Houston Cougars drop to 5-2 on season after 70-59 loss to Texas A&M

Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loco Photography

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2012 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (December 1, 2012) Despite outscoring Texas A and M by seven points in the second half, the Houston Cougars could not overcome their first half deficit and fell to the Aggies 70-59 at Hofheinz Pavilion on Saturday evening.

The Cougars could not get past their first half performance, which saw Texas A and M take a 42-24 lead at halftime.

Houston’s rebounding, or more precisely a lack of it, was a major factor in the game.

The Aggies out-rebounded the Cougars 40-26, with 14 of them coming on the offensive end of the court.

The Cougars managed a mere seven offensive boards during the game.

Houston head coach James Dickey addressed that very issue in the post-game press conference.

“We’ve got to go get more offensive rebounds; got to go to the glass more. Rebounding is something we work on every day and we will continue to do that.”

Sophomore guard J.J. Thompson was also questioned about the rebounding.

When asked about his thoughts about the rebounding, he responded:

“They were just tougher than us. Throughout the whole night, they were more tough and played harder.”

For the Cougars, Thompson led all scores with 16 points, while red shirt freshman guard Jherrod Stiggers tallied 12 and freshman forward Danuel House added 10.

House also led the Cougars with six rebounds.

For the Aggies, senior guard Elston Turner tied his career high of 26 points.

He was 10-21 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line.

The Aggies jumped out to a 6-0 lead at the beginning of the game before House tipped in a missed jumper by freshman guard Joseph Young.

The Cougars got within one point of the Aggies at the 12:47 mark in the first half off a three-pointer by Stiggers.

After that, the Cougars never got closer than three points for the remainder of the game.

Houston dropped to 5-2 for the season, with their only other loss against Prairie View A and M.

With the loss, the Cougars drop to 53-31 lifetime against the Aggies.

The last time the Houston and Texas A and M faced off at Hofheinz Pavilion was December 27, 2001 with the Cougars coming away with a 70-61 overtime win.

The Cougars will face another former Southwest Conference rival in TCU when the travel to Ft. Worth for an 8:00 p.m. match on Tuesday.