Montagne Center, Beaumont, Texas; Saturday, 3 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Rice squares up against Lamar in a non-conference matchup. Both teams last played this past weekend. Rice beat East Carolina by eight on Nov. 11, while Lamar fell to Texas Southern on the road on Saturday, 76-73.
STEPPING UP: The Owls have been led by Robert Martin and Drew Peterson. Martin is averaging 11.6 points and 6.1 rebounds while Peterson is putting up 8.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest. The Cardinals have been anchored by T.J. Atwood and Davion Buster, who have combined to score 32.6 points per outing.MIGHTY MARTIN: Martin has connected on 35.7 percent of the 42 3-pointers he's attempted and has made 12 of 30 over his last five games. He's also converted 72.5 percent of his free throws this season.
STREAK STATS: Lamar has won its last three home games, scoring an average of 89.3 points while giving up 54.
ASSIST RATIOS: The Owls have recently used assists to create buckets more often than the Cards. Lamar has an assist on 24 of 67 field goals (35.8 percent) over its past three outings while Rice has assists on 32 of 65 field goals (49.2 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: The Lamar defense has forced opponents into turnovers on an impressive 26.5 percent of all possessions, which is the 16th-highest rate in the country. Rice has turned the ball over on 20.8 percent of its possessions (ranked 253rd among Division I teams).
