PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The American Athletic Conference earned its second win over a nationally-ranked team this weekend as Houston opened the Fertitta Center is style with a 65-61 win over No. 18/21 Oregon on Saturday night. The American earned total six wins over the past two days with Cincinnati, ECU, SMU, Temple and Wichita State earning victories.
Sunday, December 2
Saturday, December 1
rv/- UConn 72, Arizona 76
Opening up the December portion of the schedule at home for the fourth-straight game, UConn men's basketball was tripped up by Arizona, 76-72, on Sunday afternoon at the XL Center. UConn falls to 6-2 with the result, while Arizona improves to 6-2.
Senior Jalen Adams led the Huskies with 21 points, while also finishing with five rebounds and six assists.
Senior Eric Cobb recorded his second double-double of the season with a 12 point, 10 rebound stat line, while junior Christian Vital contributed 11 points.
The Huskies and Wildcats battled in a high-scoring first half, with Arizona holding the edge at the break, 42-38. Arizona jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but the Huskies fought back to take the lead at 22-20 at the 9:19 mark of the first period. Both teams traded blow-for-blow over the remainder of the half, but the Wildcats still held the advantage heading into the locker room.
The visitors led by as many as eight points just past the midway point of the second half, but UConn fought back with ferocious defense and clutch shot-making in the period. Tyler Polley connected on back-to-back triples to start the rally, while Adams nailed a jumper and Vital nailed two free throws to pull UConn within two points in the closing seconds, but Arizona sealed the game at the free throw line escaped with the 76-72 victory.
Adams recorded his fourth 20-point game of the season, stuffing the stat sheet with 21 points, five rebounds and six assists.
Cobb and Vital were the other two Huskies in double figures, scoring 12 and 11 points apiece, respectively.
The team combined to shoot 48 percent from the field, with UConn hitting at least 45 percent of its shots for the seventh time this season.
This was the seventh meeting between the two programs, with UConn leading the series 5-2.
Polley, Adams and Vital each made a pair of 3-pointers.
Both of UConn's losses have come to Power-5 opponents.
rv/rv UCF 62, Missouri 64 (OT)
The UCF men's basketball team had its five-game winning streak snapped, as Missouri defeated the Knights 64-62 in overtime Sunday afternoon at Mizzou Arena.
UCF (6-2) led 27-21 at halftime and held a three-point advantage with possession with just 52 seconds remaining in regulation, but the Knights turned the ball over and gave up buzzer-beating three-pointer to send the game into overtime.
In the extra session, the Knights were held scoreless for the final 3:31, as Missouri (4-3) took its final advantage with 1:35 to play and held on for the win.
After a slow start, the UCF defense settled in and held the Tigers to just 37 percent shooting from the floor on the night. However, like in the win over Alabama on Thursday, the Knights struggled giving up offensive rebounds.
The Tigers totaled 17 offensive boards, which led to 16 second chance points. The Knights were once again out-rebounded, as Missouri held a 33-32 advantage on the glass.
Aubrey Dawkins led all players in the game with 22 points on 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc, but didn't attempt a field goal in the overtime period.
B.J. Taylor and Collin Smith also scored in double figures, adding 12 and 11 points, respectively, while Chad Brown led the Knights with eight rebounds. Tacko Fall tied a career-high with six blocks, but only totaled six points and four rebounds in the defeat.
Missouri's Jordan Geist led the Tigers with 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc, while Javon Pickett and Jeremiah Tilmon chipped in with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
SMU 79, Oral Roberts 67
Ethan Chargois scored 17 points and Jahmal McMurray added 16 and SMU used a big first half to defeat Oral Roberts 79-67 on Sunday.
Jimmy Whitt Jr. and Isiaha Mike opened the game with 3-pointers and the Mustangs (6-3) led 14-4 when Mike knocked down his second trey 4 1/2 minutes in. McMurray had back-to-back layups to start a 10-0 run that made for a 26-10 lead and the Golden Eagles (3-7) trailed 42-23 at the half, shooting 30 percent to SMU's 55.
D.J. Weaver hit consecutive 3-pointers and Aidan Saunders converted a 3-point play that pulled Oral Roberts within 67-59 with 3:41 to play. Baskets by Emmanuel Nzekwesi twice cut the deficit to seven with more than two minutes to go, but a McMurray 3-pointer with 1:52 left put the lead back at 10.
