Coogs top Tulsa, 74-56, to begin American Athletic Conference play

POSTED: January 2, 2019 -- 11:18 p.m. CST

The Houston Cougars continued their winning ways with a 74-56 victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane Wednesday evening. Houston improved to a perfect 14-0 this season and 1-0 in American Athletic Conference play.

Houston senior guard Corey Davis Jr led the Coogs with 21 points. He led a balanced scoring attack: 12 Coogs played and nine Coogs scored at least two points in the game.

Houston dominated the rebounding battle 52-40. Armoni Brooks grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to lead the way on the boards. Nate Hinton and Brison Gresham each snared 8 rebounds.

Houston missed its first 10 field goal attempts in the game; however, Houston's defense limited Tulsa to only six points (two 3-point baskets) during the first 5:20 of the game.

"We started the game. We were 0 for 10," Kelvin Sampson, Houston Head Coach said after the game. "I didn't have a problem with any of those shots; they were all good looks, but, we didn't make any of them. If we started the game over right now, I'd take the same shots."

With 14:40 on the game clock, Houston senior guard Galen Robinson Jr made two free throws to end Houston's drought. Then, 27 seconds later, Brison Gresham scored a layup to end the field goal drought.

Houston took its first lead of the game on a floater in the paint by redshirt-sophomore guard DeJon Jarreau. The Coogs never trailed the rest of the ball game.

"I thought our defense was really good to start, other than the second-chance shots," said Frank Haith, Tulsa Head Coach. "Our defense was good the whole game, they (Houston) only shot 40 percent (35.7%). Our inability to make shots (17 for 55 fgs) hurt us. Our inability to make free throws (17 for 28) hurt us. Against a quality team like Houston, that hurts you."

Houston stretched a 16-14 lead to 26-16 with a 10-2 run. Tulsa pulled within six points twice; but, finished the first half with a 7-2 spurt to lead 36-25 at halftime.

Tulsa's Lawson Korita split two free throws to begin the second half scoring; but, Corey Davis Jr nailed a three-point basket for a 39-27 lead with 17:41 left in the game. Tulsa answered with a three-point basket to trim Houston's lead to nine. Tulsa got as close as 9 points two more times. The last instance was 48-39. Houston went on a 15-6 run to blow the game open.

Nate Hinton scored five points and dished out 1 assist during the run. Davis Jr sank two 3-point shots during the run, too.

"What Nate has is a great motor," Coach Sampson said. "If you asked what his best strength is, number one is his character. He's a great young man, and that's his greatest strength. That allows him to be coached hard. I do coach Nate hard; but, I have high expectations for Nate. I have a high standard for him. When I can get them to create their own standards, where it doesn't come from me, that's when they take off. When you have standards, you have expectations. If you have no standards, you have no expectations. That's the way it works in competitive sports. Nate is starting to raise his standards, and all of a sudden he's having expectations to compete and play hard."

Tonight's game was Hinton's first American Athletic Conference game. Hinton said he tried to treat it as any other game.

"I just try to treat it like another game," Hinton said. "But, raise the expectations because every game counts. The nonconference record means something; but, it really doesn't mean as much as the conference. We have our team goals, and coach has his expectations for us. I try to come out, compete, and do my part for the team."

Coach Haith said Houston didn't do anything that surprised him. The Coogs played like a team coached by Kelvin Sampson.

"No, they didn't surprise me," Haith said. "I've played their team enough. I've been an assistant at Texas when he (Kelvin Sampson) coached at Oklahoma. You know what you're getting from his teams, in terms of how they play. You have to have great toughness; you've got to be competitive; and, that's how they play. There's nothing that surprised me. They've got depth; and, they're a talented team."

Despite the 14-0 record, Coach Sampson says the team has not played its best basketball.

"I don't think this team has played its best basketball, yet," Sampson commented. "If you're not working to get better, then why do you play? You practice to get better, and we have three days coming up here that we can get better."

Sampson added, "Our guys understand what our culture is and that's a very overused and misunderstood word. It gets thrown around a lot because people think it's just a word; but, it's not, it's our DNA. The way we play is who we are; it's how we practice; how we prepare; and, it's what we demand out of our kids on a daily basis."

NEXT:

Houston closes out its 7-game homestand versus the Memphis Tigers, Sunday, January 6, at 5 p.m, on ESPNews.

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