Rice hosts Hutton and East Carolina

East Carolina Pirates (10-7, 2-3 AAC) at Rice Owls (9-8, 2-3 AAC)

Houston; Saturday, 3 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: East Carolina plays Rice after Anzhane Hutton scored 21 points in East Carolina's 72-65 win against the Charlotte 49ers.

The Owls have gone 7-2 in home games. Rice is 1-2 in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Pirates have gone 2-3 against AAC opponents. East Carolina has a 2-0 record in games decided by 3 points or fewer.

Rice averages 5.9 made 3-pointers per game, 1.0 more made shot than the 4.9 per game East Carolina gives up. East Carolina averages 62.8 points per game, 1.5 fewer than the 64.3 Rice allows to opponents.

The Owls and Pirates square off Saturday for the first time in AAC play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Dominique Ennis is shooting 31.9% from beyond the arc with 2.0 made 3-pointers per game for the Owls, while averaging 11.5 points and 1.5 steals.

Amiya Joyner is averaging 14.4 points and 8.6 rebounds for the Pirates.

LAST 10 GAMES: Owls: 5-5, averaging 67.8 points, 36.3 rebounds, 14.3 assists, 6.8 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 42.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.7 points per game.

Pirates: 7-3, averaging 65.4 points, 32.5 rebounds, 13.7 assists, 10.1 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 42.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 59.9 points.

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