Tulsa Hosts Rice on New Year’s Day

GAME #14: Tulsa (6-7, 0-0 AAC) vs. Rice (9-4, 0-0 AAC)
Date/Time:	Wednesday • January 1, 2025 • 1:00 p.m. (CT)
Site:	Donald W. Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Eric Konkol (Wisconsin-Eau Claire, '00), 3rd Season Rice – Rob Lanier (St. Bonaventure '90), 1st Season
TV:	ESPN+ \| Josh Haley (PxP) and Pooh Williamson (Analyst)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM / Varsity Sports App (Bruce Howard & JR Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	37th Meeting \| Tulsa Leads Series 30-6
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Notes:	Tulsa Notes \| Rice Notes \| The American Notes

TULSA, Okla. –– The University of Tulsa men's basketball opens the American Athletic Conference play with a New Year's Day game against the Rice Owls in the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Wednesday.

Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. (CT) and will air on ESPN+ with Josh Haley and Pooh Williamson on the call. Fans can also catch the contest on Big Country 99.5 FM and the Varsity Network app. Bruce Howard will bring fans the action alongside analyst JR Rollo.

Tulsa (6-7) and Rice (9-4) meet for the 37^th time in a series the Golden Hurricane leads 30-6. Tulsa has won 17 straight against the Owls since Rice's last win, an overtime game in Reynolds Center in 2005. It remains Rice's lone win in Tulsa in 17 tries, where TU is also 14-1 in the Reynolds Center. All 36 meetings have come as conference foes, playing each other as members of the WAC, Conference USA and now The American.

This will be Tulsa's ninth New Year's Day game and second under Konkol. The first was all the way back in 1918, two years before Kendall College became the University of Tulsa. Illinois State narrowly won the contest 25-23 in Normal, Ill. Tulsa's first New Year's Day win came against Baylor 25-23 at the All-College Tournament in Oklahoma City in 1937.

Tulsa rides a two-game winning streak into the conference opener after beating Mississippi Valley State and Southwestern Christian over the past two weeks. Tulsa is 4-6 in the American Openers as it prepares for its 11^th season in the league.

Keaston Willis paces four Hurricane who average double figures in scoring, recording 14.0 points per game. He has the most 3-pointers (39) in The American, and his 3.0 makes per contest is second best in the league. Down Odom (12.9), Tyshawn Archie (12.0) and Isaiah Barnes (10.3) are the others to average double figures.

Following his 10-assist performance that tied a freshman school record, guard Jaye Nash has 24 assists on the season, which is good for fourth on the team, with Odom's 55 leading the way. Nash earned the conference's Freshman of the Week honors and is the only freshman in the conference to average at least 2.4 assists per game.

Rice has won two of its past three games, most recently taking down Prairie View A&M 64-46 a few days before Christmas. First year head coach Rob Lanier is no stranger to the Golden Hurricane as he spent the previous two seasons at the helm of the SMU basketball team, leading the Mustangs to a 20-13 record and an NIT appearance a season ago.

Trae Broadnax leads the Owls in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game to go with his 4.4 assists per contest. Kellen Amos is the lone other Owl to score in double figures, averaging 10.3 per contest, while two others, Alem Huseinovic and Caden Powell, are close off the mark, averaging 9.5 and 9.3, respectively. Powell is the team's leading rebounder, pulling down 7.6 boards per contest.

The Owls pose a problem on the glass, ranking second in The American in rebounding, averaging 40.1 per game, while allowing just 34.4 rebounds, which is third in the league. Tulsa is not far behind at 39.2 rebounds per contest but does allow 37.7.

Following Wednesday's contest, the Golden Hurricane will head out for a pair of games early in the conference season. First, Tulsa will play at UAB on Saturday before a Tuesday evening game at UTSA. Tipoff against the Blazers is set for 7 p.m. and will air on ESPNU.

Tulsa Hosts Rice on New Year’s Day

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tyshawn Archie

Isaiah Barnes

Jaye Nash

Keaston Willis