Coogs top Temple, 73-66. 31 consecutive home wins for Houston

POSTED: January 31, 2019 -- 11:57 p.m. CST

HOUSTON, TX (Fertitta Center) -- The 13th-ranked Houston Cougars defeated the Temple Owls 73-66 Thursday night. Houston relied on its calling card -- defense -- to earn the win.

"The thing that we hang our hat on, good teams have something they can hang their hat on, that's the way we defend and the way we rebound," said Kelvin Sampson, Houston Head Coach, after the game.

Houston limited Temple to 34.3% (23 for 67) field goal shooting in the game. Houston shot 43.4% (23 for 53) from the floor; however, Houston missed 13 of 36 free throws (63.9%) which helped Temple stay in the game down the stretch.

"The free throw line though, going into the game we're the number one free throw shooting team in the league at 77 percent," Sampson said. "If Corey shot all of our free throws we'd rule the world,; but, we have to mix-and-match some of those other guys in there and bring the average down to 77 percent. Fabian left four points there and he's been shooting at about 80 percent. If you're looking for a shooting team, this is the first time we haven't shot free throws in a long time. Their human-beings, they'll miss some. I never had a kid try to miss. Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn't."

Houston (21-1 overall, 8-1 in the American Athletic Conference) scored the first 7 points to start the game. Temple (15-6, 5-3) answered with 5 points; then, Houston scored 6 straight to lead 13-7.

Temple tied the game at 15 and at 17. Houston freshman Nate Hinton pulled down an offensive rebound; missed the layup attempt; and, on the play, Hinton was hit in the nose. Hinton's nose was bloodied; and, he never returned to the game. After the game, Coach Sampson mentioned Hinton's nose was broken; but, Hinton would have returned to the game IF his nose had stopped bleeding.

With Hinton out of the game and junior guard Armoni Brooks on the bench with two fouls, DeJon Jarreau received more playing time.

Jarreau made the most his minutes on the court. In the first half, Jarreau scored 4 points and pulled down 6 rebounds in 12 minutes. In the second half, Jarreau scored 10 points and grabbed 6 more boards in 16 minutes.

Temple struggled to keep Jarreau out of the paint.

"DeJon Jarreau was terrific," said Fran Dunphy, Temple Head Coach. "We didn't do a good job of keeping him in front of us; and, he made a lot of great plays."

Houston led 35-29 at halftime. Temple tied the game at 40. However, Jarreau scored in the paint then blocked a shot by Temple's Quinton Rose which resulted in a 3 point-shot by Houston's Corey Davis Jr. Next, Breaon Brady scored in the pain for a 7-0 Houston run in 68 seconds.

Temple responded with an 8-3 spurt to slice Houston's lead to two points (50-48) with 9:38 remaining in the second half.

Brady scored in the paint which started a 7-0 run for a 57-48 Houston lead with 8:29 on the game clock. Houston led 67-57 with 2:04 left in the ball game. Temple clawed within 5 points; but, Davis went 6 for 6 from the foul line to seal the win for Houston.

Corey Davis Jr. scored a team-high 24 pts (5/11 fgs and 12/13 fts). Davis also had 5 rebounds. Jarreau finished the game with 14 points (6/10 fgs and 2/2 fts) and a game-high 12 rebounds. Breaon Brady added 13 points and 6 rebounds.

Houston won the rebounding battle 42-41.

"They (Temple) rebounded tonight," Sampson commented. "Great move by him (Coach Dunphy's decision to use a big lineup), because we've been dominating people on the boards. Their size was a factor when it came to rebounding."

"I thought tonight our kids competed and I thought Temple's kids really competed, too," Sampson summarized. "It was two tough teams going at it."

NOTES:

With 7:48 left in the 2nd half, Breaon Brady was fouled on a play and hit his funny bone on his left (shooting) hand. His fingers went numb; and, he was unable to shoot the foul shots and Fabian White Jr. came into the game for Brady. Minutes later, Brady returned to the game.

NEXT:

Houston's next game is in Orlando, FL, against UCF, Thursday, February 7, at 6 p.m. on CBSSN.

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