Guard Corey Davis Jr. scored 15 of his game-high 26 points in the first half, and No. 3 Houston suffocated Georgia State's normally lethal perimeter shooting en route to an 84-55 victory in the first round of the Midwest Region on Friday night in Tulsa, Okla.
Houston (32-3) will face No. 11 Ohio State in the second round on Sunday, after the Buckeyes hung on to upset No. 6 Iowa State late Friday evening.
Houston led 40-31 at the half, and Davis then scored eight consecutive Cougars points in the first 2:50 of the second half to extend the edge to 50-33.
Davis did virtually all of his damage from long range. Seventeen of his first 20 shots were 3-pointers, and he made seven of those. Houston used a 21-3 run to lead by as many as 29 points, 73-44, with 6:01 left.
The Cougars put three other players in double figures: Fabian White Jr. with 14, Breaon Brady with 13 and Dejon Jarreau with 10. White grabbed 11 rebounds.
No. 14 Georgia State had made an average of 9.5 3-pointers per game this season, but the Panthers went just 6 of 23 (26.1 percent) from long distance against Houston.
Houston entered the game as the nation's leader in field-goal percentage defense, and the Cougars held Georgia State (24-10) to 18-of-60 shooting (30 percent).
The Cougars made six of their first eight shots to vault to a 15-3 lead 4 1/2 minutes into the game. Davis converted a four-point play by making his first 3-pointer of the game from the left wing despite heavy contact and then adding the free throw, and Brady hit back-to-back shots in the paint.
Davis' second 3-pointer of the game extended the lead to 18-5. The Panthers missed eight of their first nine shots in the first 6:44. Davis finished the first half with a team-high 15 points, hitting 4 of 9 from 3-point range.
The Cougars, one of the country's best rebounding teams, outrebounded Georgia State 24-13 in the first half and 51-27 overall.
D'Marcus Simonds kept Georgia State within striking distance with 11 first-half points. Simonds finished with a team-high 18.
--Field Level Media
Georgia St. | Houston | |
D'Marcus Simonds 18 | Scoring | Corey Davis Jr. 26 |
D'Marcus Simonds 2 | Assists | Dejon Jarreau 7 |
Damon Wilson 7 | Rebounds | Fabian White Jr. 11 |
Devin Mitchell 4 | Free Throws Made | Fabian White Jr. 4 |
Malik Benlevi 2 | Steals | Armoni Brooks 2 |
D'Marcus Simonds 1 | Blocks | Breaon Brady 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Georgia St. | 55 | 30.0 | 6-23 | 13-17 | 5 | 24 | 1 | 6 | 7 |
Houston | 84 | 51.6 | 8-29 | 10-13 | 22 | 46 | 5 | 3 | 11 |