Jasmine Johnson (34) helped the Cougars bounce back from Friday’s deflating loss at Tulsa by notching three of UH’s 12 steals in a 73-67 win at SMU Sunday. | Jasmine Johnson helped the Cougars bounce back from Friday’s deflating loss at Tulsa by notching three of UH’s 12 steals in a 73-67 win at SMU Sunday. | David Shih/The Daily Cougar
The Cougars knew Sunday’s game against SMU was going to be different than their other contests.
On Saturday, UH head coach Joe Curl was admitted to a Dallas hospital with chest pains and had to sit out Sunday’s game.
The Cougars, with assistant coach Wade Scott filling in, responded with a gritty 73-67 win over the Mustangs at Moody Coliseum.
Scott said the team responded well without coach Curl being there.
“I think it says a lot about the team, that they were able to focus through while coach wasn’t there,” Scott said. “I think the team did a great job of focusing on the job at hand and playing the way you’d expect them to.”
At first it looked like the Cougars (13-11, 7-4 Conference USA) were in for a long game, as the Mustangs started on a 24-9 run. The Cougars, however, slowly grinded their way back into the game despite SMU’s attempts to pull away. They finally pulled within 39-35 to end the first half.
UH’s momentum carried over to the second half, with Cougars fighting to come back, and the Mustangs (16-8, 6-5) fighting to stay ahead.
That trend changed, however, with 7:40 left when UH’s Porsche Landry converted a three-point play to give the Cougars a 57-56 lead. The Mustangs regained the lead right after, but Landry dropped in another layup with 6:35 remaining, and the Cougars never trailed again.
The Cougars played stellar defense, and made eight of nine free throws down the stretch to close out the Mustangs, who UH lost to at home two weeks ago. Scott said the Cougars made some key plays down the stretch to pull out the win.
“I think it was a combination of things,” Scott said. “They missed some shots that they normally make, we got some good looks, and we ramped up our defense a little bit.”
The win over SMU was especially critical because of Friday’s 65-62 loss to Tulsa, which entered the weekend as the worst team in C-USA.
The Cougars pulled within 63-62 with 36 seconds left in that contest, but Tulsa’s Kara Vaughn dropped in a layup with five seconds left to seal the win.
“In the first half, they put themselves in that hole to begin with,” Scott said. In the second half, they showed some character and some pride, and almost came back and got it.”
