PROVIDENCE, R.I. - No. 12/12 Houston went on the road and defeated the American Athletic Conference men's basketball preseason favorite, UCF, to improve to 9-1 in league play and re-capture the nation's best record at 22-1. The No. 25/23 Cincinnati Bearcats kept pace with a thrilling road win at Memphis, erasing a 10-point second half deficit to also move to 9-1 and capture their ninth-straight 20-win season. Houston and Cincinnati now square off at the Fertitta Center on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN, with first-place on the line. Additionally, USF and SMU had the game of the night as the Mustangs rallied to take a lead with 45 seconds left before David Collins knocked down a corner 3-pointer with just six ticks on the clock to seal the third road win of the night.
Thursday, February 7
No. 12/12 Houston 77, UCF 68
Corey Davis Jr. scored a career-high 26 points on 8-for-13 shooting and No. 12/12 Houston had another strong defensive effort to beat UCF 77-68 on Thursday night in Orlando.
Armoni Brooks added 14 points for the Cougars (22-1, 9-1) and Galen Robinson Jr. had 12 points and seven assists.
B.J. Taylor scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half for UCF (16-5, 6-3), and Aubrey Dawkins and Tacko Fall each added 13. Fall became the 20
th member of the UCF's 1,000-point club with his final basket of the game.
UCF was unable to get into any kind of a rhythm in the first half, shooting just 28.0 percent from the floor and 47.1 percent from the free throw line. Houston, on the other hand, shot 48.1 percent from the field and was 9-of-10 from the stripe to build a 40-25 advantage at the break.
It was a different story in the second half as the Knights came out and played tough in the final 20 minutes, outscoring the Cougars by six and shooting 55.2 percent from the floor.
Taylor hit a stepback 3-pointer to pull the Knights within eight with 1:19 left but the Houston defense clamped down from there.
UCF shot 42.6 percent from the field, going 8-of-24 from 3-point range. The Knights were 14-of-27 on free
throws.
Houston took a 12-4 lead, only to see UCF respond with a 13-5 run to tie it at 17. Following a timeout, the Cougars put together a 10-0 run, holding the Knights scoreless for six-plus minutes.
No. 25/23 Cincinnati 69, Memphis 64
Jarron Cumberland scored 17 points and keyed a late rally as No. 25/23 Cincinnati overcame a strong Memphis Tigers effort, 69-64, on Thursday night.
Justin Jenifer scored 14 and Tre Scott finished with 13 points and nine rebounds as Cincinnati (20-3, 9-1), which moved into the Top 25 this week, won its eighth straight.
Jeremiah Martin led Memphis (13-10, 5-5) with 26 points, hitting a conference-best eight 3-pointers. Kyvon Davenport added 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Mike Parks Jr. finished with 11 points.
The Cincinnati lead was 58-55 with 2 minutes left, when Cumberland scored the next nine Bearcat points to provide a buffer Memphis couldn't overcome in the closing minute.
Cincinnati, which averages 75 points a game was stymied by a 39.7 percent shooting night (25-of-56).
Cincinnati was still trailing by 10 near the 15-minute mark of the second half, when it began chipping away at the Memphis lead. A 12-2 run fueled by a defense that forced four Memphis turnovers, brought the Bearcats even at 46-each near the midway point of the second.
It was Keith Williams who spurred the Bearcats after Memphis re-took the lead. During a spurt of 10 straight Cincinnati points, Williams had seven of them. A dunk by Nysier Brooks took the Bearcat lead to 58-52 with 3-plus minutes left.
At the end, Cumberland, who had a slow start, made the difference.
Both teams started fast converting 67-percent of their early shots, including adept accuracy from outside the arc. Martin, who had 41 points in the second half of Saturday's loss at USF, converted his first four 3-point attempts. Meanwhile, the Bearcats were 8-of-10 from distance, including 3-of-4 from Jenifer.
USF 67, SMU 65
David Collins sank a go-ahead 3-pointer with six seconds remaining as USF stunned SMU, 67-66, Thursday night at Moody Coliseum, in Dallas, Texas.
Collins' clutch shot helped USF (16-6, 6-4) extend its winning streak to four games, the Bulls' longest string of victories in league play since the 2011-12 season. USF also improved to 10 games above .500 for the first time since March 1992.
Collins set up his game-winning shot with another three that tied the game at 64-64 with 1:12 remaining. The sophomore guard finished his heroic outing with a game-high 23 points and made three of USF's season-high 11 threes.
Laquincy Rideau added 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds while making program history with his defense. The redshirt junior guard became USF's new single-season steals leader with 69 thanks to a takeaway in the opening half.
Freshman Michael Durr stepped up with eight points and grabbed a loose ball to help set up Collins' game-winning shot.
Isiaha Mike had 18 points, five rebounds and three assists for SMU (12-10, 4-6). Jahmal McMurray scored 15 points.
Thursday's back-and-forth first half featured 10 lead changes and USF seized the momentum just before the break with a 9-0 run that spotted the Bulls a 39-35 advantage.
Rideau sank one of his career high-tying four first-half threes during the late surge and led the Bulls with 13 points at the break on top of totaling six assists.
Collins scored five of his 10 first-half points in the final two minutes and made four of his first seven shots. USF shot 52-percent from the field in the first 20 minutes and knocked down seven threes.
Xavier Castaneda's steal-and-score put the Bulls up by eight with 5:08 remaining in the second half before SMU went on an 11-0 run and took a 64-61 lead with 1:27 to play.
Collins's second three of the game tied things up with 1:12 to play and his third bucket from long range, off a nice pass from Rideau, gave the Bulls the game-sealing bucket with six seconds to go.
UPCOMING GAMES