TULSA, Okla. – Winners of its last eight games, the University of Houston Men’s Basketball program continues its road swing when it faces American Athletic Conference rival Tulsa at 8 p.m., Tuesday, inside the Reynolds Center.
After playing five of its first six games inside the Fertitta Center, the Cougars now are in a stretch which sees them playing three consecutive road games. Houston opened the road swing with a win at UCF on Saturday and concludes at SMU on Sunday evening in Dallas.
Houston (7-0 • 2-0 American) enters this week’s game after entering the Top Five in both national polls for the first time since March 1984.
In their most recent action, the Cougars overcame an early double-digit deficit to outscore UCF by nine points in the second half on the way to a 63-54 win in Orlando on Saturday afternoon.
Returning to the starting lineup for the first time since Nov. 29, sophomore guard Marcus Sasser drained a game-high four 3-pointers and led all players with 19 points in the win over the Knights.
Fellow sophomore guard Caleb Mills returned to the Houston lineup for the first time since Houston’s 64-53 win over No. 14/13 Texas Tech on Nov. 29 and poured in 12 points. The Arden, N.C., native was the only Cougar to score from the field in the final seven minutes and converted a critical and-1 with about a minute remaining.
This season, junior guard Quentin Grimes leads the Cougars and ranks fourth in The American with 18.4 points per game. The Woodlands, Texas, native also stands second on the team and ninth in the league with 7.3 rebounds per contest.
Grimes joins ECU’s Jayden Gardner as the only players in The American to rank among the league’s Top-Nine leaders in both categories.
Sasser stands second with 15.2 points per game. Senior guard DeJon Jarreau does a little of everything for the Cougars, averaging 8.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, a team-high 3.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game.