Preview: Temple Owls at Rice Owls

HOUSTON (Interstat) — A clash of American Athletic Conference Owls awaits Wednesday night when Temple visits Rice at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Both teams enter the midweek contest looking to build momentum in league play. Temple (11-7, 3-3 AAC) aims to rebound from a narrow 79-73 home loss to Florida Atlantic last Sunday. Rice (8-10, 2-4) seeks to carry the energy from a convincing 89-73 road victory at Texas-San Antonio on Jan. 14.

The matchup features two of the conference’s top backcourt talents. Temple will lean on guard Aiden Tobiason, who is coming off a 23-point performance in 37 minutes against FAU. Over his last five games, Tobiason is averaging 13.0 points and 2.2 assists. He forms a potent scoring duo with Derrian Ford, who added 22 points in the loss.

Rice counters with dynamic guard Trae Broadnax, who orchestrated the win over UTSA with 20 points and seven assists. Broadnax has been on a scoring tear, averaging 19.2 points and 4.0 assists over his last five outings. His backcourt partner, Cam Carroll, is also coming off an 11-point, six-assist performance.

Temple holds the superior overall record but has split its last four games. The Owls from Philadelphia have shown resilience in close contests, with three of their seven losses coming by six points or fewer, including a 55-53 defeat at Memphis on Jan. 14.

Rice has struggled for consistency but showed its potential in the win over UTSA and a 66-64 victory at Wichita State on Jan. 7. The Houston-based Owls will need to improve defensively after allowing 97 points in a loss at Tulsa on Dec. 31.

This game is the first of a regular-season home-and-home series. The teams will meet again at Temple on March 1.

Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. EST Wednesday. Temple continues its Texas road trip at UTSA on Saturday. Rice hosts Tulsa next Sunday.