Cougars turn Knights into an afterthought
24-7 run in first half helps lift the curse of the No. 3 seed
ORLANDO, Fla. — The University of Houston survived one curse Friday night.
The Cougars became the first No. 3 seed to win a game in the five-year history of the American Athletic Conference tournament, rolling to an 84-56 blowout of sixth-seeded Central Florida in the quarterfinals at Amway Center.
Houston (25-6) faces No. 2 seed Wichita State in Saturday’s second semifinal.
“We had our senior game Sunday against Connecticut and took Monday off and kind of flushed the regular season down the toilet,” UH coach Kelvin Sampson said. “We said, ‘Hey, 24-6 is nice, but if you come up here and lose your first game nobody is going to remember some of that stuff.’ ”
The Cougars matched their highest win total since going 25-6 in the 1991-92 season.
Now with one obstacle out of the way, the Cougars can look to a weekend full of promise.
ESPN and CBS Sports have UH as a No. 6 seed for the NCAA Tournament.
“I think Houston is really dangerous,” ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi said. “I’m not talking from a bracket perspective, I’m talking from a basketball perspective.”
To win the AAC’s automatic bid, the 21st-ranked Cougars will have to beat No. 11 Wichita State and likely No. 10 Cincinnati on consecutive days. Do that, Lunardi said, and they could be in position for possibly as high as a No. 4 seed.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if (Houston) won the AAC tournament, and then we’ll talk a real jump up,” Lunardi said.
For starters, UH avoided a tournament-opening loss that has plagued it the past two seasons. Additionally, the Cougars snapped a streak of four straight upset losses by the No. 3 seed in
the AAC tournament, including UH’s loss to Connecticut last season.
“We went 0-2 in this game the last two years,” guard Rob Gray said. “We just wanted to make sure we would not lose an (opener). We came out and wanted to hit them in the mouth first and not let up for 40 minutes.”
After UCF hit three 3s in the opening minutes, UH took control behind the hot-shooting of Devin Davis. The 6-7 senior forward accounted for 10 of the Cougars’ first 13 points. At one point late in the first half, Davis had nearly as many points (14) as the UCF roster (18).
“We specifically went to (Davis) early,” Sampson said. “He has a sweet spot on that baseline. We tried to get him as many of those shots as we could early just to get him some confidence.”
UH went on a 24-7 run midway through the first half, which included a 3-pointer by Corey Davis Jr. that extended his streak to 27 consecutive games.
Armoni Brooks, the AAC Sixth Man of the Year, came off the bench to hit a pair of 3s from the corner to give the Cougars a 40-27 lead just before halftime. UH shot 59 percent (16-of-27) in the first half.
UCF pulled within 52-43 on a dunk by Chad Brown with 10:56 remaining. The Knights missed the next eight shots and went nearly seven minutes without a field goal.
By then, the Cougars’ lead had inflated to 70-52. Gray and Galen Robinson Jr. accounted for 11 points during the decisive 14-2 run.
UCF entered the game third nationally in scoring defense (61.3 points), but Saturday’s 84 points were the most by an opponent this season.
Robinson had 18 points, Gray added 17 and Devin Davis finished with 16 points.
B.J. Taylor led the Knights with a game-high 20 points.