University of North Texas Athletics
Rowdy Pit Crew Awaits Rice On Tuesday
11/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Super Pit, Denton, Texas
7:00 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010
TV: TXA 21 (DFW area)
Radio: Mean Green Radio Network (KWRD 100.7-FM, KNTU 88.1-FM)
Webcast
Live Stats
Game Notes
DENTON, Texas - The Rice Owls will be making just their second-ever trip to the Super Pit on Tuesday, and will face a Mean Green basketball team that has been red hot at home.
Texas Tech found out how tough it can be to win at the Super Pit. Aside from being 3-0 against Big 12 teams at home under Johnny Jones, NT is a remarkable 53-11 (82.8 percent) at the Super Pit since 2006-07. No other Sun Belt school has won more home contests than NT over that span.
The crowd for the Texas Tech game numbered 7,105, which is the fifth largest crowd all-time at the Super Pit and the largest since Dec. 16, 1980 (9,100 vs No. 1 ranked DePaul).
Another large crowd awaited the Mean Green in Lawrence, Kan. on Friday night. A sellout crowd of 16,300 - the fourth largest crowd to ever see an NT team play - packed into Allen Fieldhouse to watch Kansas down the Mean Green 93-60. Tristan Thompson led North Texas with 14 points, and is now averaging 17.7 points per game against Big 12 teams in the calendar year of 2010.
If history is any indication, fans are in for quite a game when Rice comes to the Super Pit. Five of the last six meetings, including each of the last four games, have been decided by two points or less.
This will be the 12th meeting between North Texas and Rice, and the Mean Green holds an 8-3 edge in the series that dates back to 1932. This will be the third meeting in the Johnny Jones era, and Rice's first ever trip to the Super Pit. NT has won the last three games in the series. The last Rice win came on Nov. 28, 1995 (58-56).
Rice standout Arsalan Kazemi was named to the Second-Team Preseason All-CUSA. He recently competed for Iran's National Team at the 2010 FIBA World Championships where he averaged 12 points and 7.4 rebounds.
