Coogs grind out 60-50 win over Utah State

Get your Houston Cougars team gear at Fanatics.com

Updated: December 21, 2018 -- 6:50 a.m. CST

Posted: December 20, 2018 -- 11:53 p.m. CST

HOUSTON, TX (Fertitta Center) -- Houston Cougars Head Coach Kelvin Sampson has mentioned many times 'as long as you defend and rebound you'll give your chance to win'. Thursday night, his Houston Cougars' squad defended and rebounded and won. The Coogs defeated a very good Utah State Aggies squad 60-50 in a gritty, hard fought basketball game.

"Utah State is really good, nothing they did tonight surprised me" Coach Sampson said to open his post-game press conference. "They're well-coached, 9-2; and, they beat St. Mary's, who won 28 games last year. They've lost two games -- at BYU, but they played a different BYU team than we played. BYU's leading scorer last year didn't play when we played them; but, he did when Utah State played them. Also, when a Utah school plays a Utah school, it's a little bit more intense. They lost to Arizona State who is ranked 18th in the nation; so, they're a really good team."

"That doesn't excuse the way we started the game," Sampson continued. "I just thought that they out-competed us. There's a big difference in playing hard and competing. I thought we really out-competed them in the second half and I can always tell that by our effort on the boards. That team was +13.2, and they are outrebounding their opponents in 11 games by 13 rebounds. Defensively, everything they did statistically was better than us. There isn't one thing statistically they didn't do better than us coming into this game, that's how good they are. So, lot of respect for Utah State; and, I was really proud of the way our kids played in the second half.

Houston did not have a lead in the first half. The Coogs shot an icy 23.3% (7 for 30) from the floor in the first half and trailed the Aggies (9-3) 31-21 at halftime. Meanwhile, Utah State shot 13 for 30 (43.3%) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.

In the second half, Houston 'heated up' to shoot 39.3% (13 for 33) from the floor; however, Houston's defense clamped down the Aggies and limited Utah State to 26.3% (5 for 19) field goal shooting including 1 for 10 from three point range.

In addition to the poor field goal shooting, Utah State also turned the ball over 10 times in the second half. Houston also outrebounded Utah State 20-15 in the second half and 40-35 for the game.

After a scoreless first half, Houston's Armoni Brooks scored 15 points in the second half. Brooks got hot from three-point range in the second half and knocked down 5 threes in just 8 attempts.

"We came out lackadaisical in the first half," Brooks said after the game. "Galen (Robinson Jr.) and Corey (Davis Jr.) are our emotional leaders. They told us at halftime to stay together and keep fighting. We went out in the second half and started getting stops, once we get stops our confidence rose. We pride ourselves on defense and rebounding, so when we get stops it elevates our entire team."

Houston tied the game at 32 at the 15:26 mark of the second half. Next, after trailing 39-37, Brooks sank two 3-point shots during a 10-0 spurt to put Houston on top 47-39. Brooks sank another three for a 50-41 Houston lead.

The Aggies got as close as six (56-50) with 2:17 remaining in the game; however, Utah State did not score in the final 2:17.

Davis Jr and Robinson Jr did an excellent job defending Utah State's Sam Merrill. Merrill missed all 5 of his three-point attempts and finished 2 for 9 overall from the floor.

"He's (Sam Merrill) averaging 20 points a game," Sampson acknowledged. "When I watch him on film, I know that he's the best guard that we have seen this year. That kid is extremely talented. We had a plan to rotate Corey and Galen on him; and, I thought they were fantastic. I'm so proud of their effort."

Sampson added, "Christmas time has usually always been a demarcation line for my teams over the years. When we get to Christmas, I can always see who we are; but, in those cases, I'd had my whole team together for months. For this team, I'm not sure who we are just yet. We have things to hang our hat on. We're good and we can get the rebound, which leads to our wins; but, we need to get a lot better offensively."

NOTES:

In addition to scoring 9 points, Cedrick Alley Jr, redshirt-freshman pulled down a game-high 11 boards for Houston. DeJon Jarreau (10 points) and Fabian White Jr (9 points) combined for 19 points off the bench.

NEXT:

Houston's next game is Sunday, December 23, versus Coppin State, at 3 p.m. The game is the 4th of a 7-game homestand for Houston:

LSU (December 12); Saint Louis (December 16); Utah State (December 20); Coppin State (December 23); NJIT (December 29); Tulsa (January 2); and Memphis (January 6).

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