SECOND HALF BLUES
Houston roars back to beat Tigers.
HOUSTON — As the final seconds ticked away Wednesday at Hofheinz Pavilion, University of Memphis senior forward Shaq Goodwin wrapped his arms around Houston senior forward Devonta Pollard and held on tight.
“He can’t score no more, ref,” Goodwin told one of the officials before the final horn sounded on Houston’s 98-90 victory over the Tigers.
Goodwin’s lighthearted attempt at slowing Pollard in the final moments Wednesday was the best defense Memphis played on him all night.
The 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward from Porterville, Mississippi, and junior-college teammate of Tigers junior Avery Woodson made 14 of 24 shots and scored a career-high 34 points to help Houston rally from a 13-point first-half deficit and drop the Tigers to 1-5 on the road this season.
“Pollard was on fire,” said coach Josh Pastner, whose Tigers (14-10, 5-6 American Athletic Conference) haven’t won back-to-back ga mes since beating Temple and South Florida at FedExForum in mid-January.
“I thought we played well. Our energy was great. We just didn’t get stops,” Pastner said. “They shot basically 70 percent the second
Opponent: Tulane
When, where: 1 p.m. Saturday, Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse, New Orleans
TV, radio: CBS Sports Network; WREC-AM 600, WKBQ-FM 93.5
half and there wasn’t a lot of defensive breakdowns. There was a lot of time we had good ‘D’ and it was just better offense, and it made it tough.
“You gotta give Pollard credit. He hit some big shots. We went zone. We went man. We doubled. We switched. They were just hitting some tough shots.”
But all that had come after Memphis led by 13 points (38-25) with less than six minutes left in the first half against a Houston team that was without the AAC’s leading scorer in sophomore guard Rob Gray Jr. (17. 3 points per game), who missed his third straight game with an ankle injury.
After falling behind 2114, the Tigers used a 24-4 run to take control with Houston unable to stop Goodwin, who scored 16 of his team-high 24 points in the first half on an array of moves in the paint.
But the Cougars (17-7, 7-5) cut the deficit to eight by halftime (48-40), then caught fire from the field in the second half, when they made 18 of 26 shots (69.2 percent).
Pollard, whose previous career high had been 25 (earlier this season against Prairie View), did most of the damage. But three other Houston players — junior guard Damyean Dotson (21 points), freshman guard Galen Robinson Jr. (18 points) and senior guard LeRon Barnes (12 points) — combined to go 15 of 22 from the field. So where was Memphis’ defense in the second half?
“I just think Polla rd came out making a lot of tough shots,” said Tigers freshman forward Dedric Lawson, who had his 10th double-double of the sea- son with 20 points and 10 rebounds. “I don’t remember him missing a shot the second half. He was just getting to his spots and making shots.
“The plan was to just get anybody else to make a shot, and one of them (Pollard) shot out of a double team and it still went in. It was just his night tonight.”
That might have been true, but it certainly shouldn’t have been an excuse for a Memphis team that fell 1 ½ games behind Houston into a tie for seventh place with UCF in the league standings. The Tigers were picked this preseason to finish fifth in the league. They’ve lost five of their last seven games.
“Listen, we gotta (bounce) back. I mean, I love how we played. We had good defense in areas and they had better offense,” Pastner said. “I told them we gotta stay upbeat. We got the next two days, and then we gotta try to get a win at Tulane on Saturday.”
Freshman Craig Randall, starting for the second straight game at shooting guard, scored a season-high 10 points. Senior wing Trahson Burrell added 10 points off the bench and Woodson had nine points, five rebounds and a critical technical foul with 5:08 left that allowed Houston to take the lead for good from the free-throw line, where it went 20 of 25 in the second half.