Jamal Shead's 29 points and 10 assist leads Houston to 77-54 win over Texas Tech

Buy Houston Cougars Gear at Fanatics.com

POSTED: January 17, 2024 -- 11:33 p.m. CT

HOUSTON, TX -- (Fertitta Center)

Jamal Shead made sure the Houston Cougars' losing streak would not reach 3 games. Shead was sensational Wednesday night in Houston's 77-54 win over Texas Tech. Shead scored a career-high 29 points on 12 for 16 field goal shooting; AND, he dished out 10 assists.

"I thought Shead was not gonna lose this game no matter what," Grant McCasland, Texas Tech men's hoops head coach, said of Shead's performance. "I thought his will to win; his physicality on both sides of the ball; his maturity; his leadership.

"I couldn't be more impressed with the way he competed; and, he looked like the best guard in our league today."

Houston (15-2 overall, 2-2 in Big 12) had lost 2 in a row on the road before facing Tech Wednesday night. The Coogs -- other than Shead -- struggled to make shots in the first half. Shead made 6 of 9 shot attempts in the first half while his teammates combined to make 9 of 26 shots.

Texas Tech (14-3, 3-1) led Houston 12-9 with 11:50 left in the first half. However, Emanuel Sharp hit a three-pointer to tie the game. Then, Shead's hustle stole a lazy pass by Tech guard Joe Toussaint and scored a layup for a 14-12 Houston lead.

Coach McCasland called a 30-second timeout because none of his players hustled after the loose ball.

After the timeout, Shead hit a pull-up jumper; then, LJ Cryer passed up a shot to dish to Ramon Walker for a better shot. Walker hit the corner 3. Next, Shead stole the ball and passed to Cryer for a pull-up 3 in transition.

Houston led 22-12 with 7:24 remaining in the first half.

Tech answered with an 8-2 spurt to trim Houston's lead to 24-20; but, Shead scored a driving layup then assisted on LJ Cryer's second three-point basket.

Tech cut Houston's lead to 5 but Houston had another answer. Sharp hit a 3 before Shead pulled down a defensive rebound and scored another driving layup.

Houston led 38-29 at halftime. Shead scored 15 points and had 4 assists in the 19 first-half minutes.

Shead assisted on a J'Wan Roberts slam dunk before knocking back-to-back pull-up jumpers to increase Houston's lead to 44-29 barely 3 minutes into the second half.

Tech did not get closer than 14 (46-32) the rest of the second half.

Shead made 6 of his 7 shot attempts in the second half and handed out 6 assists in the half.

Shead's 12 made field goals in the game surpassed his previous high of 10 made fgs in a game which he accomplished twice previously in his UH career.

"The opportunity kept presenting itself, so I just kept taking them," Shead remarked. "I wasn't really taking it upon myself; the opportunity was there."

Houston shot 64.3 fg% (18 for 28) in the second half and 52.4 fg% (33 for 63) for the game.

The Coogs outscored the Red Raiders 40-8 in the paint.

"From the opening tip you can tell what we were trying to do," Kelvin Sampson, Houston Head Coach said after the game about getting into the paint.

J'Wan Roberts scored 12 points (6 for 9 fgs) and pulled down a team-high 7 rebounds.

"Coach trusts me with the ball in my hands, and knows that I'm going to make the right play even if I don't score, just having that trust in me," Roberts said of Coach Sampson's belief in him.

Houston's next game is Saturday, January 20, at home, against UCF. Tip is scheduled for 1 pm CT on ESPN+.

---

SUPPORT The Houston Roundball Review:

Purchase your Coogs' gear at Fanatics.com via this link;

Get ESPN+ via this link;

Save when you get the Disney bundle (ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu) with this link;

OR, contribute via PayPal or the Cash App.

---

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