Junior guard Marcus Sasser scored a game-high 26 points in the Cougars’ win over Rice on Friday night. | DeAundre Billingsley/The Cougar
Behind junior guard Marcus Sasser’s 26 points, No. 15 Houston blew by Rice with a score of 79-46 on Friday night at the Fertitta Center improving to 2-0 on the 2021-22 season.
After giving up the first bucket early to Rice, the UH men’s basketball went on an 8-0 run led by graduate forward Fabian White Jr. to get things going early in the first half. White managed to score or assist on all eight points.
Lockdown defense followed by capitalization on offense put the Cougars up 20-5 with 7:58 left in the half. Six different Cougars scored during the scoring run.
Sophomore guard Jamal Shead checked in and immediately made his presence felt, he came up with three steals in the half alone to go with five points off the bench.
Defensive dominance put the Cougars up 44-15 at the half. UH held the Owls to just 20 percent shooting from the field and forced 13 turnovers.
Sasser led all scorers with 16 points in the first half.
UH kept the foot on the gas in the second half and pushed the lead up to 34 following a pair of free throws from senior forward Reggie Chaney. The lead would get as high as 37 for the Cougars.
After a back-and-forth assumed, the Cougars went on another 6-0 run and shutdown all momentum the Owls gained.
Turnover trouble and poor shooting as a result of the UH men’s basketball’s defense continued to plague the Owls. The Cougars cruised to the finish of this game.
The Cougars forced 20 turnovers total and held the Owls to just 28 percent from the field in the dominant showing.
Senior guard Kyler Edwards scored 18 points to go along with six rebounds.
Sasser has now scored 20 or more in both games to start the season and the UH men’s basketball is off to a 2-0 start for the year.