Nzekwesi had 18 points for Oral Roberts, which shot 60 percent in the second half, making 9 of 15 3-pointers.
ECU 70, Maryland-Eastern Shore 47
Freshman Jayden Gardner scored 22 points and three other starters added 10 points each as ECU defeated Maryland Eastern Shore, 70-47, inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum Sunday.
Shawn Williams, Seth LeDay and K.J. Davis each finished with 10 points as part of balanced ECU offense that finished the game with a 42-28 rebounding advantage and had more assists than turnovers in four games.
The Pirates (6-4) rushed out to a 13-2 lead in the first seven minutes, scoring 11 unanswered points with four different players contributing to the run, while the Hawks (1-8) missed nine consecutive shots and were just 2-of-12 to start the game.
ECU nearly doubled its lead over the next seven minutes as it built a 21-point advantage, 29-8, with six minutes left until halftime. Its first half lead peaked at 24 points, 36-12, as Williams drained his second 3-pointer of the half with 4:17 left before the end of the stanza.
UMES guard Ryan Andino banked in a 3-pointer as the time ran out in the first half and ECU went into halftime with a 21-point lead, 42-21.
ECU shot 55.6 percent (15-of-27) from the floor in the first half, scoring 14 points in the paint and drilling five 3-pointers, while forcing 10 turnovers and holding the Hawks to 37.5 percent (9-of-24) shooting.
The Hawks used a 21-12 run to pull within 12, 54-42, with 6:58 to play before the Pirates answered with 10-1 spurt to push their lead back over 20 as Davis buried a 3 with three minutes to play.
Montaz Oliver and A.J. Cheeseman led UMES with 14 points.
rv/rv Houston 65, No. 18/21 Oregon 61
Behind a 22-point, 9-rebound effort from junior guard Armoni Brooks, the University of Houston Men's Basketball program opened the Fertitta Center in impressive fashion with a 65-61 win over No. 18/21 Oregon on Saturday night.
Competing in front of a sell-out crowd of 7,035, Brooks scored the first six points in the $60-million facility's history with back-to-back 3-pointers and came just one rebound shy of his first double-double of the season. The Round Rock, Texas native connected on 7-of-14 shots from the field, including 6-of-13 from behind the arc, and added a pair of offensive boards to lead the Cougars to the win.
Leading 13-8 midway through the first, the Cougars embarked on a 20-5 run over the next six-and-a-half minutes to build a 33-13 lead and took a 37-19 lead into the locker room at the break.
The two teams went back and forth in the second half with Houston holding a double-digit lead for much of the period. Oregon used a late run to close the gap and moved to within 63-61 on Bol Bol's dunk with 10 seconds remaining in the game. However, Brooks drained a pair of free throws with eight seconds left to ice the win.
Guard Nate Hinton, who was named the 2018 Preseason American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, scored 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 shooting from the free throw line and grabbed five rebounds with a steal. Senior guard Corey Davis Jr. added 12 points with four rebounds and four assists as Houston moved to 2-0 all-time against Oregon in the first meeting since the 1970-71 season.
The Cougars return to their on-campus home for the first time since the end of the 2016-17 regular season. University of Houston System Board of Regents Chairman Tilman J. Fertitta - who joined with his family to make a generous $20-million gift to the Athletics Department for the renovations, spoke to the crowd in a pregame ceremony.
Bol led all players with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Will Richardson came off the bench to post 16 points with five rebounds and five assists for the Ducks.
Cincinnati 65, UNLV 61
Keith Williams scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Cane Broome scored 14 with four assists to help Cincinnati post a wire-to-wire 65-61 victory over UNLV on Saturday.
Williams hit both of his 3-point tries for the Bearcats (7-1), who sank half of their 12 shots from distance. Cincinnati has won seven straight games since losing its opener 64-56 to visiting Ohio State.
Sophomore reserve Amauri Hardy hit three 3-pointers and scored a career-high 22 points to pace the Runnin' Rebels (4-3). Kris Clyburn pitched in with 12 points and nine boards and Bryce Hamilton scored 10. UNLV shot just 35 percent on its home floor (18 of 51) and made only 7 of 24 attempts from beyond the arc (29 percent).
The Bearcats jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back. Cincinnati led 33-24 at halftime. UNLV closed to within 59-56 on Hardy's free throw with 1:45 remaining in the game, but Williams and Justin Jenifer both made 1 of 2 free throws and Jenifer sank a jumper with 34 seconds left to help preserve the Bearcats' win.
