Tulane Green Wave vs Houston Cougars Box Score on Mar 12, 2021

DeJon Jarreau recorded a triple-double and the seventh-ranked Houston Cougars turned another stifling defensive effort into a 77-52 victory over the Tulane Green Wave in the American Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinals on Friday in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Cougars will oppose Memphis in the semifinals on Saturday. The Tigers beat UCF 70-62 in the late game on Friday.

Jarreau totaled 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to notch the first triple-double for Houston (22-3) since Bo Outlaw achieved the feat in 1993. Houston needed his versatile effort given the shooting struggles of Quentin Grimes, the conference Co-Player of the Year, who shot just 4 of 12 en route to matching Jarreau for game-high scoring honors.

Marcus Sasser added 14 points on 4-of-8 3-point shooting while Justin Gorham chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds. The second-seeded Cougars advanced to the tournament semifinals by virtue of a 44-28 rebounding advantage and 15-of-25 shooting in the second half.

The Cougars pulled away with a 12-2 run in the second half, a spurt that included a short jumper and two free throws from Jarreau and was bookmarked by a pair of Sasser 3s. Tulane (10-13) went more than five minutes without a field goal as Houston extended to a 60-42 lead.

Kevin Cross paced the Green Wave with 11 points and four assists and added four rebounds. After combining for 46 points in a first-round win over Tulsa on Thursday, Jordan Walker and Jaylen Forbes totaled just 18 points on 8-of-24 shooting for Tulane. The Green Wave shot 8 of 27 in the second half and missed 8 of 9 3-pointers.

Tulane also missed 10 of 18 free throws in the defeat.

After trailing by an average of 21 points at the intermission of the two regular-season meetings, Tulane clawed its way to a 33-29 halftime deficit on Friday.

The Green Wave started the game 4-for-4 from the floor and stayed within striking distance by getting timely 3s from R.J. McGee and Forbes.

But Houston kept pounding away on the glass and finally secured its first double-digit lead at 48-38 on a Grimes 3-pointer with 12:07 left to play. Tulane proved unable to muster a reply.

--Field Level Media