DALLAS – Rice’s Quincy Olivari and UTSA’s DJ Richards each earned their second Conference USA Men’s Basketball weekly honors of the season. The 2022-23 C-USA Players of the Week awards are presented by Blenders Eyewear and are voted on by the league’s sports information directors.
 
Olivari averaged 26.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals across three games last week, leading Rice to a 2-1 record and helping the Owls extend their home non-conference winning streak to 10 games. The first Owl to tally five-straight 20-point games since 2015-16, he shot 53 percent from the field (25-47), 50 percent from three (9-18) and 88 percent from the free-throw line (21-24) last week. Olivari’s nine three-pointers moved him into third place on Rice’s all-time list with 187.
 
Richards repeats as the league’s top rookie after turning in a pair of 12-point performances in the Roadrunners’ 1-1 week that included a loss to Utah and a win over Bethune-Cookman. Making his third- and fourth-straight starts, he shot 59 percent from the field (10-17) and 57 percent from three (4-7) in the contests. Since earning his spot in the starting rotation, Richards is averaging 12.3 points on 51.6 percent shooting from the field and a 50 percent clip from three.
 
Player of the Week – Quincy Olivari, Rice – Junior – Atlanta, Ga.
Olivari opened the week with a game-high 28 points in a loss to No. 7 Texas, including two free throws that sent the game into overtime. He added five rebounds and four assists. Olivari then scored a game-high 22 points with four assists, three rebounds and two steals in a 92-54 victory over North American. He went 4-6 from three as he became the 39th player in school history to score 1,000 career points. The Atlanta, Ga., native closed the week with his best performance, tying a season-high with 30 points in a 110-73 victory over Northwestern State, snapping the Demons’ seven-game winning streak. He was 9-14 (64.3%) from the field and 11-13 (84.6%) from the free throw line as Rice put up 110 points for just the fifth time in school history. He also added six rebounds and two assists.
 
Freshman of the Week – DJ Richards, UTSA – Freshman – Houston, Texas
Richards knocked down half his shots from the field (5-10) and from three (2-4) to finish with 12 points in a loss to Utah on Tuesday. He was in double-digits by halftime, scoring 10 points in a span of 2:48 to spark a 20-4 run for the Roadrunners that gave them the lead. Richards dropped 12 again in Sunday’s win over Bethune-Cookman, including eight first-half points. He shot 5-7 from the field and 2-3 from long range, while adding four rebounds.
 
2022-23 C-USA Players of the Week
N14     Luke Frampton, WKU
N21     Alijah Martin, Florida Atlantic
N28     Jordan Walker, UAB
D5       Quincy Olivari, Rice
D12     Dayvion McKnight, WKU
D19     Quincy Olivari, Rice
 
2022-23 C-USA Freshmen of the Week
N14     Jordan Crawford, LA Tech
N21     Dashon Gittens, FIU
N28     Mekhi Mason, Rice
D5       Nick Boyd, Florida Atlantic
D12     DJ Richards, UTSA
D19     DJ Richards, UTSA