Coogs dominate Shockers in 73-59 win

Updated: January 20 -- 6:58 pm CDT

Posted: January 20, 2018 -- 4:24 pm CST.

HOUSTON, TX (H&PE Arena) -- The Houston Cougars defeated 7th / 4th-ranked Wichita State 73-59 Saturday afternoon in front of 5,708 fans. The Coogs dominated the Shockers and led for 38 plus minutes. The Shockers are the highest-ranked opponent Houston has defeated since January 6, 1996, when the Cougars defeated 3rd-ranked Memphis.

“Shout out to the crowd and student section,” Houston senior guard Rob Gray said after the game. “It was a very loud environment and that could help more often. We need to work on making that regular. It was timely. We needed that top-five win, so we appreciate them. We played hard and practiced hard for this game. Whenever you get out there and things are going well, you go in a positive direction winning against a top five team. There's a lot of emotion and it was fun. It’s hard to explain.”

January 4, 2018, in Wichita, Wichita State crushed the Coogs 81-63. The Shockers sank 10 three-point shots in the first half of that game including an amazing 9 for 11 stretch. Saturday, Houston made a concerted to limit the Shockers' good looks on three-point shots. The Shockers shot 25.0% from three-point range today (4 for 20).

“Once we got back (from road loss in New Orleans against Tulane), we poured over the film,” said Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson in his post-game press conference. “I just wanted to watch all their made baskets, just the first half. They played great, I also knew we could play a lot better. One area we had to get better in was choking off the  three point line. We did a great job of not over helping or dropping today. Now sometimes when you take something away, you're going to give something up and what we gave up were some offensive rebounds that they usually wouldn't get against since were a good rebounding team. Id rather give up some offensive rebounds than give Shamet, Frankamp and Reaves those threes, especially open looks. We made a concerted effort. Galen Robinson, Armoni Brooks, Corey Davis, and Rob; those four especially, they really competed. There's a big difference in playing hard and competing. We always play hard, but tonight we really competed. Not many people believed we were going to win this game. We believed we were going to win this game. Our guys kept hearing that Wichita State just lost so there going to come in here mad. What about us, we lost too.”

Final stats: Houston Cougars 73, Wichita State Shockers 59

“We know that three-pointers are a big part of Wichita's defense,” Gray added. “We knew that if we could slow them down there, we could slow them down overall. Frankamp and Shamet are very good shooters, we limited them a lot tonight and that was one of the reasons why we had a low point total in the first half. We came here to workout at six. We all trust in Coach Sampson, we woke up this morning ready to compete and it showed in the first half.”

Houston (15-4 overall, 5-2 in the American Athletic Conference) limited the Shockers to 19 baskets out of 58 attempts (season-low 32.8%). The Shockers also committed 18 turnovers in the game.

Houston's win snapped the Shockers' 11-game road-winning streak.

Houston senior guard Rob Gray scored a game-24 points. Gray's back court mate, junior Corey Davis Jr., scored 17 points; and, senior Devin Davis scored 10 points.

“We knew how big this game was without even saying it,” Corey Davis Jr said after the game. “We knew we had to come in and play the type of basketball we knew how to play. There have been many games where we’ve shown how good we can be, we held ourselves to that high standard and today we exceeded that because we were focused.”

The Shockers's Shaquille Morris split two free throws at the 19:34 mark of the first half to give the Shockers a 1-0 lead. Sixty-five seconds later, Houston forward Breaon Brady scored in the post for a 2-1 Houston lead with 18:29 on the clock.

Houston never trailed the rest of the ball game.

Houston jumped to a 17-7 lead with 9:36 remaining in the first half; however, the Coogs' offense went cold. Houston's defense stayed solid and continued stifling the Shockers' offense.

Wichita State (15-4, 5-2) only made 8 field goals out of 23 attempts in the first half. The Shockers also turned over the ball 11 times in the opening 20 minutes. Redshirt-sophomore guard Landry Shamet did not score in the first half. Shamet only attempted 1 field goal in 18 minutes of action in the first half.

Houston led 35-26 at halftime.

Houston began the second half with a 7-2 spurt to lead by 14 points (42-28) before Shamet and Conner Frankamp each made a three-point shot during an 8-0 Shockers' run to trim Houston's lead to six points (42-36) and give the numerous Shockers' fans in attendance a spark of hope and reasons to cheer.

Rob Gray scored 7 of Houston's next 8 points to boost the lead to 50-38 with 13:48 remaining in the game.

After a layup by Wichita State's Darral Willis Jr, Devin Davis and Fabian White Jr each drained jump shots to increase Houston's lead to 54-40 with 12:29 on the clock.

The Shockers did not get closer than 12 points the rest of the game.

"I've got to coach better; and, we've got to play much better," Shockers Head Coach Gregg Marshall said after the game.

“For us, as we were building this program and going through our fourth season, I like where were going," Sampson said. “Even if we had lost I would've liked where were going. I know where we’ve been and I know where were headed, but what this does is it lets the casual fan that doesn't pay much attention to us know that were good. The fans that come out to see us frequently know were good, but when the average fan sees that the University Of Houston beat Wichita State their ears perk up, and that's a good thing.

“We're building a program. We have good players. This is a signature win; but I think there's bigger and better wins down the road for us. That's why today is not a day of celebration. You appreciate the day and I'm happy for our fans. You know all of the fans that came out to see us today, I hope they come back to see the Cougars.”

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