DeAndre Williams had 16 points and 13 rebounds for coach Penny Hardaway and the Tigers (26-8), who got the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid. They are going to March Madness for the second year in a row.
The Cougars (31-3) beat Memphis 71-53 in last year’s AAC tournament championship game, and won both regular-season matchups this season.
J’Wan Roberts had 12 points and 20 rebounds for Houston. Jamal Shead had 15 points on 3-of-14 shooting, and Jarace Walker had 13 points before fouling out.
The Cougars trailed by 18 at halftime, but got within 55-50 with 11:03 left after Shead scored eight points in a row for them in a two-minute span. His 3-pointer capped a 12-1 run, and he made another long-range shot before two free throws, but that was the closest Houston would get.
Memphis had taken control with a 16-2 run in the first half. Davis had all but two of those points and made two 3-pointers only 9 seconds apart.
That big spurt started on a fast-break layup by Davis with just under eight minutes left. Davis made a 3, and then Alex Lomax made a backcourt steal and passed to Davis at the top of the key for another 3. By time Davis made another fast-break layup with 3:36 left, the Tigers had doubled up Houston, 40-20.
Houston was selected as the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region and will open the NCAA Tournament against No. 16 seed Northern Kentucky (22-12) in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, March 16 at 9:20 p.m. ET/8:20 p.m. CT on TNT. The Cougars are the first squad from The American to earn a No. 1 seed.
Memphis will be headed to Columbus, Ohio as the No. 8 seed in the East Region and will take on ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic (31-3) on Friday, March 17 at 9:20 p.m. ET/8:20 p.m. CT on TNT.
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