Men's Basketball Sports

Cougars beat Bulls with strong defense

Redshirt sophomore Brison Gresham gets up with a smile after a tough defensive performance. The Cougars’ defense kept it in the game, even when the offense went cold. | Ahmed Gul

Houston tacked on another one in the win column and improved to 26-1 after a 7159 rout of the South Florida Bulls.

Houston roared out to an early 11-0 lead following a pair of three-pointers by senior Corey Davis Jr.

Davis Jr. was electric right out of the gate and blocked a shot that led to his first three in transition, all within the first 30 seconds of the game.

While he was hot to start, Davis Jr. failed to score again for the remainder of the half, missing his next four three-point attempts.

The Bulls closed the game to a one-point lead after falling behind so early, but luckily for Houston, Davis Jr.’s teammates were able to find their mark.

Junior Armoni Brooks and redshirt sophomore DeJon Jarreau combined for 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting to help secure the Cougars an eight-point lead by halftime.

Davis Jr. found himself making threes again to start the second half, which helped Houston balloon its lead to as many as 15 points.

Much to the chagrin of the Fertitta Center crowd, Houston began getting whistled for an impressive number of fouls, which drastically slowed the pace of the game.

USF looked like it was about to make a push after cutting the lead to 12, but the Cougars were able to keep trading buckets and maintained a very comfortable double-digit lead until the final buzzer.

In a game Houston was supposed to win, it did just that. The Cougars did everything right from limiting turnovers, just 12 committed, to outscoring USF’s bench unit by a whopping 33-23.

Head coach Kelvin Sampson has said it many a time: this team is deep. Every player that steps on the court for Houston has a way to contribute.

“This late in the season, you try not to be overly analytical,” Sampson said. “I’m proud of our program.”

Houston’s next game will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27 at ECU.

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