03-06-2020, 08:29 PM
This Saturday is the main event. The second place ODU Monarchs will play the first place Rice Owls in Houston at the Tutor Fieldhouse in the final regular season game. For Rice, it's simple. A win means they win the regular season title and they will be the first overall seed in the tournament. A loss means they will share the regular season title with ODU, but will be the second seed in the tournament thanks to ODU having the tie breaker. For ODU, a win gives them a share of the regular season title and the first overall seed in the Con USA tournament. A lose will keep them in second place overall, but they might share that record with WKU if they beat La Tech. Since ODU has a tie breaker over WKU, ODU will be the second seed overall in the tournament.
Now for Rice, this will be a doubleheader and senior night combined. The Rice men's basketball team will play at 1 pm facing UTEP. The women will play at 3:30. One ticket will get you admission for both games. They are expecting a large crowd hoping that Rice can win their second straight league championship.
Of course, I say senior day. The truth is the Owls have just one senior on their entire roster. Erica Ogwumike. Ogwumike was recently named to Con USA's All Academic team, first round for the second straight year. This is the player who was the Conference USA female athlete of the year and the POY for women's basketball last season. This is the player who leads the conference in ppg (21.3) and rpg (12.0) as a guard. At this point, she is odds on favorite to win the conference player of the year for the second straight season. She is a special player. And when I say senior night, I really mean....Ogwumike Night. :-)
I feel like I have already written enough about this team. So I'm going to skip the schedule since it's only been a few games since we played them. Rice's Overall record 20-8, 15-2. RPI: 57. SOS: 127. ODU: Record: 24-5, 14-3. RPI: 30 SOS: 113
Owl Starting Five (Conference only stats)
13 Erica Ogwumike G 5'9" Sr 21.3 ppg, 12.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 51.7 FG%, 19.5 3P%, 80.3 FT%, 33.3 mpg
02 Sydne Wiggins G 5'10" Jr 9.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.1 apg, 1.7 spg, 39.4 FG%, 38.9 3P%, 78.0 FT%, 31.9 mpg
15 Lauren Schwatz F 5'11" Fr 9.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, 47.1 FG%, 34.0 3P%, 80.4 FT%, 31.9 mpg
32 Nancy Mulkey C 6'9" Jr 13.0 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.1 apg, 2.9 bpg, 55.3 FG%, N/A 3P%, 83.7 FT%, 26.0 mpg
10 Jasmine Smith G 5'7" So 7.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.8 apg, 48.3 FG%, 36.1 3P%, 67.6 FT%, 30.3 mpg
Top Bench
03 Katelyn Crosthwait G 5'10" Fr 2.9 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 0.5 apg, 43.3 FG%, 36.8 3P%, 50.0 FT%, 8.5 mpg
05 Destiny Jackson G 5'9" Fr 3.9 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.0 apg, 49.0 FG%, 16.7 3P%, 60.7 FT%, 15.4 mpg
Since this is her last game, you can basically expect Ogwumike to play every minute. Wiggins defensive value alone makes her worth staying in the game regardless of what she shoots. And of course, 6'9" Nancy Mulkey.
Inside the Numbers.
...............Regular......................Conference Only Stats
................Rice.......ODU................Rice........ODU
PPG..........66.3.......66.2.................70.2.........66.1
OPPG.......57.4.......54.7.................58.9.........57.3
FG%.........44.9.......40.6.................48.7........40.6
OFG%......36.5........34.9.................37.3.......35.5
3P%...........29.8......31.6.................31.5........30.4
O3P%........26.8......23.6.................25.2........24.1
3PPG..........4.9........6.3...................4.7.........5.7
O3PPG.......4.6........4.2
FT%...........74.7......59.9..................73.3......58.4
FTPG.........14.4......11.4
RPG...........38.4......42.2...................38.8.....42.5
ORPG........31.9......36.1...................29.2.....36.8
APG...........13.9......11.4..................14.7.....11.0
TPG...........17.7.......13.8.................17.9......12.4
SPG...........6.6..........8.0...................6.4.......6.8
BPG..........4.6..........3.8...................4.5.......3.1
AST/TO ratio:
Rice: 0.8, ODU: 0.8 during conference only games. Rice: 0.8, ODU: 0.9
Rice is working on 50 straight games where they have held opponents to below 70 points. So don't look for this to be an offensive explosion type of game. This is going to be a tough game for ODU to win. The Owls want revenge for their loss at Norfolk. It's senior night for Ogwumike. And they don't want to share the championship.
