Cougars ride first-half run to rout
In tuneup for Cincy, Gray sets AAC mark for career scoring
Rob Gray had only one word to describe the feeling after the University of Houston cruised to a 73-42 victory over Tulane.
“Payback,” the senior guard said. “I think that’s the word we used all week.”
Now the Cougars can turn their attention to a showdown with Cincinnati, unbeaten in the American Athletic Conference and likely to come to town with a
top-five national ranking.
“We have another payback matchup coming up Thursday,” Gray said, referencing an 18-point first-half lead the Cougars blew in a road loss to the Bearcats on Jan. 31.
In a tuneup for Cincinnati, the Cougars held Tulane to 15 firsthalf points and led by as many as 35 points in one of their best defensive performances of the season. The Green Wave did not crack 40 points until there was 1:31 left in the game.
UH (19-5, 9-3) won for the fifth time in the last six games to remain in a second-place tie with Wichita State. The Cougars improved to 12-0 this season at Texas Southern’s H&PE Arena.
“I thought Thursday, Friday, Saturday were three of our best practices all year,” UH coach Kelvin Sampson said. “That tells you where this team has grown. When you learn how to practice, that gives you a chance to have
great carryover in games.”
After a close start, UH broke open the game with a 30-5 run to end the first half. At one point, Tulane missed 10 of 11 shots.
Devin Davis had a game-high 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting for the Cougars.
UH atoned for an 81-72 loss at Tulane on Jan. 17, a trip that was delayed by icy conditions as the Cougars arrived in New Orleans just a few hours before tipoff.
Gray had eight points, sinking a pair of free throws with 13:15 left to break the AAC men’s career scoring record. Gray has 1,463 points, surpassing the previous mark set by SMU’s Nic Moore (1,462).
“It’s really crazy it comes on a night I didn’t feel like I scored a lot,” said Gray, the league’s fourth-leading scorer at 17.7 points. “I’m really proud of our defense more than anything. I’m glad we got the ‘W’ so we can focus on getting our 20th win of the season Thursday.”
While Gray has been a consistent scorer in three seasons at UH, Sampson said it’s unfair to judge him solely on his point production. Since his streak of 43 consecutive games in double figures was snapped Dec. 30, Gray has been held below 10 points in four of the last 12 games. He’s averaging nearly five assists during that span.
“Rob could have had 28 points. I could have said, ‘Rob, go score,’ ” Sampson said. “You know what Rob did? He moved the ball more than he’s moved it all year. Don’t judge Rob on how many points he’s scored, because I told him don’t judge yourself on that. That’s unfair to you. You’re too good a basketball player just to be a scorer.
The Cougars stayed hot in the second half, with Corey Davis Jr. draining back-to-back 3-pointers and Devin Davis adding a jumper and pair of free throws to push the lead to 50-19.
UH built its biggest lead, 69-34, on a 3-pointer by Armoni Brooks with 3:31 remaining. Brooks had 11 points and 11 rebounds for his second straight double-double.
Melvin Frazier had 11 points for Tulane (13-11, 4-8), which lost for the seventh time in the last nine games.