Houston rallies past LSU 82-76 to remain undefeated

Trailing by 15 points early in the second half Wednesday night, the 24th-ranked Houston Cougars rallied to stun the LSU Tigers 82-76 at the Fertitta Center.

With the win, the Cougars of the American Athletic Conference improved to 9-0 on the season.

Houston has beaten teams from the Pac-12 (Oregon), the Big 12 (Oklahoma State) and now the Southeastern Conference (LSU) since Dec. 1.

LSU tumbled to 7-3 on the season despite leading by 10 at halftime and by 50-35 with 19:04 remaining.

Houston’s backcourt play proved to be the difference, with senior guard Galen Robinson Jr. leading the way with 18 points, six assists and five rebounds.

Junior guard Armoni Brooks had 13 points and nine rebounds, with all of his scoring coming in the second half.

After LSU pulled to within two with 28 seconds left, Houston guard Corey Davis Jr. sank four straight free throws for the final points.

Ja’Vonte Smart paced the Tigers with 18 points. LSU, a 34-percent shooting team on three-pointers, finished 5 of 26 from beyond the arc.

Notable

Houston has won 22 games in a row at home, including a 2-0 record at the Fertitta Center, its new, refurbished, on-campus facility. For a little more than a year, the Cougars had been playing their home games at nearby Texas Southern University as a $60 million makeover was done on the former Hofheinz Pavilion. Crowds announced at a little more than 7,000 have packed the new building since it opened on Dec. 1 against Oregon.

Quotable

“This building is not winning the game for us, but what our winning is doing is putting people in an incredible arena. You could feel it. We didn’t have this before. We had to win games like this by manufacturing our own enthusiasm. We didn’t always get a little help. That crowd was incredible. That crowd was a big reason we won.” — Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, according to comments posted on the UH athletics’ website.