Field Level Media
Jan 17, 2021
Quentin Grimes had 18 points as No. 11 Houston made its first four 3-point attempts en route to a 75-58 win over visiting UCF in an American Athletic Conference contest on Sunday.
Justin Gorham added 15 points with nine rebounds for the Cougars (11-1, 6-1 in AAC), who won their fourth in a row. Houston jumped out to a 12-0 lead thanks to 3-pointers from Marcus Sasser, Grimes and a pair via DeJon Jarreau.
Freshman Jamille Reynolds scored a season-high 14 points to lead the Knights (3-5, 1-4).
The Cougars made five of their first six 3-point attempts and finished 8-of-25 from beyond the arc for the game. Houston, which scored 11 of its first 23 points off UCF turnovers, used another 12-0 run to lead 27-4.
It led by 29 with 3:43 left in the first half and owned a 45-19 advantage at the break.
In the first half, UCF went a stretch of 10 minutes, 10 seconds without a made field goal, turned the ball over on 12 of its 20 possessions and had more turnovers than points until Reynolds' free throw drew the visitors within 38-10 at 3:25 left before halftime. The Knights, who missed their first six 3-point attempts, shot 43.8 percent from the field on the day while losing their fourth straight contest.
That slide began on Dec. 26, with a 63-54 loss to Houston, which cooled off following its hot shooting start. UCF scored seven of the first nine points in the second half. The Cougars missed eight consecutive 3s at one point before Grimes connected with 16:22 left in the contest to push the lead to 24.
Houston, which was outscored 39-30 in the second half, finished shooting 42.4 percent from the field, but improved to 8-0 at home this season.
--Field Level Media