No. 7 Houston men’s basketball has a way of imposing its culture on you—whether you fight it or not.
“Houston just wants to beat you into submission and make you want to quit or be somewhere else,” Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said when asked to evaluate how the Cougars stack up in the Big 12. “The intensity they play with is different than probably anything I’ve played against this year.”
The Sun Devils have already faced some of the nation’s best in No. 1 Arizona and No. 9 BYU on the road, and on Sunday found themselves on the wrong side of a 103-73 loss at Fertitta Center.
Houston’s Big 12 dominance, having not allowed an opponent to reach 30 points in the first half for three straight games, wasn’t the result of a complicated game plan. It was simply Houston doing what it does best: growing as the season progresses.
“We’re just doing what we do every year,” coach Kelvin Sampson said. “We just get better. I can’t think of a year we haven’t.”
Within the first five minutes, every Houston starter had scored, from freshman guard Kingston Flemings getting on the board with a one-handed dunk to freshman forward Chris Cenac Jr. flashing his perimeter skill by knocking down two 3-pointers. It wasn’t long before the Cougars built a 24-2 lead.
Even when Arizona State attempted to fight its way back into the game, shrinking a once 33-point deficit to 13 by scoring 14 straight points, Houston’s starters found a way to unravel the Sun Devils once again with a 18-2 run of its own as all starters secured a point total in double figures.
The Cougars displayed more than just a high-scoring, efficient offense, shooting 12-for-25 from 3-point range and 56% from the field as they surpassed 100 points for the first time this season.
Senior guard Milos Uzan knocked down four triples and has now shot over 50% from beyond the arc over the past two games after opening the season at 25%, a sign he is beginning to mesh with Flemings, who finished with his seventh 20-point performance.
Flemings also contributed eight assists, with Cenac close behind with five. The forward continues to adapt to playing the four position, and tied a season high with 18 points while adding eight rebounds.
Junior forward JoJo Tugler scored 12 points, giving him five double-digit scoring performances over his last six games, largely a byproduct of staying out of foul trouble and remaining on the floor. Beyond scoring, he contributed seven rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal.
Redshirt senior guard Emanuel Sharp has grown into his leadership role, rarely missing a moment to offer direction to his teammates. He scored 16 points, including two triples, and continues to stabilize the still-developing freshman unit.
“They don’t have to do everything,” Hurley said of the talented freshman class. “They don’t have to carry the whole weight. They have guys like Tugler, Uzan and Sharp out there with them. They have something pretty special.”
Forcing 17 Sun Devil turnovers and limiting them to just 11 field goals in each half is a testament to the collective defensive intensity every Cougar brings to the floor.
On the offensive glass, Houston secured 15 offensive rebounds, just one shy of half its misses.
“How are you going to win a game when a team scores that many field goals, and even if they win, they get half of them back?” Hurley asked, perplexed.
That’s a question many teams will try to answer.
Next up, 17-1 Houston will face No. 15 Texas Tech on the road Jan. 24, with ESPN’s College GameDay in Lubbock for the matchup.
Author
Discover more from Cougar Sports
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.