Field Level Media
Mar 8, 2020
Fabian White Jr. had 18 points and 14 rebounds and Quentin Grimes had 15 of his 17 points in the second half to help No. 21 Houston to a 64-57 home-court win over Memphis in American Athletic Conference action on Sunday afternoon.
Grimes, who did not play because of a hip pointer when the Cougars (23-8, 13-5 AAC) lost 60-59 at Memphis on Feb. 22, outscored the Tigers for most of the second half until the waning minutes.
Memphis (21-10, 10-8) finished with 27 points on 8-of-22 shooting after halftime. Grimes had his 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range.
Precious Achiuwa led the Tigers with 25 points and 15 rebounds. Lester Quinones added 10 points and six rebounds.
Nate Hinton added 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting for the Cougars.
Grimes, White and Hinton combined to shoot 19 of 36 from field while their teammates were 4 of 31. Houston shot 34.3 percent from the field and only 23.1 percent from 3-point range (3-for-13). The Cougars also made only 15 of 23 attempts (65.2 percent) from the free throw line.
Houston missed its first eight shots from 3-point range until Grimes finally made one with 9:24 left to put the Cougars ahead 42-41.
The game, which had seven lead changes and five ties, was close until Grimes, formerly of Kansas, scored all of Houston's points in an 8-0 run to take a 47-41 lead with 7:44 left in regulation.
Hinton's 3-pointer with 1:38 left gave Houston its biggest lead of 61-46.
Memphis shot only 36.0 percent from the field, 25.0 percent from 3-point range (6-for-24), and finished with 17 turnovers.
The Cougars, who finished 9-0 in AAC games at home, scored 18 points off Memphis' turnovers.
They also exploited Memphis inside, scoring 17 points off putbacks. Houston won the rebounding battle 45-41.
--Field Level Media