PROVIDENCE, R.I. - No. 17/17 Houston has accomplished something no other NCAA Division I men's basketball team has this season. The Cougars are the first team with 20 wins and boast the nation's best record at 20-1. Houston earned a victory over Tulsa on Sunday to move to 7-1 in American Athletic Conference play. The Cincinnati Bearcats, which were receiving votes in both polls last week, kept pace with the Cougars at 7-1 as they earned a tough road victory at Temple. Memphis earned a win over rv/- UCF to force a three-way tie for third place between the Tigers, Knights and Owls in the league standings at 5-2.
Sunday, January 27
No. 17/17 Houston 77, Tulsa 65
Nate Hinton and No. 17 Houston heated up in a hurry as the freshman hit a tough 3-pointer and the Cougars broke away late in the first half, becoming the first Division I men's team to reach 20 wins this season by beating Tulsa 77-65 Sunday.
Armoni Brooks scored 22 points, including six 3-pointers, for the Cougars (20-1, 7-1).
After a fairly even first half, Houston made four 3-pointers in a two-minute burst to grab a 33-21 lead. Hinton had a contested trey and a pair of free throws in the final minute as the Cougars increased their lead to 45-29 at the break.
Fabian White had 14 points and Hinton came off the bench to add 13. Chris Harris Jr. had 10 rebounds and Breaon Brady had nine.
DaQuan Jeffries led Tulsa (12-9, 2-7) with 17 points. Jeriah Horne had 15, Martins Igbanu 11 and Sterling Taplin 10 as the Hurricane lost for the fifth time in six games.
Down by 21 early in the second half, Tulsa cut the deficit to eight several times. Jeffries was called for an offensive foul as he drove the lane with a chance to make it a six-point game in the final two minutes, then Brooks came back with a 3-pointer with the shot clock running out.
The Cougars made seven of their final 11 3s in the first half after a cold start and their first two of the second half to push the lead to 53-32, forcing Tulsa to largely abandon its matchup zone defense.
Houston held a 49-24 rebounding edge.
rv/rv Cincinnati 72, Temple 68
Jarron Cumberland scored 25 points with eight rebounds and Cincinnati rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat Temple 72-68 Sunday for the Bearcats' sixth straight win.
The Bearcats (18-3, 7-1) trailed 41-27 with 18 minutes left before Cumberland scored 12 points and Keith Williams all of his nine in outscoring the Owls 30-14 over the next 12 minutes to take a two-point lead.
Shizz Alston, Jr. tied the game with a layup but Cumberland scored the next four points to keep the lead.
Cumberland reached the 20-point plateau for the 10th time this season and led the Bearcats in points, rebounds (eight) and assists (three) for the second time in 2018-19.
Temple trailed 70-65 with 19 seconds left but an Owls pass was intercepted by Justin Jenifer and Cincinnati added another free throw with seven seconds remaining.
Trevon Scott added 13 points for the Bearcats, who made only 3 of 18 3-point tries but outrebounded Temple 46-22 including 16-3 on the offensive glass for a 17-3 advantage on second-chance points.
The rebounding total for Cincinnati marked a season high.
J.P. Moorman II had 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting and Alston scored 18 points with four 3-pointers for Temple (15-5, 5-2). Quinton Rose added 16 points and Nate Pierre-Louis 11.
Memphis 77, rv/- UCF 57
Raynere Thornton posted his second double-double of the season Sunday with 11 points and 11 rebounds to lift Memphis to a 77-57 victory over UCF. The game was played before a crowd of 17,046 at FedExForum.
Thornton and the Tiger defense held the BJ Taylor-Aubrey Dawkins tandem to a combined 12 points on 4-of-23 shooting from the field and 2-of-11 from the arc. Taylor entered the game averaging 17.1 points and Dawkins 16.2 points.
Mike Parks Jr. added his best performance in league play with 13 points and eight boards, and Tyler Harris bombed away from the arc with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-9 from the 3-point line. Kyvon Davenport had 11 points, and Jeremiah Martin added 10 points for Memphis (13-7, 5-2).
The Tigers held the American Athletic Conference preseason favorite to a season-low 57 points. The Memphis defense also held UCF to 37.9 percent from the floor and 23.1 percent from the arc and owned a big advantage on the glass, 46-28. The Tigers also won the offensive board battle 21-12.
The game was tied at 2-all just over a minute into the game, but Memphis went on a 7-2 run for a 9-4 advantage and never trailed in the contest. Davenport got the Tigers' offensive motor going with five points (layup, 3-pointer) in the early run.
UCF (15-4, 5-2) stayed within striking distance in the game's first eight minutes and trailed 13-10 with 12:39 left. Over the next six minutes, Memphis answered with a 17-5 spurt to take a commanding 30-15 lead. The Tigers started the run with six-straight points in the paint and added two treys at the end for the double-digit advantage.
UCF slowly chipped away and cut the lead to 10 points (38-28) at the break. The Knights climbed back into the contest on the strength of three 3-pointers, with two from Frank Bertz and one from Terrell Allen.
Taylor opened the second half with a trey to pull UCF to within seven at 38-31. But that was as close as the Knights got the rest of the game.
From there, Memphis went on a 20-8 spurt to grab a 58-39 advantage and put the contest out of reach. The Tigers ran out to the big lead on the strength of four 3-pointers, with two coming from Harris.
Thornton's double-double was the third of his career and his second in the last three games. He is averaging a double-double in the last four games with 12.0 points and 10.3 rebounds.
UPCOMING GAMES
| WEDNESDAY 1.30.19 |
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Memphis |
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Tulsa |
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8 p.m. |
Tulsa, Okla. |
Live Stats Live Video TV:ESPNEWS |
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SMU |
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Wichita State |
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9 p.m. |
Wichita, Kan. |
Live Stats Live Video TV:ESPNU |
| THURSDAY 1.31.19 |
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Tulane |
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ECU |
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7 p.m. |
Greenville, N.C. |
Live Stats Live Video TV:ESPNU |
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Temple |
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Houston |
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7 p.m. |
Houston, Texas |
Live Stats Live Video TV:ESPN2 |
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UConn |
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UCF |
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9 p.m. |
Orlando, Fla. |
Live Stats Live Video TV:ESPNU |
| SATURDAY 2.2.19 |
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Memphis |
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USF |
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Noon |
Tampa, Fla. |
Live Stats Live Video TV:ESPNU |
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Tulsa |
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Wichita State |
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2 p.m. |
Wichita, Kan. |
Live Stats Live Video TV:ESPNU |
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Temple |
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Tulane |
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6 p.m. |
New Orleans, La. |
Live Stats Live Video TV:ESPN3 |
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SMU |
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Cincinnati |
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8 p.m. |
Cincinnati, Ohio |
Live Stats Live Video TV:CBSSN |
| SUNDAY 2.3.19 |
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ECU |
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UConn |
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2 p.m. |
Hartford, Conn. |
Live Stats Live Video TV:ESPNEWS |