Rice beats UTSA 80-71 to close out American Conference regular season

Published Mar. 8, 2026 8:45 p.m. ET

Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — Jalen Smith scored 25 points to lead Rice to an 80-71 victory UTSA on Sunday to close out the American Conference regular season.

Smith also grabbed six rebounds for the Owls (13-18, 7-11 American Conference). Nick Anderson added 20 points and Trae Broadnax scored 12.

Brent Moss finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Roadrunners (5-25, 1-17). Baboucarr Njie added 16 points and Matheo Coffi pitched in with 12 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks.

Rice took the lead with 17:48 remaining in the first half and did not trail again. Smith had 15 points in the half to help the Owls take a 45-32 lead into the break.

The conference tournament begins Wednesday.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.