Coming off their best win of the season against Southern Miss. Feb. 18 in a 73-71 thriller, the Cougars could not carry the momentum with a 66-58 loss at Marshall. Houston drops to 12-14 on the season with a disappointing 4-9 C-USA record.
C-USA Player of the Week Jonathon Simmons did nothing to back it up with two points in the loss to the Thundering Herd. Simmons played only 23 minutes, shot 1-7 from the field, while committing four turnovers. Leon Gibson came off the bench to score 17 points and grab 11 rebounds to lead the Cougars.
Despite a 31-23 halftime lead, Houston showed little signs of closing out the game allowing Marshall to outscore them in the second half 43-27 and have four players finish in double-figure scoring led by 15 points from Damier Pitts.
The Cougars have struggled this season to lose eight of their last 11 games after a solid 9-5 start with wins over Arkansas and Tulsa. Houston comes back home for two of their final three regular season games before they head to Memphis for the C-USA Tournament. Simmons will have to rally the troops to win out and win the C-USA Tournament if the Cougars plan on making a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Cougars Remaining Schedule:
Feb. 25 vs. SMU
Feb. 29 vs. Tulane
March 3 at Rice.
The Cougars will be in the city of Houston for these final three games and winning them all would carry some much need momentum going into the C-USA Tournament. Houston is currently in 9th place in C-USA.