The music plays on as the UH men’s basketball team will dance a little longer. Houston defeated UAB 82-68 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
The Cougars came out of the gates red-hot from the deep. UH, which averaged eight 3’s per game during the regular season, hit nine shots from behind the arc in the first half led by senior guard Kyler Edwards’ five 3-pointers.
UH bigs Fabian White Jr. and Josh Carlton made their presence felt early, scoring eight first-half points apiece.
Despite the hot start from the field, UH took only a 46-37 lead into the locker room after the Blazers got a slow start offensively, ending the half shooting 61.5 percent from the field as a team.
UAB hovered around 10 points of the lead throughout the majority of the second half but UH did not allow the Blazers to inch any closer than that. Every time it appeared that UAB had the momentum and was about to go on a run, the Cougars found a way to answer to maintain a comfortable cushion.
Edwards finished with a game-high 25 points to go along with seven rebounds.
White scored 14 points and pulled down six boards.
Sophomore point guard Jamal Shead dished out seven assists to go along with his 12 points.
Carlton finished with 12 points and graduate guard Taze Moore scored nine points as well as had six assists.
UH remains perfect (4-0) under Kelvin Sampson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Next up, the UH men’s basketball team will face 4-seed Illinois on Sunday with a Sweet 16 berth on the line.