Temple 77, Saint Joseph's 70
After struggling from long range much of the game, a trio of three-pointers by Temple followed the final tie near the five-minute mark, and the Owls (7-1, 2-0 Big 5) led the rest of the way in a 77-70 win over Philadelphia Big 5 rival Saint Joseph's (4-4, 0-1 Big 5).
The Owls led for less than a quarter of the game, but they took the lead when it counted and maintained it at the free-throw line.
Temple made an impressive 17-of-18 free throws, the Owls' first .900 performance (min. 10 attempts) in nearly two years (28-30 vs. Yale, 12/22/16).
In the final minute and five seconds, the Owls went 8-of-8 at the line, including 4-of-4 by junior Alani Moore II.
Saint Joseph's led by as many as 11 points late in the first half, and by nine early in the second half before Temple began to chip away.
Senior Shizz Alston, Jr. and junior Quinton Rose scored 15 points apiece to lead Temple.
Alston went 6-of-6 from the line, dished a game-high six assists and grabbed five rebounds.
Rose also made all six of his free-throw attempts while adding five assists and two steals.
Sophomores De'Vondre Perry and J.P. Moorman II scored nine points each, while senior Ernest Aflakpui, Moore II and sophomore Nate Pierre-Louis all scored seven points. Pierre-Louis also tied for game-high honors on the glass, tying his career high with 13 rebounds.
The Owls' bench scored 24 points overall, compared to just seven for the Hawks' bench.Wichita State
Wichita State 71, Baylor 63
The Wichita State men's basketball team led from start-to-finish in a 71-63 victory over the Baylor Bears Saturday night, Dec. 1, inside Charles Koch Arena.
Wichita State (4-3) is scheduled to take on the Oklahoma Sooners Saturday, Dec. 8, at 11 a.m. CT in Oklahoma City, Okla., at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Senior Samajae Haynes-Jones led all scorers in the game, tallying 21 points, and snagged a game-high 10 rebounds for his first career double-double, while freshman Erik Stevenson added 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Senior Markis McDuffie also reached double figures, scoring 15 points, respectively.
The Shockers burst out to a 12-0 lead in the opening six minutes of the game after back-to-back layups from Dexter Dennis and two consecutive Haynes-Jones three-pointers. The Bears (5-3) didn't score their first points of the game until the 13:26 mark on a layup from Mark Vital.
Wichita State continued its offensive power surge later in the stanza, using a 9-0 run from 6:24 to 4:46 to balloon its advantage to 31-6. Haynes-Jones opened the spurt with a trey before Stevenson went back-to-back from downtown to complete the nine-point scoring blitz.
The Shockers went into halftime with a 44-15 lead, shooting 44 percent from the field and 39 percent from beyond-the-arc while holding Baylor to just 21 percent from the floor and eight percent from long range. Wichita State drilled nine threes in the half compared to just one for the visitors.
Memphis 67, No. 20/19 Texas Tech 78
The University of Memphis gave 20th-ranked Texas Tech all it could handle for 35 minutes Saturday at the Hoophall Miami Invitational at AmericanAirlines Arena.
But in the game's final five minutes, the Red Raiders, who reached the NCAA Elite Eight last season, dominated to avoid being upset. Texas Tech (7-0) won by double digits for the seventh time this season, 78-67.
Tyler Harris led the Tigers with 17 points and Kyvon Davenport scored 13. Alex Lomax added a team-high eight boards for the UofM, which won the rebounding battle, 39-36.
The Red Raiders and Tigers were playing one another for the first time in 33 years.
Memphis shot 35 percent for the game against one of the nation's best defensive teams.
The Tigers led by as many as 13 in the second half, but committed 11 of their 18 turnovers in the second half to hurt themselves down the stretch.
Ahead by nine points at the half, the Tigers built a 13-point advantage after a driving dunk from Mike Parks followed by a reverse layup, in heavy traffic, by Raynere Thornton. Memphis led, 46-33, a minute later after Kyvon Davenport scored inside.
Texas Tech eventually made its run late in the half. The Red Raiders, down 57-45 with nine minutes remaining, went on a 6-0 run, to make it 57-51. Deshawn Corprew had all six points during the run.
The run by the Red Raiders reached 15-2 with 4:29 to go after Tariq Owens completed a three-point play for a 60-59 Texas Tech lead, its first since early in the first half.
