez, Tennessee Tech and Alabama A&M. The most impressive victory for the Commodores is a 73-64 win over then No. 25 Georgia Tech on December 9 th. Vandy has suffered losses at home against Georgetown and against Wake Forest in Winston-Salem.

Derrick Byars, a senior swingman, leads a balanced Vanderbilt attack. The Commodores have four players averaging in double figures led by Byars 15.2 ppg average. Vandy finished with an 8-1 record during December, which are the most wins in any months since December of 1993.

LAST TIME OUT : Rice dropped the opener of the tournament last week to Belmont by a score of 87-85. After leading 81-71 with three minutes left, the Owls combined missed scoring opportunities, untimely turnovers and defensive lapses as they saw Justin hare score with 1.1 seconds left to cap Belmont’s comeback.

On Friday night, Almond took the game over in the second half and led the Owls to an 87-82 victory over Western Carolina. Rice trailed 46-36 with 10:27 left in the game and Almond sparked a Rice run to tie the game at 55. Almond scored 17 of Rice’s 19 points during the run and ended the game by scoring 29 of Rice’s 37-second half points. He combined his 36 points against Western Carolina with 28 the night before for a total of 64 points in the two Rice games last week. Almond continues as the nation’s leading scorer with an average of 30.3 points per game.

NEXT UP : After Tuesday’s home game against Vandy, Rice travels to Princeton on Saturday, January 6 th for the final non-conference game of the season.