GAME NOTES: The Rice Owls kick off the Conference USA schedule on Friday, as they host the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners at Tudor Fieldhouse, the first of three straight at home for the Owls.

Rice has a total of just three wins in 11 opportunities to this point, and two of those have come against sub par competition in St. Edward's and St. Thomas in back-to-back efforts last month. Following those victories, the Owls went right back into the loss column, the most recent setback being a disappointing 66-55 defeat at the hands of ninth-ranked Texas in Austin earlier in the week.

As for the Roadrunners, they've split their first 10 games of the season, but considering how they performed against some of the early opponents there's no telling where this team is headed. Of the five victories, two have come against opponents outside Division I (Huston-Tillotson and Cameron), while one of their defeats was a 93-92 loss to Southern Utah, a program that won a grand total of just two games all of last season.

The win over Cameron (79-68) on Tuesday was the second in the last three outings for UTSA.

This is the eighth meeting all-time between these two programs, with the Roadrunners having claimed victory in five of the first seven. The latest win took place last season as UTSA posted an 89-76 triumph at home.

Against Cameron, Kaj-Bjorn Sherman registered a huge double-double for the hosts with 21 points and 17 rebounds, while Jeromie Hill also got in on the act with 21 points of his own and 11 more boards as the pair pushed UTSA to a 50-34 advantage on the glass. The Roadrunner shot only 36.1 percent from the field but still had two others end up in double digits in the scoring department, as Christian Wilson and Ryan Bowie produced 17 and 15 points, respectively, as well as five assists each.

Bowie, a 42.0 percent shooter behind the 3-point line, leads the program in scoring with 15.4 ppg, but is only fractions of a point ahead of Keon Lewis (15.1 ppg) who has been doing quite a bit of damage at the free-throw line (69-of-86) and has also taken to getting his teammates involved with 33 assists. Hill and Sherman pitch in with 14.8 and 10.2 ppg, respectively.

The Owls should have been blown off the court by Texas the last time out, but the team actually held a lead in the first half before falling behind and eventually suffering the 11-point road loss. Seth Gearhart gave Rice reason to believe in an upset as he tallied a game-high 24 points, shooting 8-of-13 from the floor and 4-of-8 beyond the arc. Marcus Jackson accounted for 10 points, five assists and four steals in the losing cause.

Gearhart not only leads the Owls in scoring with 15.0 ppg, but he is also tops with 5.5 rpg in an effort to make Rice a true threat on the hardwood. The only other double-digit scorer is Jackson with his 11.8 ppg, although he is shooting just 35.8 percent from the floor for a program that checks in at only 39.3 percent accuracy overall, en route to 63.1 ppg.

While the Roadrunners may not be as good as their .500 record might indicate, the Owls probably used up a bit too much energy in trying to knock off Texas, which should open the door for a UTSA win on Friday.