Rice Owls vs Tulsa Golden Hurricane Prediction, 2/17/2024 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Rice Owls vs Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Date: Saturday, February 17, 2024

Location: Donald W. Reynolds Center in Tulsa, OK

TV: ESPN+

The Tulsa Golden Hurricane (12-12) will compete against the Rice Owls (9-15) at Donald W. Reynolds Center on Saturday.

The Rice Owls faced South Florida and walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 69-65 in their last game. In the matter of fouls, the Owls finished with 17 while South Florida finished the game with 12 fouls. They knocked down 12 out of their 27 attempts from long range. South Florida ended up going 58.3% when shooting free throws by knocking down 7 of 12 shots. In addition, South Florida snagged 35 rebounds (10 offensive, 25 defensive), but didn't notch a rejection. South Florida distributed 15 dimes and had 4 steals in this contest. In the matter of defending, Rice allowed the other team to go 43.1% from the floor on 25 out of 58 shooting. They also recorded 12 dimes for the matchup while forcing the other team into 9 turnovers and earning 4 steals. In relation to grabbing rebounds, they earned 37 with 10 of them being on the offensive end. From the free throw line, the Owls made 8 of 13 shots for a percentage of 61.5%. Rice wrapped up the game with a 41.7% field goal percentage (25 of 60) and converted 7 of their 22 shots from beyond the arc.

Travis Evee is a guy who came through for the game. He ended up finishing with 20 points on 8 out of 18 shooting. He was on the court for 37 minutes played and totaled 4 rebounds. He shot 44.4% from the floor but had no assists at the end of the game.

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Rice enters this contest with a win-loss mark of 9-15 so far this season. They currently have an average of 72.9 pts per contest (215th in D-1) while hitting 43.9% from the floor. The Owls are hitting 33.6% on shots from downtown (199 of 593) and 69.0% from the free throw line. As a team, Rice is pulling in 36.0 rebounds per game and has earned 354 assists this season, which has them ranked 116th in the country in terms of passing the ball. They are turning it over 12.4 times per contest and as a group they commit 14.9 personal fouls every game.

When they are on defense, the Owls are forcing 11.0 turnovers every game while drawing 15.8 fouls. They relinquish 35.9% from 3-point land while they are 293rd in college basketball in opponents points per game (76.0). The Owls defensively are allowing an opponent FG percentage of 45.5% (667 of 1,467) and they concede 35.7 boards per game as a basketball team. They are ranked 313th in D-1 in giving up assists to their opponents with 359 surrendered on the season.

In their last game, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane took a loss by a score of 69-50 when they played South Florida. When talking about how they cleaned up the glass, Tulsa permitted South Florida to pull down 32 overall (4 on the offensive glass). They went 54.2% from beyond the perimeter by hitting 13 of 24 and finished the game at 12 out of 14 from the free throw line (85.7%). The Golden Hurricane permitted South Florida to make 22 of their 48 attempts from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 45.8% for the game. Overall, the Golden Hurricane shot 20 out of 56 from the field which gave them a rate of 35.7%. When it comes to 3-point shots, Tulsa made 2 out of 16 attempts (12.5%). They were able to make 8 of those for a percentage of 66.7%. South Florida earned 16 personal fouls in this contest which got the Golden Hurricane to the charity stripe for 12 attempts. They turned the ball over 10 times, while earning 10 steals in this contest. The Golden Hurricane corralled 21 defensive boards and 7 offensive rebounds totaling 28 for this game.

PJ Haggerty ended up being a factor for the Golden Hurricane for this game. He made 7 out of 15 for this game giving him a field goal percentage of 46.7%, and had 6 rebounds. He earned 19 points in his 35 minutes of playing time and tallied 3 dimes in this contest.

Tulsa has a win-loss record of 12-12 this year. On the offensive side of the court, the Golden Hurricane are hitting on 43.4% from the field, which ranks 257th in college basketball. Tulsa has scored 1,800 pts this year (75.0 per game) and they collect 35.9 rebounds per game. They are getting an assist 12.5 times per contest (248th in college basketball) and they turn it over 13.7 times per game. The Golden Hurricane are responsible for committing 17.0 personal fouls every game and they shoot 74.0% from the free throw line.

The Tulsa defense gives up 31.8% on shots from beyond the perimeter (181 of 570) and opponents are converting on 70.1% of their free throw attempts. They concede 13.1 assists and 38.2 rebounds per contest, which is 206th and 325th in the nation. The Golden Hurricane on defense are ranked 223rd in D-1 in PPG allowed with 73.0. They are able to force 13.7 TO's per game and have allowed teams to shoot 42.1% from the field (98th in Division 1).

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

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Rice

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