On an opening night in which they unfurled a Final Four banner from the rafters of the Fertitta Center, Kelvin Sampson earned his 800th career win and second-ranked Houston handled visiting Lehigh 75-57 on Monday night.
Over a 36-year career coaching at Montana Tech, Washington State, Oklahoma, Indiana and Houston, Sampson now has compiled a record of 800-354, including last season’s run to the NCAA championship game.
This win, Sampson’s 300th at Houston, featured a familiar script for a Sampson-coached squad, with Houston getting more rebounds (43-30) and shot attempts (61-51) while holding its opponent to worse than 40 percent shooting from the field.
Emanuel Sharp scored 24 points while making 9 of 10 from the free-throw line, pacing the Cougars in both categories. He added seven rebounds. Freshman Chris Cenac Jr. chipped in 12 points with 10 rebounds, and Joseph Tugler contributed 11. Milos Uzan added 12 points, five assists and five rebounds.
Lehigh captain Nasir Whitlock provided the main offensive thrust for the Mountain Hawks, scoring 18 to go along with nine rebounds. Hank Alvey had 10 points and eight rebounds, Caleb Thomas scored 10 and Joshua Ingram scored nine on 4-of-6 shooting.
The Big 12 favorite Cougars never saw their second-half lead dip below 15 points as they coasted to the finish line.
Houston sprinted out to a 12-0 lead over the game’s first five minutes, spurred on by Cenac’s quick seven points. The freshman finished the first half with 12 points, second-best among all scorers behind teammate Sharp’s 13.
Sharp punctuated another Cougars run to close the first half, drawing a foul on a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left. His three makes from the free-throw line finished a 12-2 run, giving Houston a 44-23 halftime lead.
The Cougars shot 57 percent and forced 10 turnovers in building the 21-point advantage.
Sharp’s quick cut to the lane netted him a bucket and free throw at the 8:35 mark of the second half, giving Houston its largest lead to that point at 64-41. A Kingston Flemings pull-up jumper made the lead 24 just under two minutes later.
