Coogs lose to USF, 71-62

Posted: January 23, 2016 -- 8:40 pm CDT.

HOUSTON, TX (Hofheinz Pavilion) -- The Houston Cougars are in a slump. The Coogs were defeated by the USF Saturday afternoon 71-62 to extend the Coogs' losing streak to 4 games. The win is USF's first conference win of the season.

The Coogs (13-6 overall, 3-4 in The American) struggled shooting the basketball the entire first half; and, the poor shooting created too large a hole to overcome.

"It is disappointing on different levels," Kelvin Sampson, Coogs head coach said after the game. "Basketball is a simple game; you have to make your shots. You can analyze until you are paralyzed. This is a very simple game; it always has been."

.@UHCougarMBK 0 for last 7 fgs; 1 for last 10; 2 for last 12; 3 for 13 fgs for the game.. Game tied at 9. 11:08 at media timeout.

— Kris M Gardner (@TheHRReview) January 23, 2016

The Cougars made only 7 field goals, and missed 19, in the first half.

USF (4-17, 1-7) led 32-22 at halftime.

The Bulls scored the first 4 points of the second half to lead 36-22; but, Houston's Damyean Dotson quickly scored a lay-up in transition. The Coogs' Danrad Knowles and Rob Gray, Jr. each split 2 free throws to cut Houston's deficit to 10 (36-26); but, USF freshman guard Jahmal McMurray scored seven consecutive USF points to boost USF's lead to 43-28.

USF's lead grew to 44-28; then, the Coogs' offense sparked to life with a 16-6 run to inch within six points (50-44) with 9:06 remaining in the ball game.

McMurray nailed two free throws to slow the run; however, the Coogs went on an 8-4 burst to get as close as they would get in the ball game (56-52).

But, once again, McMurray answered the bell and scored six straight points for a 62-52 USF lead with 2:33 in the game. McMurray scored 6 more points for the Bulls to finish with a game-high 30 points -- 24 points in the second half.

Wes VanBeck scored a career-high 15 points for the Coogs off the bench. VanBeck also dished out 4 assists. Danrad Knowles also scored 15 points for the Coogs. Knowles also pulled down a team-high 7 rebounds. Damyean Dotson added 11 points.

"When you are dealing with the kids like ours, with any coach, those made baskets kind of fuel you both ways," Sampson said. "Obviously, you are playing everybody tough, and you are not really getting over the hump. We played Cincinnati tough. I don’t care what the final score was; that was a close game until the end. We played Connecticut and SMU tough, and then we come home today, and we get off to such a poor start shooting the basketball. You just have to do a better job of getting our guys ready to play and get over the hump. When things are going like this, you don’t look any further than the head coach. Everything stops right there. I take responsibility for this. I have to get our guys ready to play and put them in a better position to where they can be successful."

The Coogs' next game is Wednesday, January 27, at home, versus the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Tip is set for 7 p.m.

CLICK HERE for The HRR's write-ups of Coogs' men's hoops games.