Scores

Final

SMU 75

(13-8, 4-3 C-USA)

Rice 68

(10-11, 2-5 C-USA)

3:00 PM ET, January 29, 2011

Tudor Fieldhouse, Houston, TX

1 2 T
SMU 35 4075
RICE 29 3968

Top Performers

Southern Methodist: R. Nyakundi 29 Pts, 6 Reb, 5 Ast, 1 Stl

Rice: A. Kazemi 21 Pts, 16 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl

Robert Nyakundi's career-high 29 power SMU past Rice

Associated Press

HOUSTON -- Robert Nyakundi scored a career-high 29 points, including seven 3-pointers, to lead SMU past Rice 75-68 Saturday.

Papa Dia added 19 points and Mike Walker 13 for the Mustangs (13-8, 4-3 Conference USA), who won their third in a row.

Arsalan Kazemi made 13 of 15 free throws, scoring 21 points, and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds to lead the Owls (10-11, 2-5). Connor Frizzelle scored 17 points and Tamir Jackson 12.

SMU shot 56.3 percent (27 of 48) and 42.3 percent (11 of 26) from 3-point range but was outrebounded 32-21.

Rice started well and led 15-6 after two free throws by Kazemi with 13:38 left in the first half.

But Dia scored with 2:02 left in the half for a 29-27 SMU lead. Nyakundi and Collin Mangrum followed with 3-pointers to put the Mustangs up 35-27 with 1:01 to go, and Rice never led again.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

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Team Stat Comparison

 
SMU
RICE
Points 75 68
FG Made-Attempted 27-48 (.563) 22-50 (.440)
3P Made-Attempted 11-26 (.423) 6-15 (.400)
FT Made-Attempted 10-14 (.714) 18-24 (.750)
Fouls (Tech/Flagrant) 19 (1/0) 17 (0/0)
Largest Lead 13 9

Game Leaders

 
SMU
RICE
PointsR. Nyakundi 29A. Kazemi 21
ReboundsR. Nyakundi 6A. Kazemi 16
AssistsJ. Samarrippas 6T. Jackson 5
StealsJ. Samarrippas 4T. Jackson 5
BlocksP. Dia 3B. Beasley 1
Team Stats: S. Methodist | Rice

2010-11 Season

DATEGAMELINKS
» Jan 29, 2011 SMU 75, @RICE 68Recap
Feb 23, 2011 @SMU 76, RICE 66Recap
Mar 9, 2011 RICE 58, @SMU 57Recap

Next 5 Games

SMU
RICE
02/02 ECU 8:00pm
02/09 TULN 8:00pm
02/12 @UTEP 9:05pm
02/16 @HOU 8:00pm
02/19 TLSA 3:00pm
 02/02 @TULN 8:00pm
02/05 UTEP 3:00pm
02/12 @UAB 8:00pm
02/16 @MRSH 7:00pm
02/19 MEM 8:00pm
Complete Schedule: S. Methodist | Rice

Conference USA Standings

TEAMCONF W-LTOTAL W-L
Memphis10-625-9
UTEP11-525-9
UAB12-422-8
Southern Miss9-722-10
Marshall9-722-11
UCF6-1019-11
Tulsa11-519-13
Southern Methodist8-817-14
East Carolina8-818-15
Rice5-1114-18
Tulane3-1313-17
Houston4-1212-18
View expanded standings »