Coogs improve to 7-1 with 88-66 win over Fairfield

Posted: December 6, 2017 -- 4:25 pm CST.

HOUSTON, TX (H&PE Arena) -- The Houston Cougars topped the Fairfield Stags 88-66 Wednesday afternoon in front of 3548 fans including about 1,000 elementary students. The elementary students attended the game as part of Education Day.

Houston senior guard Rob Gray scored a game-high 20 points as four other Coogs also scored in double-digits as Houston used a balanced-offense to defeat the Stags and improve to 7-1 with the victory.

Corey Davis Jr. made five of the Coogs' 11 three-point shots. Davis shot 5 for 7 from three and scored 16 points in the ball game. Devin Davis scored 11 points and grabbed 9 rebounds while frontcourt teammate, Breaon Brady, scored 10 points and snared 8 boards. Wes Van Beck added 10 points off the Coogs' bench.

Scoring points was not an issue for the Coogs in today's game as Houston shot 55.6% (15 for 27 field goals) in the first half and 54.8% (17 for 31) in the second half.

The Coogs' biggest problem was turnovers. Houston committed 18 turnovers in the ball game; however, 14 of the miscues occurred in the opening half.

"The biggest thing today was playing against two teams," said Coogs' head coach Kelvin Sampson after the ball game. "It is hard to win a college basketball game. Think about Notre Dame last night against Ball State. How good is Fairfield? Fairfield is as good as Ball State. That’s why we have to cover and play every game we play. 18 turnovers is a bit sloppy. It’s hard to beat one team, but it’s almost impossible to beat two.

"Last year, we led the American Athletic Conference in the fewest amount of turnovers. We averaged about 10 in conference play. We are a nine to 11 turnover team and today we had 18. We have to continue to work on that. Some of that is due to the by-product of eight new guys and guys hitting singles. I showed our guys a video of Tom Brady and had my video guy break down some of Tom Brady completions. It’s amazing how many one, two and three-yard passes he completes that turns into 10, 20, and 30 yards. Also, how many swing passes he throws behind the line of scrimmage, or on the line of scrimmage. The analogy I’m using is to show the guys to hit singles. You don’t have to throw 30-yard post routes, or 20-yard down-in-outs on the other side of the field. Those are the kinds of passes we’re throwing. Just run down there and throw it to him, you don’t have to do anything spectacular.

"Basketball is a simple game, but we are continuing to learn that. Every game is step forward for this team in terms of learning to play with each other."

Fairfield scored the first two points of the game and owned a 4-2 lead and a 7-5 lead as well; however, back-to-back three-point baskets by Corey Davis Jr. put the Coogs on top for good. After a made jump shot by Devin Davis, Davis Jr. completed a 4-point play to put the Coogs ahead 17-7.

Rob Gray scored a lay-up before Wes VanBeck connected on another 4-point play for a 23-9 Houston lead with 12:57 remaining in the opening half.

Houston led 34-16 with 6:38 on the clock in the first half; then, the Coogs committed 9 turnovers to finish the half which helped keep the Stags within 15 (41-26) at halftime.

The second half featured better shooting by both teams and less turnovers by the Coogs. At one point in the half, Fairfield made 8 of 9 field goal attempts while the Coogs made 8 of 13 field goal attempts. Both teams combined to make 11 consecutive field goals.

Fairfield began to cool off; but, the Coogs continued the hot shooting and made 9 consecutive field goals to lead 72-52 with 8 minutes left in the ball game.

The Coogs turned the ball over just four times in the second half which was due to making the simple play.

"Coach Sampson uses this term ‘hitting singles’ and that’s really what we started doing," Corey Davis Jr said after the game. "We were trying to make too many big plays and too many skip passes, instead of making a simple one person over pass and getting the ball moving. I think that’s what we did a lot more of in the second half."

"In the first half, our energy is sky high," Breaon Brady acknowledged. "We’re looking to score the ball, we’re looking to go hard on defense and we’re looking to do everything possible. Sometimes you throw in mistakes here and there; but, once we settle in to the second half and coach gets on us in the locker room, we know when we come out we have to eliminate everything we did wrong."

The Coogs cruised to their sixth consecutive victory.

Houston's next is game is Saturday, December 9, at Saint Louis, Tip is set for 7 p.m.

CLICK HERE for The HRR's write-ups of Coogs' men's hoops games.