Fresno State vs. Rice

Game preview

By Eddie Hughes

Fresno State

Point Guard

Shantay Legans faced his toughest test of the season Saturday against Tim Smith of East Tennessee State. And Legans was just three rebounds shy of a triple-double. That wasn’t good enough for a Fresno State victory and winning at Rice will be an even greater challenge.

Shooting Guard

Another 40-minute outing by Marcus West might start to show if the junior doesn’t get a breather against Rice. He had played every minute of the past two games after coming off of an ankle injury. West scored 13 points and was 2 of 5 on 3-pointers Saturday.

Small Forward

Dreike Bouldin has become a weapon for the Bulldogs. And they needed one. For the second time in three games, Bouldin turned in a double-double against East Tennessee State with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Power Forward

Francis Koffi played just four ineffective minutes in the loss Saturday. Chris Adams played 36 minutes, scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Adams’ tough play shows more and more every game.

Center

Mustafa Al-Sayyad is slumping no more—great news for coach Ray Lopes. Al-Sayyad just missed out on a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Rice

Point Guard

Rashid Smith is second in the WAC in assists at 5.2 per game—Legans is first. But Smith sure can’t score like Legans. He averages 5.7 points.

EDGE: BULLDOGS

Shooting Guard

Brock Gillespie averages 10.4 points per game but shoots just 33 percent from the field. He shoots a decent 32 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. Gillespie and West don’t want to leave each other open on the perimeter.

EDGE: BULLDOGS

Small Forward

Rice can cause problems for the Bulldogs at the forward positions. Jason McKrieth scored 24 points in Rice’s 65-63 win at the Save Mart Center on Jan. 22. The junior averages 16.6 points per game.

EDGE: OWLS

Power Forward

Leading the Owls in scoring is junior Michael Harris at 18.4 points per game. Harris also averages 9.4 rebounds. In the previous meeting with the Bulldogs, he scored 16 points.

EDGE: OWLS

Center

This could be the best match-up of the game. Senior Yamar Diene had only five points and three rebounds in the first meeting, but he averages 8.2 points per game. If Al-Sayyad plays as well as he did Saturday, Diene will have his hands full.

EDGE: EVEN