Rice Owls vs Temple Owls Prediction, 3/1/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Rice Owls vs Temple Owls

Date: Sunday, March 1, 2026

Location: Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA

TV: ESPN+

The Temple Owls (15-13) will take on the Rice Owls (11-17) at Liacouras Center on Sunday.

The Rice Owls played South Florida and walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 75-56 in their last game. When discussing fouls, the Owls ended up walking away with 16 and South Florida had 16 fouls. They also made 8 of 28 shots from three-point range. South Florida finished shooting 89.5% at the free throw line by converting 17 of their 19 shots. Furthermore, South Florida grabbed 33 rebounds (13 offensive, 20 defensive), but wasn't able to record a rejection. South Florida dished out 13 dimes and had 17 steals for the game. Pertaining to the defense, Rice let their opponent shoot 37.9% from the floor on 25 out of 66 shooting. They also distributed 9 assists for the game as well as forcing 9 turnovers and getting 7 steals. When it comes to grabbing rebounds, they compiled 34 with 9 of them being offensive. From the free throw line, the Owls buried 12 of 17 shots for a percentage of 70.6%. Rice ended the game with a 36.2% field goal percentage (17 out of 47) and buried 10 of their 25 three-point attempts.

Cam Carroll is one player who was a major contributor for the contest. He finished shooting 37.5% from the floor and also earned 2 assists. He was on the court for 27 minutes and also totaled 6 rebounds. He was able to score 13 points on 3 out of 8 shooting.

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Rice steps onto the hardwood with a record of 11-17 on the year. They are turning it over 12.5 times per game and as a unit they are committing 18.7 personal fouls every game. As a team, Rice is pulling down 37.8 boards per contest and has tallied 343 assists so far this season, which has them ranked 319th in the country in terms of passing. The Owls are shooting 35.6% on three-point shots (256 of 719) and 69.3% from the charity stripe. They currently have an average of 74.0 points per outing (236th in college hoops) while connecting on 42.0% from the floor.

Defensively, the Owls are able to force 11.5 turnovers on a nightly basis while drawing 17.5 personal fouls. They are relinquishing 33.8% from beyond the arc and they rank 224th in the country in opponents PPG (75.1). The Owls defense is giving up a shooting percentage of 44.0% (719 of 1,634) and they surrender 36.8 rebounds per game as a squad. They are 76th in the nation in giving up assists with 346 conceded this year.

In their last game, the Temple Owls took a defeat with a final score of 77-73 when they played Florida Atlantic. Regarding rebounding, Temple allowed Florida Atlantic to grab 32 in total (10 on the offensive glass). They went 41.2% from beyond the arc by shooting 7 of 17 and finished the game at 12 out of 18 from the free throw line (66.7%). The Owls allowed Florida Atlantic to make 29 of their 56 attempts from the field which left them with a shooting percentage of 51.8% in the matchup. When the final whistle blew, the Owls ended up shooting 26 for 51 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 51.0%. Concerning shooting from downtown, Temple buried 7 out of their 19 attempts (36.8%). They were able to bury 14 of the free throw attempts for a rate of 77.8%. Florida Atlantic had 12 personal fouls for the contest which got the Owls to the free throw line for 18 tries. They also turned it over 7 times, while recording 5 steals for the matchup. The Owls recorded 19 defensive boards and 5 offensive boards for a total of 24 in this game.

Derrian Ford ended up being important for the Owls for the contest. He earned 20 points in his 36 minutes on the court and tallied 2 dimes in this matchup. He knocked down 5 out of 11 in this matchup for a field goal rate of 45.5%, and had 4 rebounds.

Temple has a record of 15-13 for the season. The Owls are committing 17.4 personal fouls every game and they connect on 74.2% from the charity stripe. They are earning an assist 12.5 times per game (282nd in D-1) and they are turning it over 9.0 times per game. Temple has tallied 2,068 points for the season (73.9 per game) and they collect 33.9 boards per game. As an offense, the Owls are shooting 44.4% from the floor, which has them ranked 235th in college.

The Temple defense gives up 32.1% from downtown (183 of 570) and opponents are making 70.4% of their free throw attempts. They give up 12.4 dimes and 34.0 boards every game, which is 94th and 157th in D-1. The Owls on defense are ranked 95th in college in points allowed per game with 70.8. They are able to force 10.3 TO's every game and have allowed teams to shoot 44.4% from the field (196th in college).

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Temple

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