Dunkin' Dogs set for Final Road Trip to North Texas, Rice
After another successful home weekend with wins over FAU and FIU, Louisiana Tech is set for their final road trip of the year, where they will visit North Texas and Rice. With three games to go in the regular season, the Dunkin’ Dogs currently sit at 20-8 overall with a 12-3 record in CUSA. This marks the fifth consecutive year that the program has reached at least twenty wins, a period of time over which they have won an astounding 126 total games. As winners of six straight, the Dogs have placed a stranglehold on the two seed in the upcoming Conference USA tournament. While their postseason fate is still completely up in the air, there’s no question that the Dunkin’ Dogs are clicking at the perfect time.
When Coach Konkol and his team travel to Denton on Thursday night, they will be facing a struggling Mean Green squad (8-18 overall, 2-12 in CUSA) that they defeated handily earlier this year in Ruston. That game was tight throughout the first half, but Tech used a 26-5 run to blow it open early in the second half. Jacobi Boykins led Tech with his first career double-double in that game, which has lead to him playing some of the best basketball of his career. North Texas comes into Thursday night’s matchup on the heels of their second conference win of the year, in which senior J-Mychal Reese led the Mean Green with 19 points in a convincing win over UTSA. The Dogs look to maintain focus and avoid any trap games that could slow their momentum heading into the Conference Tournament.
The Dogs will then head to Houston, where Saturday night will boast a matchup of two great young teams in Conference USA. Rice comes into the game with an 18-9 overall record and 8-6 in CUSA play. The Owls are following a tough loss to UTEP, dropping them into a fifth place tie in the conference. Rice is led by all-conference guard Marcus Evans and Arizona State transfer Egor Koulechov. Evans and Koulechov are averaging 19 and 18 points per game, respectively, and have provided a dynamic one-two offensive punch all season. In a January game that was not as close as the score indicated, Tech defeated Rice 74-64. The Dogs did a great job in holding Evans and Koulechov to a combined 7-25 from the field for a total of 20 points. Historically, Tech and Rice have played a number of close games inside Tudor Fieldhouse, so a great one is to be expected come Saturday night.
Erik McCree has really come on for the Dunkin’ Dogs over the last 3 weeks, and continues to lead the team — averaging 18 points and 9 rebounds per game. Saturday night against Florida International, Tech found themselves in a tough stretch — but it wasn’t long before McCree single-handedly took the game over to the tune of 27 points and 10 rebounds in a 77-61 victory. McCree, along with MTSU’s JaCorey Williams and Reggie Upshaw, appears to be a front runner for CUSA Player of the Year, an award that has gone to Louisiana Tech players in each of the last two seasons (Kenneth “Speedy” Smith, Alex Hamilton).
Despite a few tough losses sprinkled throughout the season, there’s no question that the Dunkin’ Dogs are playing their best basketball at the right time and are ready to make a run to their first NCAA Tournament in over 25 years.