Rice Owls vs Tulsa Golden Hurricane Prediction, 1/1/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Rice Owls vs Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Date: Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Location: Reynolds Center in Tulsa, OK

TV: ESPN+

The Tulsa Golden Hurricane (6-7) host the Rice Owls (9-4) at Reynolds Center on Wednesday.

The Rice Owls took the court against Prairie View A&M and went home with a win by a final score of 64-46 in their last contest. When discussing fouls, the Owls ended up with 20 while Prairie View A&M accounted for 21 fouls. They also buried 4 of their 20 shots from beyond the arc. Prairie View A&M ended up going 63.2% from the free throw line by converting 12 of 19 tries. Additionally, Prairie View A&M had 27 rebounds (6 offensive, 21 defensive), but couldn't earn a rejection. Prairie View A&M earned 8 dimes and had 10 steals in this matchup. In terms of defending, Rice allowed 29.4% from the field on 15 out of 51 shooting. They also dished out 12 dimes for the contest as well as forcing the other team into 11 turnovers and earning 8 steals. With respect to grabbing rebounds, they earned 48 with 18 of them being on the offensive end. At the charity stripe, the Owls made 8 of their 19 attempts for a rate of 42.1%. Rice walked away from the contest having earned a 44.1% field goal percentage (26 out of 59) and converted 4 out of their 16 3-point attempts.

Andrew Akuchie is one player who played a role for the contest. He finished the contest at 66.7% from the floor but didn't record a dime. He saw the court for 30 mins and also grabbed 9 rebounds. He ended up scoring 14 points on 6 out of 9 shooting.

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Rice heads into this game with a mark of 9-4 for the year. They turn it over 13.6 times per game and as a group they are committing 18.2 personal fouls every game. As a team, Rice is pulling down 40.1 rebounds per game and has accounted for 150 dimes for the year, which ranks 312th in college hoops in terms of passing. The Owls are hitting 31.8% on shots from distance (88 of 277) and 68.2% from the charity stripe. They have an average of 70.2 points per game (301st in the nation) while going 41.9% from the field.

On the defensive end, the Owls have forced 11.5 turnovers per game and they draw 22.5 fouls. They are surrendering 28.5% on 3-pointers while they are 51st in the nation in opponents PPG (65.6). The Owls are allowing a field goal percentage of 38.9% (290 of 746) and they relinquish 34.4 boards per contest as a unit. They rank 30th in the country in allowing assists to their opponents with 129 surrendered this year.

The last time they took the court, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane got the win with a final of 96-63 when they played Southwestern Christian. Concerning rebounding, Tulsa allowed Southwestern Christian to collect 22 overall (0 on the offensive side). They went 52.4% from beyond the arc by shooting 11 of 21 and walked away from this one shooting 4 out of 5 from the free throw line (80.0%). The Golden Hurricane permitted Southwestern Christian to convert 24 out of their 59 attempts from the field which had them sitting at 40.7% for the game. When all was said and done, the Golden Hurricane ended up shooting 37 out of 66 from the field which gave them a percentage of 56.1%. When discussing shots from downtown, Tulsa converted 16 of their 30 tries (53.3%). They were able to bury 6 of those for a clip of 60.0%. Southwestern Christian had 11 personal fouls in this contest which took the Golden Hurricane to the charity stripe for 10 tries. They also coughed it up 10 times, while recording 5 steals in this matchup. The Golden Hurricane were able to pull down 33 defensive rebounds and 10 offensive rebounds totaling 43 in the game.

Tyshawn Archie ended up having an impact for the Golden Hurricane for the contest. He racked up 18 points in his 23 minutes of playing time and had 3 dimes in this matchup. He buried 7 out of 13 for the contest giving him a field goal percentage of 53.8%, and earned 5 rebounds.

Tulsa has a mark of 6-7 on the campaign. The Golden Hurricane are responsible for committing 16.2 fouls every game and they hit 66.7% from the free throw line. They are dishing out assists 14.4 times per game (176th in D-1) and they turn it over 11.8 times per contest. Tulsa has 1,005 points for the campaign (77.3 per game) and they pull in 39.2 boards per contest. When it comes to offensive execution, the Golden Hurricane are shooting 42.7% from the floor, which ranks them 290th in the country.

The Golden Hurricane defensively are ranked 247th in college hoops in points per game surrendered with 73.7. They are able to force 11.8 turnovers on a nightly basis and have let teams shoot 43.5% from the floor (212th in college). The Tulsa defense concedes 34.3% on three-point shots (86 of 251) and opponents are connecting on 67.2% of their shots from the charity stripe. They have allowed 12.2 dimes and 37.7 boards per contest, which ranks them 120th and 321st in the country.

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Rice

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