The Rice Owls will travel to Austin, Texas to face the 19^th-ranked Texas Longhorns at the Moody Center with the game scheduled to start at 9:00 PM ET on Wednesday night and will air on the Longhorn Network.

Rice finished last season with a record of 19-16 and had a losing record in the CUSA with a record of 8-12 which led to a tie with the FIU Panthers and Western Kentucky Hilltoppers for 9^th place in the conference. The Owls would defeat the UTSA Roadrunners in the 1^st round of the CUSA Tournament but would lose to the UAB Blazers in the Quarterfinals by a score of 60-87. The Rice Owls didn’t receive an invite to the NCAA Tournament or the NIT, however, they were invited to play in the CBI for the 2^nd season in a row and would win in the opening round against the Duquesne Dukes before losing in the Quarterfinals against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds by a score of 79-81. The Owls have started this season with a record of 1-1 with a win at home against the St. Thomas Celts by a score of 101-57 and a loss at home against the Harvard Crimson by a score of 76-89.

The Texas Longhorns made it all the way to the Elite Eight last season and are currently ranked 19^th in the AP Poll and 17^th in the Coaches Poll with a record of 2-0. Last season, the Longhorns finished the regular season with a record of 29-9 and had a record of 12-6 in the Big 12 Conference which would lead to a 2^nd place finish in the regular season. The Longhorns would receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big 12 Conference Tournament with wins over the Oklahoma State Cowboys by a score of 61-47, the TCU Horned Frogs by a score of 66-60, and the Kansas Jayhawks in the Conference Championship game by a score of 76-56. Texas would also have an impressive showing in the NCAA tournament with wins over the Colgate Raiders in the 1^st round by a score of 81-61, the Penn State Nittany Lions by a score of 71-66 in the 2^nd round, the Xavier Musketeers in the Sweet 16 by a score of 83-71 before losing in the Elite Eight against the Miami Hurricanes by a score of 81-88. The Texas Longhorns have started the season off with a record of 2-0 with wins at home against the Incarnate Word Cardinals by a score of 88-56 and the Delaware State Hornets by a score of 86-59.

BookMaker has the Texas Longhorns listed as 20.5-point favorites at home against the Rice Owls on Wednesday night. Texas has won the last ten games in the series and has won by an average margin of 16.4 points per game over the last ten and 13 points per game over the last three meetings. Both teams are 5-5 ATS in the last ten while the Owls are 2-1 ATS in the last three games in the series. The Rice Owls are 1-1 ATS overall this season while the Texas Longhorns are 1-1 ATS overall, 1-1 ATS at home, and 1-1 ATS as a favorite on the year.

Texas is the superior team in terms of talent and has dominated the series against Rice as they have won the last ten meetings. However, the Rice Owls have been the better team most recently in the series at covering the spread going 3-1 ATS in the last four contests. As a result, I am buying the .5 point and taking the points with the Rice Owls when they travel to face the Texas Longhorns on Wednesday night.