Cougars win game, lose Shead
Edwards comes to the rescue after point guard hurt
One run of bad luck ended Saturday night for the University of Houston.
Another painful one continued.
The Cougars’ added to their endless string of injuries as point guard Jamal Shead left with a right ankle injury early in a 66-64 victory over Tulsa at the Reynolds Center. But Kyler Edwards rescued the No. 11 Cougars with a career-high 29 points and seven 3-pointers as UH watched most of a 17-point halftime lead evaporate and survived two shot attempts by Tulsa in the final seconds.
“Our kids were on fumes in the second half,” UH coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Every time we come up here it’s crazy.”
UH (15-2) snapped a twogame road losing streak to the Hurricane, including a final-second upset last season. But the immediate concern was about Shead, the sophomore who has provided a spark since moving into the starting lineup a week into the season. Sampson said Shead suffered a “badly sprained” right ankle.
Amid the latest concerning injury was some good news: Edwards, who sat out a couple weeks with his own ankle injury, was 10-of-21 shooting while playing all 40 minutes. A game after he was 1-of-14 from the floor against Wichita State, Edwards got off to a fast start with 16 points in the first half.
UH — which set a school record Monday with 36 consecutive weeks in the Associated Press Top 25 — won its seventh in a row and for the 11th time in the past 12 games. The Cougars are 4-0 for the first time in the American Athletic Conference and are off to a 4-0 start in conference play for the sixth time in school history.
Saturday was another game in which the Cougars had to dig deep, escaping a furious rally. The Hurricane were led by Jeriah Horne, who had 17 of his 24 points after halftime, burying consecutive 3s to start the second half as hot-shooting Tulsa made 12-of-15 shots to wipe out most of UH’s double-digit lead.
Sam Griffin hit three consecutive 3-pointers in the span of 1:46 to rally Tulsa from an 11-point deficit to within 66-64 with 1:06 remaining.
After a UH miss, Tulsa had two chances to pull even or win the game. Freshman guard Anthony Pritchard missed a game-tying layup with a second remaining and Griffin missed badly on a corner 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
While the Cougars keep rolling, it comes with a noticeable limp.
Shead’s injury adds to a growing list that already includes guards Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark, who are out for the season. Television replays appeared to show Shead roll his right ankle less than five minutes into the game.
As he helped Shead off the court, Sampson asked how badly the ankle was hurt. Shead responded: “It’s bad.” Shead sat on the bench with his right leg in a brace during the second half. After the game, Sampson sounded resigned to the fact that another Cougar will miss games.
“We’re just running out of bodies,” Sampson said.
“We’re just trying to tape it together right now.”
UH now is faced with a quick turnaround — South Florida comes to Fertitta Center on Tuesday — and just three healthy guards (Edwards, Taze Moore and Ramon Walker Jr.) that have seen meaningful playing time this season. Walk-on Ryan Elvin is the only other guard on the roster.
“We just have to figure out our guard situation, because we may not have Jamal for a while,” Sampson said.
UH’s previous two trips to the Reynolds Center ended in heartbreak, with a 63-61 loss in 2019-20 in which the Cougars went the final 5:32 without a field goal, and a 6564 loss last season as the Hurricane hit a pair of free throws with one-tenth of a second left to upset fifthranked UH.
It nearly happened again. Tulsa (6-9, 0-4 AAC) got within one possession several times late in the second half. But Edwards stepped up with another big shot, draining an off-balance 3-pointer from the top of the key as the shot clock expired to give the Cougars a 57-52 lead. That sparked a 10-0 run that gave the Cougars a much-needed cushion to survive a frantic finish.
Sampson said Edwards has benefited from a return to the practice court after being sidelined and unable to go through any shooting workouts for a few weeks.
“One thing we told him before the game, during the game, at halftime, ‘Keep shooting man. Just keep shooting,’ ” Sampson said.
Tulsa had two momentum-stalling spurts, missing 13 of its final 16 shots to end the first half and going nearly 4½ minutes without a field goal after cutting UH’s lead to one with 8:12 to play.
Reggie Chaney had 10 points and four rebounds in his homecoming, and Josh Carlton added eight points, six rebounds and four blocks for UH. Moore had seven points, including a 3-point buzzer-beater to end the first half, and a team-high 11 rebounds.
“We needed everybody tonight, collectively,” Edwards said.