The first half of the Houston-Tennessee Elite Eight game was all about the Coogs.

At the half, top-seeded Houston holds a 34-15 lead over 2-seed Tennessee.

This was far and away Houston’s best defensive opening half of the tournament so far. Their next best performance in a first half was against 16-seed SIU Edwardsville in the opening round, when they allowed 24 points.

READ MORE: Houston rolls SIU Edwardsville 78-40 in opening round of March Madness tournament

In one of their most dominant defensive performances in recent memory, the Cougars absolutely pounced on Volunteers. Although both teams struggled offensively, Houston still shot nearly twice as high of a mark from the field as Tennessee (41.7 percent compared to 21.4 percent). Tennessee also made just one of their 15 attempts from three.

LJ Cryer—who was held to just five points in Houston’s Sweet 16 win over Purdue—led all first half scorers with 10 points. Tennessee’s two leading scorers were Felix Okpara and Jordan Gainey, who had four points each.

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