This is the biggest game of the season and everything boils down to this moment. When we played Rice, it was THE best game of the season. The rematch will hopefully be just as epic! ODU hasn't won the regular season championship since the 2007-08 season. Even if we have to share the title, it would be a giant step forward for our program.
Go Monarchs!
Now for Rice, this will be a doubleheader and senior night combined. The Rice men's basketball team will play at 1 pm facing UTEP. The women will play at 3:30. One ticket will get you admission for both games. They are expecting a large crowd hoping that Rice can win their second straight league championship.
Of course, I say senior day. The truth is the Owls have just one senior on their entire roster. Erica Ogwumike. Ogwumike was recently named to Con USA's All Academic team, first round for the second straight year. This is the player who was the Conference USA female athlete of the year and the POY for women's basketball last season. This is the player who leads the conference in ppg (21.3) and rpg (12.0) as a guard. At this point, she is odds on favorite to win the conference player of the year for the second straight season. She is a special player. And when I say senior night, I really mean....Ogwumike Night. :-)
I feel like I have already written enough about this team. So I'm going to skip the schedule since it's only been a few games since we played them. Rice's Overall record 20-8, 15-2. RPI: 57. SOS: 127. ODU: Record: 24-5, 14-3. RPI: 30 SOS: 113
Owl Starting Five (Conference only stats)
13 Erica Ogwumike G 5'9" Sr 21.3 ppg, 12.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 51.7 FG%, 19.5 3P%, 80.3 FT%, 33.3 mpg
02 Sydne Wiggins G 5'10" Jr 9.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.1 apg, 1.7 spg, 39.4 FG%, 38.9 3P%, 78.0 FT%, 31.9 mpg
15 Lauren Schwatz F 5'11" Fr 9.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, 47.1 FG%, 34.0 3P%, 80.4 FT%, 31.9 mpg
32 Nancy Mulkey C 6'9" Jr 13.0 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.1 apg, 2.9 bpg, 55.3 FG%, N/A 3P%, 83.7 FT%, 26.0 mpg
10 Jasmine Smith G 5'7" So 7.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.8 apg, 48.3 FG%, 36.1 3P%, 67.6 FT%, 30.3 mpg
Top Bench
03 Katelyn Crosthwait G 5'10" Fr 2.9 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 0.5 apg, 43.3 FG%, 36.8 3P%, 50.0 FT%, 8.5 mpg
05 Destiny Jackson G 5'9" Fr 3.9 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.0 apg, 49.0 FG%, 16.7 3P%, 60.7 FT%, 15.4 mpg
Since this is her last game, you can basically expect Ogwumike to play every minute. Wiggins defensive value alone makes her worth staying in the game regardless of what she shoots. And of course, 6'9" Nancy Mulkey.
Inside the Numbers.
...............Regular......................Conference Only Stats
................Rice.......ODU................Rice........ODU
PPG..........66.3.......66.2.................70.2.........66.1
OPPG.......57.4.......54.7.................58.9.........57.3
FG%.........44.9.......40.6.................48.7........40.6
OFG%......36.5........34.9.................37.3.......35.5
3P%...........29.8......31.6.................31.5........30.4
O3P%........26.8......23.6.................25.2........24.1
3PPG..........4.9........6.3...................4.7.........5.7
O3PPG.......4.6........4.2
FT%...........74.7......59.9..................73.3......58.4
FTPG.........14.4......11.4
RPG...........38.4......42.2...................38.8.....42.5
ORPG........31.9......36.1...................29.2.....36.8
APG...........13.9......11.4..................14.7.....11.0
TPG...........17.7.......13.8.................17.9......12.4
SPG...........6.6..........8.0...................6.4.......6.8
BPG..........4.6..........3.8...................4.5.......3.1
AST/TO ratio:
Rice: 0.8, ODU: 0.8 during conference only games. Rice: 0.8, ODU: 0.9
Rice is working on 50 straight games where they have held opponents to below 70 points. So don't look for this to be an offensive explosion type of game. This is going to be a tough game for ODU to win. The Owls want revenge for their loss at Norfolk. It's senior night for Ogwumike. And they don't want to share the championship.
This is the biggest game of the season and everything boils down to this moment. When we played Rice, it was THE best game of the season. The rematch will hopefully be just as epic! ODU hasn't won the regular season championship since the 2007-08 season. Even if we have to share the title, it would be a giant step forward for our program.
Go Monarchs!