SMU had no answers for Jarace Walker as the UH freshman forward scored 23 points and pulling down 10 rebounds in the Cougars’ blowout victory over the Mustangs on Thursday night at Fertitta Center. | Anh Le/The Cougar
Jarace Walker ensured that SMU’s bus ride back up I-45 would be a long, unpleasant one, bullying the Mustangs from the opening tip in No. 2 Houston’s dominant 87-53 victory on Thursday night at Fertitta Center.
It was apparent from early on that SMU had no answers for Walker. The 6-foot-8-inch freshman forward quickly introduced himself to SMU’s Samuell Williamson with a two-handed slam over the Mustangs’ forward to open up the scoring for the Cougars. Walker scored UH’s first eight points of the game and had 16 points nine minutes into the first half.
Walker finished tying his career-high in points with 23 as well as pulling down 10 boards for his second double-double of the season.
After falling behind 2-0, the Cougars blew the game open with 24 unanswered points over a span of nearly seven minutes.
Marcus Sasser found his touch from deep in the second half, hitting three 3-pointers to pile onto the UH lead. Sasser finished with 14 points as well as dished out seven assists.
J’Wan Roberts finished with 11 points and eight boards. Tramon Mark scored 10 points.
The Cougars’ freshmen produced off the bench with Terrance Arceneaux scoring 10 points and grabbing six rebounds and Emmanuel Sharp adding six points and a career-high nine boards.
UH out-rebounded SMU 54-26.
