Kendric Davis of Memphis broke The American's men's basketball scoring record Thursday, February 16. Davis now has 1,869 points between Memphis and SMU, ahead of the previous record of 1,860 held by Quinton Rose of Temple (2016-20).

Thursday, February 16
No. 2 Houston 80, SMU 65 - Box Score
Wichita State 79, Temple 65 - Box Score
Memphis 64, UCF 63 - Box Score

No. 2 Houston 80, SMU 65 - Box Score
DALLAS (AP) — Marcus Sasser won’t go so far as to say he doesn’t want second-ranked Houston to be No. 1 again.

The senior guard simply echoes coach Kelvin Sampson that the Cougars don’t talk much about it.

Sasser scored 20 points, freshman Jarace Walker added 14 and Houston cruised to an 80-65 victory over SMU on Thursday night.

With a win at home over Memphis on Sunday, the Cougars could be in line for their third stay atop The Associated Press Top 25 poll this season after losses by No. 1 Alabama and third-ranked Purdue, which has dropped three of four.

“We want to be No. 1,” said Sasser, responding with a soft smile to the suggestion that maybe it’s better without the target. “Just really don’t just care about it too much, really.”

Losses to the Crimson Tide and Temple knocked them off the first two perches. The third could come just two weeks before the end of the regular season.

That’s where Houston finished in 1983 — the last season the Cougars were No. 1 prior to this one — before losing to North Carolina State in the title game.

“That never creeps into our conversations,” Sampson said. “I’ve got enough stuff to watch, things to critique about this game when I get on that bus.”

Jamal Shead, who scored 13 points, finished the first half with an isolation layup before starting the second half with one of his eight assists on a one-handed, alley-oop dunk by Walker.

Those plays were part of a 12-0 run on either side of halftime as the Cougars (24-2, 12-1 American Athletic Conference) took a 48-29 lead and led by at least 11 points the rest of the way in their sixth consecutive win.

Zhuric Phelps had 22 points, six rebounds and five assists to lead the Mustangs, (9-18, 4-10), who lost by 34 at Houston last month and never gave the often-raucous Moody Coliseum crowd much chance to get loud a year after a two-point upset of the Cougars at home.

SMU was tied five minutes in, but fell behind for good not long after.

“We got off to a good start and we weren’t overwhelmed by the presence of their team the way we were the first time,” SMU coach Rob Lanier said. “I thought we accepted that, that there was a level of relief in the group that it isn’t a drubbing.”

One of Walker’s two 3-pointers gave Houston its first 20-point lead midway through the second half, and Sasser pushed the lead to 23 with another 3 on the next possession. Sasser was 4 of 9 from deep.

J’Wan Roberts helped the Cougars establish a post presence early, making all four of his shots for all eight of his points in the first half. He had 10 rebounds.

Wichita State 79, Temple 65 - Box Score
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jaykwon Walton scored 21 points as Wichita State beat Temple 79-65 on Thursday night.

Walton shot 6 for 11 (5 for 7 from 3-point range) and 4 of 4 from the free throw line for the Shockers (14-12, 7-7 American Athletic Conference). Kenny Pohto was 5 of 8 shooting and 2 of 4 from the free throw line to add 12 points. James Rojas was 3 of 8 shooting and 4 of 6 from the free throw line to finish with 11 points, while adding 11 rebounds and five steals.

Hysier Miller led the way for the Owls (14-13, 8-6) with 17 points and four assists. Zach Hicks added 15 points and six rebounds for Temple. In addition, Damian Dunn had 14 points and four assists.

Memphis 64, UCF 63 - Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Elijah McCadden led Memphis with 16 points and Damaria Franklin scored the game-winning layup with seven seconds left as the Tigers defeated UCF 64-63 on Thursday night.

McCadden added six rebounds for the Tigers (20-6, 10-3 American Athletic Conference). DeAndre Williams scored 12 points while finishing 6 of 12 from the floor, and added six rebounds. Kendric Davis recorded 10 points and finished 5 of 9 from the field.

Taylor Hendricks finished with 17 points and two blocks for the Knights (15-10, 6-7). UCF also got 12 points, six rebounds, eight assists and five steals from Darius Johnson. Brandon Suggs also had 11 points.

Davis put up 10 points in the first half for Memphis, who led 44-35 at halftime. McCadden led Memphis with eight points in the second half.