Houston beat Wichita State Saturday afternoon, 76-66, surviving their hell week by winning three games in 7 days. Josh Carlton continued his great play, finishing with 22 points and 12 rebounds (10 offensive). Taze Moore had 17 points (8/11 shooting) and six rebounds.
UH moved to 14-2 (3-0 AAC) on the season and 3-0 with “this team,” as Kelvin Sampson has referred to life after Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark. After the game, Sampson said “we are tough” and that is why his team is undefeated to start AAC play.
UH’s game plan was to limit Tyson Etienne and they did just that, limiting him to 11 points on 4/11 shooting (3 turnovers). Wichita State’s starters, as a unit, shot just 36% while UH’s shot 47.5% (28/59).
But the story of the game was once against Carlton, who used his athleticism to dominate the Shockers inside. Up 34-31 with two seconds to play in the first half, Carlton follows a J’Wan Roberts miss with a tip-in to extend the lead to five.
WSU never went away but also never got any closer than their halftime deficit. Carlton had 60 points in three games and will likely be the AAC Player of the Week.
For the sixth time this season, Fabian White had multiple three-pointers made (3) after making just two three-pointers in his first 3+ years (112 games). White’s first game back from an ACL tear was last February at Wichita State.
Jamal Shead continues to show improvement (10 points, 4 boards, 7 assists). Here, he shows patience as he waits for Taze Moore to make this cut. When Moore fakes and goes underneath, Shead finds him for the slam.
Shead had 17 assists in three games this week.
By the numbers: UH has 37 assists in the last two games…Kyler Edwards shot just 1/14 (1/8 from three) but had seven boards and five assists…UH’s last home loss was 756 days ago (12/15/2019 vs. Oklahoma State)…The Coogs have lost one home conference game since Feb. 18, 2017 (UCF in 2019)…UH has six NCAA Tournament wins since their last home conference loss.
