3 things to look for: USM at Rice

Southern Miss will have a chance to clinch a spot in the Conference USA tournament Thursday.

The Golden Eagles (8-19, 5-10) will meet Rice (18-9, 8-6) at 7 p.m. at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston.

Here are three things to look for in the matchup:

Postseason chances

Doc Sadler’s squad needs just one victory in its final three games of the regular season to get to the league tournament for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

The top 12 teams in the 14-team league advance to the tournament. Southern Miss currently sits in 12th place — 2 ½ games ahead of FIU and North Texas — with three games to play. FIU and North Texas each have four games remaining.

FIU hosts UTSA, while the Mean Green will host Louisiana Tech Thursday.

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Last time around

Southern Miss hosted Rice on Jan. 21, and lost 61-58.

The Owls, who led by 24 points early in the second half, held on despite a late push by the Golden Eagles. Cortez Edwards and Quinton Campbell combined for 27 points in the contest.

Rice missed 12 of its last 14 shots from the field, but made six out of eight free throws inside the final 30 seconds of the game. Egor Koulechov put up 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Owls.

Scouting report

The Owls won five straight before falling to UTEP, 79-71, last week.

Since C-USA play began, guard Marcus Evans ranks third in the league with 19.2 points per game. Koulechov is fifth in conference play with an 18.4 scoring average. In addition, Koulechov’s 48.4 three-point field goal percentage is tops in C-USA.

Campbell’s 13.1 points per game against league opponents ranks 21st in C-USA.