Quentin Grimes and DeJon Jarreau lead Houston to 82-65 win over South Florida

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UPDATED: February 11, 2021 -- 5:56 p.m. CT

POSTED: February 10, 2021 -- 10:20 p.m. CT

TAMPA, FL (Yuengling Center) -- The Houston Cougars men's basketball team returned to their winning ways in the American Athletic Conference with an 82-65 road win over the South Florida Bulls Wednesday night. Last Wednesday, Houston lost 82-73 on the road to the East Carolina Pirates. Houston improves to 17-2 overall and 11-2 in the American Athletic Conference.

Quentin Grimes scored a game-high 29 points; and, DeJon Jarreau scored 17 points and added 8 assists and 4 rebounds. Jarreau only had 2 turnovers.

Jarreau was sensational in the first half with 13 of his 17 points on 6 of 7 field goal shooting and 5 of his season-high 8 assists.

Houston shot 53.2 from the floor (33 for 62); however, Houston had 2 droughts -- 1 for 9 field goals in the first half and 1 for 10 field goals in the second half. Exclude the combined 2 for 19 droughts and Houston shot 31 for 43 the rest of the ball game.

This game was initially scheduled to take place January 14. Despite not playing a basketball game for 32 days due to COVID-19 issues and contact tracing, South Florida (7-6 overall, 3-4 in AAC) shot the ball very well in the first half. The Bulls made 5 of their first 9 three-point attempts and 14 for 30 overall in the first half.

Houston led 43-35 at halftime.

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Grimes scored 19 of his 29 points in the second half. He made three consecutive three-point shots during a personal 9-0 run to push Houston's lead to 70-43 with 12:38 remaining in the ball game.

Houston's largest lead of the game was 72-44 when Grimes made two of three foul shots after he was fouled attempting a three-pointer from the top of the key.

Houston's offense cooled off the rest of the game. After making 10 of their first 14 field goals in the first 8 plus minutes of the second half, the Coogs made 4 of their final 15 field goals. The Coogs also have 7 of their 8 turnovers in the second half.

After the game, Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson said the team made a concerted effort to play at a faster pace. The faster pace got DeJon Jarreau in attack mode quicker for many of his baskets in the paint as well as more open looks for Quentin Grimes in transition.

Houston had 21 fast break points in the game; scored 17 layups out of 19 attempts; and scored 21 points off South Florida's 15 turnovers. Houston won the points off turnovers 15-6.

Justin Gorham scored 11 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Marcus Sasser was 0 for 6 on three-pointers; but, he had 7 assists and zero turnovers.

UP NEXT:

Houston's next game is scheduled for Sunday, February 21, inside Fertitta Center, against the Cincinnati Bearcats. Tip time is 12 p.m. ESPN will broadcast the game.

Houston's February 14th home game versus Memphis and the February 17th home game versus East Carolina have been postponed.

NOTE: Technical issues resulted in no postgame YouTube videos.

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