LJ Cryer scored 20 points on Saturday as No. 3 Houston rolled to an 89-55 victory over visiting West Virginia in the Cougars’ first conference game as a member of the Big 12.
Damian Dunn scored 14 points and Ja’Vier Francis added 13 for the Cougars (14-0, 1-0 Big 12), who continued the third best start in program history. Jamal Shead had 11 assists to go with eight points, five rebounds and four blocked shots for Houston.
The Cougars have nine victories by 30 or more points this season.
Pat Suemnick had 12 points for West Virginia (5-9, 0-1), which has dropped eight of its past 11 games.
RaeQuan Battle had just four points on 1-of-9 shooting. Battle averaged 27.3 points over his first three games with the Mountaineers after being cleared to join the program as a two-time transfer.
Houston shot 53.1 percent from the field and was 9 of 18 from 3-point range. The Cougars committed just five turnovers.
The Mountaineers connected on just 32.1 percent of their attempts, including 4 of 23 from behind the arc.
Cryer made four 3-pointers during a 16-point first half to help the Cougars hold a 48-22 lead at the break. Noah Farrakhan had seven points in the half for West Virginia.
Cryer made two 3-pointers and had eight points before the game was eight minutes old.
Akok Akok drained a 3-pointer to pull the Mountaineers within 16-10 with 11:02 left in the half before the Cougars went on a 20-5 surge. A layup by Shead capped it to make it 36-15 with 4:23 remaining.
Cryer later hit two more treys during an 8-0 run that pushed Houston’s lead to 27.
The Cougars continued the assault in the second half and the lead went over 30 when Shead tipped in his own miss to make it 57-26 with 15:33 remaining. Shead’s basket came during a 13-1 run that saw Houston’s lead reach 66-27 with 13:03 left.
The advantage remained large throughout the rest of the contest.
–Field Level Media