The Baylor Bears won their respective tournament, and the Texas Tech Red Raiders look to stay perfect to start the season

College Basketball Report: Week 3

Coty Davis
Nov 26, 2019, 6:30 am
Shaka Smart and Texas are fading fast. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

TEXAS LONGHORNS (5-1)

Last week (1-1): L: Georgetown 82-66, W: California 62-45

This week: Saturday vs. McNeese State

The Longhorns continued their tour of the 2K Empire Classic benefiting Wounded Warrior Project with an 82-66 loss to the Georgetown Hoyas. The 16-point defeat snapped Texas' four-game win streak to open the new season. After allowing the Hoyas to shoot 50.9% from the field, 45.5% from deep, the Longhorns picked up their defense in a win against the California Golden bears, where Cal shot 34.6% from the floor, 20.0% from 3-point range. Following a week in the Big Apple, the Longhorns will return to Austin on Saturday to face off against the McNeese State Cowboys.

TEXAS A&M AGGIES (3-1)

Last week (1-0): W: Troy 56-52

This week: Thursday vs. Harvard

After trailing 25-17 in the first half, the Aggies outscored the Trojans 39-27 in the second half, while shooting 44.4% from the field and forced 10 second-half turnovers to complete a 56-52 victory over Troy Wednesday night. Texas A&M was led by walk-on guard Mark French, who recorded a career-high 12 points in the win. Up next, the Aggies will open their Orlando Invitational on Thursday in a match against the Harvard Crimson.

HOUSTON COUGARS (2-2)

Last week (1-1): W: Rice 97-89, L: Oregon 78-66

This week: Tuesday vs. Houston Baptist

After a heartbreaking loss to BYU, the Houston Cougars opened the week with a tremendous comeback win over their crosstown rival, the Rice Owls. The Cougars trailed by 15-point late in the first half before closing the period on a 13-5 run. To complete their second-half surge, Houston ignited for a 21-1 run late in the second half, which led to a 97-89 victory. Sophomore guard Quentin Grimes scored a career-high 32 points in the win, 21 coming in the second half.

Following the win, the Cougars could not capitalize on the momentum gained, as Houston fell to the No. 11 Oregon Ducks, in a game where they shot 10% from deep in the loss. Next week, the Cougars will return to the Fertitta Center on Tuesday to take on Houston Baptist Huskies.

RICE OWLS (6-3)

Last week (2-2): L: Houston (97-89), W: Milwaukee (75-69), L: Liberty ( 71-59), W: East Carolina (77-69)

This week: None

The Owls week got off to a rocky start after blowing a 15-point lead to the Houston Cougars. They then traveled to the Bahamas to take part in the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase, where the Owls picked up wins against the Milwaukee Panthers (75-69) and the East Carolina Pirates (77-69). In both games, senior guard, Ako Adams, stepped up big averaging 17.0 points on 53.3% shooting on 3-point field goals. However, by picking up a loss Saturday against the Liberty Flames (71-59), the Owls ended the tournament finishing in third place.

BAYLOR BEARS (5-1)

Last week (3-0): W: Ohio Bobcats (76-53), W: Coastal Carolina (77-65), W: Villanova (87-78)

This week: None

The Baylor Bears took part in the Myrtle Beach Invitational over the weekend and dominated their competition. Baylor opened the tournament with wins against the Ohio Bobcats (76-53) and the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers ( 77-65), where they found themselves as underdogs in the championship round against the No. 17 Villanova Wildcats. Behind a 22-point performance from Jared Butler, the Bears defeated Villanova, 87-78, Sunday to win the Myrtle Beach Invitational. After winning the Myrtle Beach Invitational, Baylor is currently riding a five-game week streak heading into the Thanksgiving break.

TCU HORNED FROGS (4-1)

Last week (1-1): W: UC Irvine (59-58), L: Clemson (62-60 OT)

This week: Tuesday vs Wyoming

The TCU Men's Basketball team had back-to-back nail-biting games that ended on both sides of the spectrum. Sophomore guard, RJ Nembhard scored a game-winning 3-pointer with 3.7 seconds left to give the Horned Frogs a 59-58 victory over UC Irvine. Nembhard ended the night with a game-high 20 points while shooting 5-for-9 from deep. Unfortunately, TCU opened its MGM Resorts Main Event tournament losing in an overtime thriller to the Clemson Tigers, where they blew a 15-point lead in a 62-60 loss Sunday night. TCU will end their tournament against Wyoming on Tuesday.

TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS (5-0)

Last week: (2-0) W: Tennessee State (72-57), W: Long Island (96-66)

This week: Thursday vs Iowa

The Texas Tech Red Raiders are hot to start the season and are showing no signs of slowing down.

The Red Raiders opened the Las Vegas Classic Regional Round with a 72-57 victory over the Tennessee State Tigers and a 96-66 win over the Long Island Sharks. Freshman guard, Jahmi'us Ramsey, maybe on the verge of taking home the award as the tournament's Most Valuable Player, as he scored 27 points while shooting 10-for-16 from the field, 5-for-6 from deep in a win over the Sharks.

Following a strong start, Texas Tech will continue their Las Vegas Classic tournament on Thursday in a Thanksgiving showdown against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

SMU MUSTANGS (5-0)

Last week (2-0): W: Evansville 59-57, W: UNLV 72-68

This week: Wednesday vs. Hartford, Friday vs Abilene Christian

Last week, the Mustangs continued their winning ways in a 59-57 nail-biter against the Evansville Purple Aces. Juinor guard Tyson Jolly helped SMU escaped with a narrow victory with 15 points, seven rebounds and a block. The Mustangs later extended their winning streak to five, in a 72-68 win over the UNLV Rebels in Las Vegas. SMU will return to Dallas to begin a four-game homestand, which begins against the Hartford Hawks on Wednesday, and the Abilene Christian Wildcats on Friday.

LSU TIGERS (4-2)

Last week (2-1): W: UMBC (77-50), L: Utah St. (80-78), W: Rhode Island (96-83)

This week: Friday vs Missouri St.

The LSU Tigers opened the week with a blowout victory over the UMBC Retrievers before things got testy during the Jamaica Classic. The Tigers suffered a heartbreaking 80-78 loss on Friday when LSU fell to the Utah St. Aggie. The late-game heroics by Utah's Sam Merrill was enough to overcome a 30-point performance by LSU's Skylar Mays. The Tigers bounced back after the loss in a 96-83 victory over the Rhode Island Rams on Sunday. LSU will return to the court on Friday to take on Missouri St. inside the Maravich Center in Baton Rouge, La.

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A second-half block party leads to a Cougars' victory over the Bobcats.

Houston Cougars get hard-fought win over Texas State

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Texas State guard Mason Harrell drove to the lane with the intent to score an easy layup for the Bobcats in transition. Unfortunately for Texas State, DeJon Jarreau rejected Harrell's layup in his attempt to cut into the Cougars' lead late in the second half. Jarreau's block on Harrell was one of 10 second-half rejections that played a tremendous factor in the Cougars 68-60 win over Texas State, Wednesday night, inside the Fertitta Center in Houston.

After a subpar defensive performance in the first half, the Bobcats held a 29-28 lead over the Cougars into the break. Houston's defense allowed Texas State to connect on 39% of their shots from the field, 43% from behind the arc. They picked up their defensive intensity in the second half, as the Cougars held the Bobcats to 30% shooting from the floor, 11% on 3-point field attempts.

"Texas State is a hard team to play against, and I'm not sure we could have played this well [in the second half] a month ago," head coach Kelvin Sampson said after the win. "We were trying to figure out how to win the game, and they bought into in the second half."

Jarreau, the junior guard from New Orleans, ended the night with three blocks, to go along with 12 points and five rebounds in the win. Although Jarreau made a few key stops down the stretch, Houston's most impactful defender came from big man Chris Harris Jr. Despite ending the game scoreless, Sampson called Harris the best player on the court, as the senior center recorded a career-high six rejections (all in the second half) and 12 rebounds on the night.

"I feel like I did what my team needed me to do, which was block shots and rebound," Harris said. "I honestly don't think about scoring when I go into the game because my main focus is to rebound and blocks shots every night."

The Cougars outscored the Bobcats 40-31 thanks to a second-half surge by sophomore guard, Quentin Grimes. He scored 16 of his 21 points in the second period, where he shot 6-for-17 from the floor in 37 minutes of play. Forward Fabian White had another productive night, as the forward recorded 15 points (5-11 FG) and six rebounds for the Cougars.

With their fourth game win streak coming to an end in Houston, Nijal Pearson led the Bobcats in scoring with 17 points on 5-for-16 shooting before fouling out in the final minute of the game.

Following the win, the Houston Cougars will hit the road to Columbia S.C. for a Sunday showdown against the South Carolina Gamecocks. Tip-off is slated for 11 A.M. C.T.

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