The #10 Houston Cougars dismantled South Florida Tuesday night at Fertitta Center, 74-55. A day after being named AAC Player of the Week, Kyler Edwards led all scorers with 23 points and added seven rebounds and four assists. UH moved to 16-2 on the season and 5-0 in the conference, the first time UH has done that in 38 years.
Josh Carlton continued to be the presence inside for UH, hitting seven of nine shots and scoring 15 points. Since the beginning of the month, Carlton has shot 63.5% (33/52) as UH has flipped the script on offense due to injuries. Fabian White, Jr had 16 points.
Jamal Shead returned from a “badly sprained ankle” suffered on Saturday night. He played 20 minutes and managed five assists and three rebounds. Shead’s availability even shocked head coach Kelvin Sampson.
“Our biggest concern going into the game was who was going to be our point guard, who was going to be our point guard off the bench. Yesterday, I saw Jamal twice during the day and noticed he had his shoe off. I asked John (Houston) about it and he told me that he had been doing exercises. Before shootaround today, I saw Jamal running and said, “What?”
“There’s not a lot else to say. I was shocked when I saw him running and asked him, ‘What is your plan, young man?’ He said, ‘Coach, I think I can play.’ And I said ‘Play what? The game tonight?'”
Click a photo below for a high resolution version and you can scroll through each of them in the lightbox. All images © Mario Puente 2022.
