Emanuel Sharp scored 23 points, 19 of them before halftime, as No. 7 Houston ran up a huge first-half lead and rolled to an 80-38 win over visiting Jackson State on Wednesday.
Houston (9-1) led by 24 points at halftime and expanded its advantage to as many as 41 points midway through the second half before winning by 42. The victory was the third straight for the Cougars after their lone loss of the year, a 76-73 loss to then-No. 17 Tennessee in Las Vegas on Nov. 25.
Isiah Harwell added 20 points for Houston, which forced 25 turnovers it turned into 30 points, and racked up 25 second-chance points thanks to 18 offensive rebounds.
Jayme Mitchell Jr. led Jackson State (1-8) with 12 points.
The Cougars staggered out of the gate, spotting Jackson State a 9-8 lead after Dorian McMillian canned a 3-pointer three and a half minutes into the game. Houston then reeled off a 9-0 run capped by Harwell’s layup at the 14:18 mark of the first half to take charge.
The Tigers’ Mike Williams hit a three that cut Houston’s lead to 21-16 with 10:34 to play in the half, but those were Jackson State’s final points of the half. The Cougars finished the period on a 15-0 run during which Jackson State missed its final 12 shots from the floor and committed eight of its 15 first-half turnovers.
Sharp had 11 of Houston’s points during that surge, after which the Cougars led 40-16 at the break. He finished the half with 19 points — three more points than Jackson State had as a team — while Harwell added nine points for Houston before halftime.
The Cougars outshot Jackson State 47.7 percent to 29.5 percent in the game and outrebounded the visitors 18-7 on the offensive glass.
No Tigers player had more than Williams’ four points in the first half.
Things were much the same in the second half as Houston outscored the Tigers 18-6 over the first seven minutes in building its lead to 36 points before cruising to the finish line.
