Little things loom large as No. 2 Houston slips in Big 12 race with loss to No. 4 Arizona

No. 2 Houston men’s basketball received a reminder Saturday that winning the Big 12 conference demands precision in the biggest moments.

“When you are playing for these stakes at this high level, and the other teams are just as good as you are, sometimes it comes down to little things,” coach Kelvin Sampson said after Houston’s 73-66 loss to No. 4 Arizona at Fertitta Center.

The Cougars, who lost at home for only the second time in 53 games, are left searching for answers after consecutive losses, a position they have found themselves in just three times since 2017.

“We usually defend home court, today we didn’t. It sucks. We had great fans, had a great crowd,” redshirt senior guard Emanuel Sharp said pointing towards the team lacking the necessary attitude.

For coach Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats, who now sit atop the Big 12, last week’s two losses to No. 9 Kansas and No. 16 Texas Tech yielded wins this week against No. 23 BYU and Houston, and a chance to assess their flaws.

Now, the Cougars have a similar opportunity to hone in on the details that made the difference in their past two outings.

The turning point came in a series of missed chances midway through the second half. With just over 10 minutes remaining, graduate forward Kalifa Sakho had an opportunity to restore a Houston lead that had never extended past two points midway through the half. He missed both free throws, then committed a foul on the ensuing possession.

Later, with 6:17 to play, senior guard Emanuel Sharp stepped to the line looking to snap a nearly six-minute scoring drought, but missed the front end of a one-and-one.

Those empty trips fueled a decisive 12-0 Arizona run that stretched the Wildcats’ advantage to 10 points with 5:30 left.

Arizona capitalized on Houston’s mistakes, scoring 16 points off 12 turnovers. The Cougars, meanwhile, managed just three points off Wildcat miscues, a continuation of an issue that surfaced earlier in the week in a 70-67 loss to No. 6 Iowa State, when Houston failed to convert a single turnover into points.

“Either turn them over or turn their misses into transition points,” Sampson said, outlining the formula Houston needed to follow.

The Cougars did neither, forcing only five Arizona turnovers and struggling to secure key defensive rebounds.

“You’ve got to get transition points, and the last two games that’s been our biggest bugaboo,” Sampson said. “We are having to play way too much in the half-court. We are not scoring off our defense as much.”

With just over 14 minutes remaining, senior guard Milos Uzan gave Houston its first lead of the game with a triple from the top of the key, at 44-42, but the Cougars could never extend it, instead exchanging it multiple times with the Wildcats.

A 3-pointer from senior guard Anthony Dell’Orso gave the Wildcats back the lead. He led all scorers with 22 points off the bench, stepping up in the absence of freshman forward Koa Peat, who was out with a lower leg muscle strain.

Freshman guard Kingston Flemings finished with 17 points and eight rebounds despite not scoring until there were 2:31 left in the first half. At that point, he hit a jumper to cut into the Wildcats’ 10-point lead, which was their largest of the game. 

The Cougars contained Arizona freshman guard Brayden Burries for much of the night, holding the Wildcats’ leading scorer without a point until the final 10 minutes. 

Next, Houston will travel to Lawrence, Kan., for the third consecutive season to take on No. 8 Kansas, its third opponent ranked in the top 10 in eight days. 

“When teams play Arizona or Houston or Texas Tech or Iowa State or Kansas…when those teams play, two things are guaranteed: a really good team is going to win, and a really good team is going to lose,” Sampson said.