Louisiana Tech hits century mark in rout of Rice

RUSTON – The honorary captain, George “Petey” Thornton, was a member of the 1971-72 team that averaged 101 points per game that season.

Louisiana Tech scored just that on Friday night, blowing out Rice with a final score of 101-57 inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.

Close to wrapping up their eighth season in Conference USA, the Bulldogs set several program records in a C-USA game – most points scored (101), largest margin of victory (+44) and most made field goals (37).

There was one more. LA Tech (18-6, 11-4 C-USA) hit 17 three-pointers, which also tied an overall program record (made 17 versus Longwood in 2014). This came after the ‘Dogs were struggling a bit from beyond the arc recently, having made no more than six in each of the last five games.

On the flipside, Rice (12-11, 6-9 C-USA) who is one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country, were held in check by the LA Tech defense. The Owls shot 9-of-35 from deep and were held to 32.3 percent shooting as a team.

“It was a total team effort, on both ends of the floor,” said head coach Eric Konkol who moved up to fourth on the career wins list with his 123rd victory. “We knew we had a Rice team coming in that was very explosive offensively. The way they spread the floor and shoot the three.

“I thought from a defensive standpoint, we were able to get stops that turned into some good baskets. We spent a lot of time over the last two weeks shooting the basketball. We had some extra shooting sessions. Really happy for not just the shooters, but the guys delivering the ball.”

The three-point barrage started early and never stopped. Isaiah Crawford buried a corner three on the Bulldogs opening possession of the game. Later on, Amorie Archibald, Cobe Williams and Crawford drilled back-to-back-to-back threes to make it 20-6, forcing a Rice timeout.

Kalob Ledoux then got in on the three-point action, connecting on his first three attempts to give the ‘Dogs a sizeable 46-17 advantage with 5:16 left to play until halftime. With his three triples, the redshirt senior reached 200 for his collegiate career.

The lead kept growing and the threes kept falling. Ledoux would go on to make three more in the second half to finish with a season-high 25 points to go along with a career-high eight rebounds.

“We had a lot of assisted baskets,” said Konkol. “It is such a good sign for your team when you have assisted baskets. I was really happy for Kalob Ledoux. I thought he took great shots and I thought his teammates did a great job of finding him. He really exploded. I thought it was a really unselfish effort and great teamwork by everybody.”

Crawford scored 16 points with a perfect offensive stat line (5-of-5 field goals, 2-of-2 threes and 4-of-4 free throws). Kenneth Lofton, Jr. notched his seventh double-double of the season with 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Williams posted 12 points and Archibald dished out a season-high eight assists (team set a season-high with 23). The team shot 52.1 percent from the field and 54.8 percent from long range.

Cameron Sheffield led the way for the Owls with 17 points.

LA Tech returns to action for its final home game of the 2020-21 season. Game No. 2 versus Rice takes place on Saturday at 1 p.m. and will be nationally televised on the CBS Sports Network. The Senior Day ceremony will happen prior to the start of the game.

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