The Houston Cougars survive Jayden Gardner's 29-point double-double in win over ECU.
Cougars extend winning streak to five in victory over the Pirates
Jan 30, 2020, 5:48 am
The Houston Cougars survive Jayden Gardner's 29-point double-double in win over ECU.
Coming off an assist by big man Charles Coleman, sophomore forward Jayden Gardner made an uncontested layup to inaugurate the game. Gardner's basket was the first of 11 made field goals as the North Carolina native scored a game-high 29 points, to go along with 19 rebounds in 40 minutes of action.
Despite his great performance, Gardner could not lead his team to a victory, as the Houston Cougars took a 69-59 win over the East Carolina Pirates Wednesday night inside the Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, NC. While improving their winning streak to five, Houston (17-4, 7-1 American Athletic Conference) has now won 11 of their last 12 games.
Outside of giving up nearly 30 points to Gardner, the Cougars had a solid performance on the defensive end as no other player scored in double-figures for the Pirates. Houston held ECU to 32.8% shooting from the field, and an unpleasant 17.4% from behind the arc.
Unlike the Pirates, the Cougars, who are currently ranked No. 21 in the nation, had three players who scored in double-digits. Freshman guard Caleb Mills scored a team-high 18 points (7-18 FG, 3-6 3PT), while sophomore Quentin Grimes enjoyed his first game scoring over 10 points since Christmas Day — as the Woodlands native registered 15 points and six rebounds in the win.
With the Pirates trailing by one, the Cougars took full control of this game in the final four minutes of the first half. Following a made 3-point field goal by Grimes, Houston closed out the first period on a 13-1 run to take a 33-21 lead into the half.
For the second time this season, Chris Harris Jr. provided Houston with a great presence in the middle, with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds in the win.
Up next, the Cougars will travel to Cincinnati on Saturday to take on the 13-7, 6-2 Cincinnati Bearcats. Tip-off is slated for 5 P.M. CT.
Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez is going on the 10-day injured list with inflammation in his right hand.
The issue had caused the three-time All-Star to miss the last two games of the Astros’ weekend series with the Chicago White Sox. The move, announced before the Astros' Monday night game at Milwaukee, is retroactive to Saturday.
Houston recalled catcher César Salazar from Triple-A Sugar Land in a corresponding move.
Alvarez, 27, has batted .210 with a .306 on-base percentage, three homers and 18 RBIs in 29 games this season. That follows a 2024 season in which he batted. 308 with a .392 on-base percentage, 35 homers and 86 RBIs in 147 games while earning a third straight All-Star Game selection and finishing ninth in the AL Most Valuable Player voting.
He has posted an OPS of at least .959 each of the past three seasons and ranked fourth in the AL in that category last year.
Salazar, 26, was hitting .197 with a .305 on-base percentage, two homers and seven RBIs in 21 games for Sugar Land. He hit .320 with a .387 on-base percentage, no homers and eight RBIs in 12 games with Houston last year.