Cougars fall short in AAC title game
FORT WORTH — The farewell to the American Athletic Conference did not go as planned for the University of Houston.
The top-ranked Cougars, without injured star guard Marcus Sasser, fell to Memphis 75-65 on Sunday in the AAC championship game at Dickies Arena.
Sasser, the AAC player of the year, was held out of the game after he suffered a groin injury early in Saturday’s semifinal win over Cincinnati. The shorthanded Cougars fell behind by 20 points in the first half before they made a late run.
Kendric Davis scored 20 of his game-high 31 points in the first half as the Tigers (26-8) claimed the AAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“We fought,” coach Kelvin Sampson said. “I was proud of our guys. We had a couple of brain cramps, what-the-hell-was-that (moments), but we recovered.”
UH (31-3), which moves to the Big 12 next season, was trying to beat Memphis for the third time in the last 21 days. It was a reversal from last season, when the Tigers beat UH twice in the regular season only to lose in the AAC title game.
Even with the big deficit, the Cougars mounted a furious second-half comeback as Jamal Shead hit back-to-back 3-pointers to pull UH within 53-48 with 11:55 remaining.
“Getting that thing down from 20 to five, with a chance to cut it to two, I was really proud of our kids,” Sampson said. “We’ll get our attitudes right (for the NCAA Tournament).”
Tramon Mark’s free throws cut the lead to 6255, but Memphis closed out the game with 8 straight points to deny the Cougars a third straight AAC tournament title. UH had its 13-game winning streak snapped and lost for the first time since Jan. 22.
Shead had 16 points and J’Wan Roberts added 12 points and a career-high 20 rebounds. UH shot 31.3 percent for the game. Freshman Terrance Arceneaux, who started in place of Sasser, had 9 points.
The Cougars were hit by early shooting woes. UH missed 11 straight shots at one point in the first half. Meanwhile, Davis, the AAC’s three-time scoring champion, could not miss. Davis scored 20 points, including back-to-back 3s and a layup as part of a 14-2 run, as the Tigers led 46-31 at halftime.
DeAndre Williams added 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Tigers, who shot 50.9 percent from the floor.
The loss was the first for UH away from the Fertitta Center. The Cougars had been 15-0 in true road or neutral site games this season.
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