And by the two-minute mark, Texas Tech had produced a 26-6 run for a 71-63 lead with 1:58 left.
In the first half, Memphis shot 34.3 percent, but held a 37-28 lead at the break. Harris had 13 points in the first half, including each of the team's three treys.
The Tigers also helped themselves by making 10 of 11 free throws, committing only seven turnovers and outrebounding the Red Raiders, 37-28.
Memphis led by as many as 11 on several occasions late in the first half. The Tigers only trailed briefly, in the opening minutes, when a Texas Tech free throw gave the Red Raiders a 3-2 advantage. A 10-2 run late in the half - powered by two of Harris' treys - gave the Tigers a 32-22 lead with two minutes left.
Tulsa 64, Utah 69
Jeriah Horne scored a season-high 15 points, but Utah went on a late 10-2 run and then held on for a 69-64 win over visiting Tulsa on Saturday afternoon at the Huntsman Center.
Horne went 6-of-12 from the floor, hit three 3-pointers and scored all 15 of his points in the second half for the Golden Hurricane (5-3). Sterling Taplin added a dozen points, while Lawson Korita finished with 11 points.
TU was held to 36.2-percent shooting, but outscored the Utes (4-3), 30-20, in the paint and held a 45-38 advantage on the glass.
Sedrick Barefield scored all 15 of his team-high points in the second half, while Both Gach also had 15 points for the Utes.
Utah shot 42-percent for the game and went 12-of-24 from the floor with seven 3-pointers in the second half to thwart each Tulsa rally.
Both defenses were locked in during the first half as the Utes took a 23-17 lead to intermission.
After the teams traded baskets to start the game, Utah went on an 11-2 run for a 15-6 cushion, its largest lead of the half. Gach led the way during the run with all eight of his first-half points during the stretch.
Tulsa allowed just two baskets over the final 8:55 of the half, but struggled to score against the Utes' length. The Hurricane got 12 points in the paint, however, the squad was 0-for-15 from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes.
Five minutes into the second half, a Korita 3-pointer and jumper from Horne pulled the Hurricane within 34-30. But the Utes hit back-to-back triples to again extend the lead.
Midway through the period, Tulsa used the long-ball to go on a 12-4 stretch that trimmed the deficit to 50-57 with 6:46 left. Horne hit two treys before a steal and layup from Chris Barnes. Korita hit a free throw and a DaQuan Jeffries 3-pointer capped the spurt.
But again, the Utes responded. This time, it was a 10-2 run to regain a double-digit lead with just 2:46 remaining.
From there, Tulsa cut the deficit to five points twice, but could get no closer as the Utes closed out the 69-64 win at the free-throw line.
Tulane 61, Southeastern Louisiana 62
The Tulane men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 62-61 decision Saturday afternoon to Southeastern Louisiana Saturday afternoon at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.
Tulane (2-5) led by 11 points with four minutes to go in the game and appeared to have the game well in hand, but a furious 11-1 run by Southeastern Louisiana (4-4) cut the Green Wave's advantage to one, 58-57, with 37 seconds remaining in the game.
Both teams would go on to trade free throws, but the Green Wave still held a one-point edge with 27 seconds to go. Tulane would increase its lead to two after redshirt senior guard Jordan Cornish split a pair of free throws to give the Green Wave a 61-59 advantage with 18 ticks left.
Southeastern Louisiana would go on to take a one-point lead after Marlain Veal drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key with two seconds remaining to give the Lions the lead for good. Veal finished the afternoon with a game-high 22 points as he connected on 8-of-16 from the floor.
As a team, Tulane outshot Southeastern Louisiana from the field, but the Lions held 30-26 advantage scoring in the paint and had a 12-10 margin in second chance points.
With the loss, Tulane drops to 10-3 all-time against its in-state foe.
Cornish led all Green Wave scorers with 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the floor. His 18 points marked the fourth time this season he has finished in double-figures.
Tulane also received a strong performance from sophomore guard Caleb Daniels, as he poured in 14 points and scored in double figures for the sixth straight game. Freshman Kevin Zhang chipped in with eight points and pulled down a career-high nine points.
The Green Wave trailed by eight points, 17-9, in the first half with under eight minutes to go until the break, but closed the half on a 22-8 scoring run to take a 31-25 lead into the locker room.
UPCOMING GAMES