The Houston Cougars started out uneven at Tulsa Wednesday night, unsure how to handle the high screen and roll, and fell behind early. But a pair of 10-0 runs early to put the Coogs in control, and they coasted to an 89-50 win over Tulsa in the AAC opener. The #3 Coogs are now 13-1 (1-0) before Saturday’s home game vs. UCF.
J’Wan Roberts led all scorers with 15 and tied a Tulsa player for most rebounds (9).
Houston struggled early, missing five of their first seven but then rebounded in a hurry: after the slow start, UH shot 34/54 (62.9%) for the rest of the half to build the lead to 43-26 at the break. The Cougars went on a 14-2 run to start the second half to blow the game wide open.
UH finished the game with 35 rebounds, 16 assists, 7 blocks, and 8 steals. Tulsa did not know what hit them. After the game, Kelvin Sampson credited his team’s unselfishness for their success while also praising his players for their spacing and ball movement. Both have been noticeably better since the Alabama game.
Emanuel Sharp continued his scorching shooting and was 3-5 from beyond the arc and finished with 14 points. Ja’Vier Francis had 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 blocks, none more impressive than this.
The UH defense clamped down on Tulsa, and the Hurricane had six scoring droughts that lasted at least 2.5 minutes. Those droughts combined to go for 21:25 of game time, meaning Tulsa scored their 50 points in tight spurts, followed by long periods of scoreless basketball.
The 39-point win was the largest conference road win ever for the Cougars. The previous record was two games at Rice in 1977 and 1983 (36 points).
