When dealing with a perennial Conference USA powerhouse, mistakes must be few and far between, the defense must create opportunities and shots have to go down.
UH was able to do that in spurts, but not long enough required for a winning result. The Cougars were outpaced by Memphis 69-58 Tuesday at the FedEx Forum, to lose their third straight game.
The Cougars have now lost seven of their last eight games.
With a six-point lead at halftime, the Tigers started to pull away from the Cougars (12-14, 4-9 C-USA) in the second half, pushing their advantage to nine points with 12 minutes remaining.
UH battled back cutting the deficit to two at the 4:44 mark after Kirk Van Slyke made a pair of free throws.
Memphis answered with back-to-back 3-pointers from Charles Carmouche and Antonio Barton to make it 63-55 with 1:58 to go.
UH managed to stay competitive in the first half, taking a 21-15 lead with 9:12 in the first half. But the defense was no match for a quicker Memphis team, as the Tigers eventually took a 38-32 lead at halftime.
UH falls victim to unfriendly rims
The Cougars made a dismal 19-of-48 shots, and turned the ball over 16 times.
Alandise Harris recorded 16 points to tie all leading scorers, he also had seven rebounds two assists, two blocks and three steals.
Maurice McNeil and Zamal Nixon scored 11 points apiece. Darian Thibodeaux added nine points, four rebounds and two steals.
The other five players in Tuesday night’s rotation managed to score just 11 combined points.
Ball movement stalled as the Cougars mustered just eight assists as a team, compared to 16 from Memphis.
UH is in the midst of the roughest portion of its C-USA schedule, taking on three of the conference’s top four teams. The Cougars will return home to play UAB (19-7, 9-4) at 5 p.m. Saturday at Hofheinz Pavilion.
