Houston Ready to Face Utah State

Thursday, December 20

Houston

7 p.m.

University of Houston

Utah State

Buy Tickets

12/18/2018 4:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Cougars meet Aggies at 7 p.m., Thursday, inside the Fertitta Center

Time	7 p.m. • Thursday, Dec. 20
Location	Fertitta Center (7,035) • Houston Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Tickets	BUY Tickets
Parking	Parking Map & Info
Television	ESPN3 Dave Raymond, PxP Reid Gettys, analyst
Radio	KPRC 950 AM Pregame show begins at 6:45 p.m. Jeremy Branham, PxP Elvin Hayes, analyst
Live Stats	Live Stats
Game Notes	Houston Notes Utah State Notes The American Notes

HOUSTON – Winners of its first 10 games, the University of Houston Men's Basketball program returns to action at 7 p.m., Thursday, when it faces Utah State inside the Fertitta Center in a game presented by a Maintenance Supply Headquarters.

The Cougars, who stood at No. 20 in the most recent USA TODAY Coaches' poll and at No. 21 in the latest Associated Press poll, enter Thursday's game following gritty home wins against LSU and Saint Louis last week. With those victories, the 2018-19 Cougars became the second team in school history to start a season 10-0 and the first since the 1967-68 team.

Senior point guard Galen Robinson Jr was honored Monday as the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week after leading the Cougars last week. The Houston native and Westbury Christian product led the Cougars with 15.5 points per game while hitting 52.0 percent of his shots from the field and added 4.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per contest.

This season, Robinson leads the Cougars and The American with 5.9 assists per game and ranks third in the league with a 3.3 assist-turnover ratio.

With those wins, the Cougars moved to 50-8 in home games since 2015-16. That includes a 4-0 record inside the Fertitta Center, a 19-1 mark in H&PE Arena and a 27-7 record in Hofheinz Pavilion.

Junior guard Armoni Brooks leads the Cougars with 15.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. The Round Rock, Texas, native is one of only two players to rank among The American's Top-10 leaders in both scoring and rebounding.

Senior guard Corey Davis Jr. is a close second with 15.7 points per game. The Lafayette, La., native broke out of an early shooting slump with a team-high 17 points, thanks to three 3-pointers and drained a tie-breaking trey with just 29 seconds remaining against Saint Louis on Sunday.

The Cougars currently stand at No. 9 nationally in the latest NCAA NET Rankings. This news system replaced the RPI as the primary sorting tool for evaluating teams by the NCAA Basketball Committee.

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BUY TICKETS
Fans can purchase mini-plans and single-game tickets online at UHCougars.com/tickets or by calling the Athletics Ticket Office at 713-GO-COOGS (462-6647).

Mini-plans start at only $40, while ingle-game tickets begin for as low as $12 for non-conference games and $10 for American Athletic contests.

ABOUT UTAH STATE
• Utah State has posted a 9-2 record this season… Aggies are 2-1 in road games in 2018-19.
• Utah State has won its last two games and four of its last five... Only a 95-80 win at BYU on Dec. 5 prevents a longer winning streak.
• In its most recent action, Utah State jumped out to a 44-28 lead at halftime against Alabama State and never looked back in an 86-48 home win inside Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday.
• Against Alabama State, guard Sam Merrill posted a game-high 16 points with five rebounds and five assists... Center Neemias Queta totaled 15 points with seven rebounds and four blocked shots, while Dwayne Brown Jr. added 14 points with seven rebounds... Guard Crew Ainge totlaed 11 points with six rebounds, and Diogo Brito totaled 10 points with three boards... Forward Quinn Taylor added nine points and a game-high nine rebounds.
• This season, Merrill leads the Aggies with 20.2 points and 4.2 assists per game... Brown adds 11.0 points per game to rank second on the team while Queta posts 10.3 points per game and a team-high 8.5 rebounds per game.
• Head Coach Craig Smith is in his first season at Utah State and his eighth as a collegiate head coach.
• Smith has compiled a 9-2 record at Utah State in 2018-19.
• Previously built a 79-55 record at South Dakota (2014-18) and a 72-29 mark at Mayville State (2004-07).
• Smith has posted an 0-1 record against Houston during his career with the loss coming with South Dakota during the 2016-17 season.
• Smith has posted an 0-1 record against Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson during their careers with the loss coming during his South Dakota stint during the 2016-17 season.
• 1996 graduate of North Dakota.

TELEVISION/RADIO
• Thursday's game can be seen on ESPN3 or by clicking here. Dave Raymond will call the play-by-play action with Houston great Reid Gettys providing analysis.
• Thursday's game can be heard on KPRC 950 AM and at uhcougars.com/watch by clicking here. Jeremy Branham will call the play-by-play action with Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes providing analysis.

UP NEXT
• Following Thursday's game, the Cougars continue their season-long, seven-game homestand against Coppin State at 3 p.m., Sunday
• From there, the homestand continues against NJIT (3 p.m., Dec. 29), Tulsa (7 p.m., Jan. 2) and Memphis (5 p.m., Jan. 6), all inside Fertitta Center.

JOIN the 50-50-CLUB
Fans are invited to join the 50-50 Club to support Houston Men's Basketball. 50-50 Club members help fund program necessities and enhance the experience for our student-athletes.

Fans who join the 50-50 Club will receive embroidered team apparel, a signed basketball, invitations to practice, a tour of the $25 million Guy V. Lewis Development Facility, regular updates about the program and much more.

To join the 50-50 Club, fans can call 713-743-9742 or email UHMensBasketball@uh.edu. For more information about the 50-50 Club, levels of giving and benefits, fans can click here.

STAY CONNECTED
Fans can receive updates by following @UHCougarMBK on Twitter and catch up with the latest news and notes on the team by clicking LIKE on the team' Facebook page at UHCougarMBK or by visiting the team's Instagram page at UHCougarMBK.

– UHCougars.com –