Men's Basketball Sports

No. 1 UH passes tough road test, rolls past Tulane

J'Wan Roberts had 10 points within the first 10 minutes of No. 1 UH's win over Tulane on Tuesday night in New Orleans. | Anh Le/The Cougar

J’Wan Roberts had 10 points within the first 10 minutes of No. 1 UH’s win over Tulane on Tuesday night in New Orleans. | Anh Le/The Cougar

When Marcus Sasser got hot, Tulane’s hopes of its first win over a No. 1 team sank.

Coming off a career-high 31 points in UH’s win over USF, the preseason All-American guard began the second half scorching hot, going on an 8-0 run by himself to extend the Cougars’ lead to 16.

“Marcus, more than any, is a winner,” said UH head coach Kelvin Sampson. “He’s been putting a lot of time in. His confidence is starting to match his shots.”

When Tulane cut the deficit to five, Sasser once again rose to the occasion, draining 3-pointers No. 6 and 7 for a game-high 23 points as the top-ranked Cougars rolled past the Green Wave 80-60 on Tuesday night at Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans.

“Our guys know how to win on the road and we came into here tonight with the same mindset,” Sampson said.

After backing down Collin Holloway and putting on a spin move for an easy layup to open the game’s scoring, J’Wan Roberts lowered his left hand below his knee to signal that Tulane’s 6-foot-6-inch forward was too small to guard him.

It wasn’t just Holloway who had problems. No one on Tulane could keep Roberts in check throughout the first half as the 6-foot-7-inch UH forward hit his first six shots of the game.

UH opened up the night unconscious from the field, hitting 13 of its first 16 shots. Roberts and redshirt sophomore guard Tramon Mark scored the Cougars’ first 16 points of the game. Roberts finished with 15 points and six rebounds and Mark added 12 points and seven boards.

Point guard Jamal Shead had another strong night offensively, scoring 14 points and dishing out seven assists. 

The Cougars’ win streak now sits at nine games as they improved to 17-1 overall and 6-0 in AAC play.

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