UT Rio Grande Valley visits New Orleans after Francois' 24-point showing

UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros (6-8, 1-2 Southland) at New Orleans Privateers (0-11, 0-2 Southland)

New Orleans; Saturday, 3 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: New Orleans hosts UT Rio Grande Valley after Nora Francois scored 24 points in New Orleans' 78-66 loss to the Texas A&M-CC Islanders.

The Privateers are 0-2 in home games. New Orleans is ninth in the Southland with 22.1 defensive rebounds per game led by Francois averaging 5.5.

The Vaqueros are 1-2 in conference matchups. UT Rio Grande Valley allows 64.6 points to opponents while being outscored by 2.4 points per game.

New Orleans' average of 4.3 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.3 fewer made shots on average than the 4.6 per game UT Rio Grande Valley gives up. UT Rio Grande Valley's 37.9% shooting percentage from the field this season is 6.5 percentage points lower than New Orleans has allowed to its opponents (44.4%).

The Privateers and Vaqueros face off Saturday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Francois is averaging 13.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals for the Privateers.

Kade Hackerott is averaging 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds for the Vaqueros.

LAST 10 GAMES: Privateers: 0-10, averaging 56.5 points, 31.7 rebounds, 11.1 assists, 9.1 steals and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 34.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.0 points per game.

Vaqueros: 5-5, averaging 62.9 points, 34.1 rebounds, 16.0 assists, 6.1 steals and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 37.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.1 points.

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

The Associated Press