The Houston Cougars took on one of their toughest challenges Thursday, but lost 77-46 against head coach van Chancellors’s Louisiana State Tigers at Hofheinz Pavillion .
This game featured great play from some of the Cougar freshmen, four of which received the nod to start the game.
In the end, however the Cougars (2-7) could not overcome a 25-13-turnover deficit, and wound up with another loss.
Despite being the heavy underdog, the Cougars came out strong. They made four of their first seven shots, including 2-2 from three-point land, and tied the game at 11-11 with 11:46 left in the first half.
From there though, the Tigers (5-2) took control of the game and made 12 of their next 17 shots, including four of nine from three-point land.
In that span, the Cougars turned the ball over nine times, caused four turnovers, went 4-15 from the field and missed all four three pointers they took. At halftime, the score was 41-19 in favor of LSU.
In the second half, the Cougars shot 31.3 percent (10-32) from the field, and turned the ball over 12 times, while only causing six.
The Tigers won the battle on the boards, out-rebounding Houston 28-24 in the second half. This included 12 of LSU’s 17 offensive rebounds, which led to 10 second-chance points.
Coach Hughes gave credit to the LSU side.
"I don’t think there’s any better athletic team in the country than LSU," he said. "The one thing they do is they present match up problems for any squad on the floor."
One of the players on the LSU team that can cause problems is national player of the year candidate senior center Sylvia Fowles.
Though she played just 28 minutes during the game, she was the leading scorer, with 19 points.
UH freshman center Cobilyn Hill was charged with playing defense against Fowles, and did a terrific job, Hughes said.
"I’m very proud of her," he said. "She went up against an All-American tonight, and Sylvia made great shots on her, there’s no question about that, but I was pleased with all of our freshmen in there tonight."
Hill got into foul trouble early, and had to sit out for part of the first half, during which Fowles capitalized, scoring nine of her 14 first half points.
"Our two young guards played awfully well," Hughes said, "and we’ve got some room to grow. That’s what we knew when we came in here, but I was very pleased."
One of those freshmen, guard Brittney Scott finished the game as the Cougars leading scorer, with 11 points and her six rebounds tied for the team lead with senior forward Ryan Meyers.
In the end, the game was a good learning experience for the Cougars, who showed they have a lot of promise in their young talent. The Cougars will now prepare for their next game against Texas Christian University Dec. 21 at Hofheinz Pavilion.
