Houston keeps “main thing” in focus ahead of Sweet 16 clash with Illinois

What does No. 2 Houston men’s basketball do to stay focused playing the South Regionals just minutes from campus? 

Nothing out of the ordinary. 

It’s all about “keeping the main thing, the main thing,” according to redshirt senior guard Emanuel Sharp. 

Doing so will be vital as the Cougars are set to play in their seventh consecutive regional semifinal, beginning with No. 3 Illinois on Thursday night at 9:05 p.m. inside Toyota Center.

Here are some of the storylines surrounding Houston’s Sweet 16 matchup with Illinois.

Star freshman guards face off 

Guard Kingston Flemings’ career-high 42 points in a January 23 loss to then-No. 12 Texas Tech to set a program record for points in a game by a freshman was not the only historic performance by a guard of his class that day.

Around the same time, Illinois freshman guard Keaton Wagler scored an equally-historic 46 points while going 9-for-11 from 3-point range in an 88-82 win over then-No. 4 Purdue at Mackey Arena.

Wagler’s freshman campaign—in which he currently averages 17.8 points per game, 4.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists—earned him second-team All-American honors by the Associated Press. 

Flemings, who was honored as a third-team All-American, boasts similar numbers all across the board with his 16.2 points per game, alongside 4.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists. 

“He’s had a great year,” Flemings said. “He plays at his own pace, hard to speed him up. He’s the engine to their offense.” 

Flemings took note of Wagler’s rebounding, while acknowledging the difficulty of possessing such ability as a freshman.

Improved rebounding from the guard position has been stressed by Houston’s guards all season long, and Flemings has answered that call, averaging five per game over his last 12 contests.

Both Wagler and Flemings’ rebounding proves vital to two programs which pride themselves on applying pressure on the glass. Illinois ranks top 10 nationally in total rebounds as well as offensive rebounds, while Houston is averaging 42.3 across its previous three matchups. 

A high-scoring offense versus “Cougar defense“

Illinois comes into Thursday night with the second-best offensive rating in college basketball per KenPom at 131.6. The Fighting Illini’s 84.7 points per game are also the fifth-most of any remaining Sweet 16 team.

Houston, on the other hand, boasts the fourth-best defensive rating at 90.9.

Part of what goes into Illinois’ high-scoring output is its offensive rebounding, as the program averages 12.1 a game, giving its potent offense even more possessions to tack on points. 

Illinois has seven different players averaging at least one offensive rebound per game, with freshman forward David Mirkovic, who leads the team in rebounding at 7.9, and averages 2.5 boards per game of the offensive glass. 

Wagler is the team’s second-leading offensive rebounder with 1.9. 

“When you rebound that much, you’re getting rebounds off your misses, you have more chances to score,” senior guard Milos Uzan said. “Just knowing how hard it is to get offensive rebounds and knowing how good they are, it’s just great watching them play like that, so it’s going to be a tall task for us, for sure.”

Houston knows what that’s like, tallying 12 offensive rebounds in the first half of its 88-57 rout of Texas A&M in the round of 32, including a trip where it grabbed three in succession.

“It just makes it even more important for us to be locked in on the defensive end,” Sharp said. “What we’re doing, being connected, knowing the scouting report, and just being clean in our areas.”

Playing a pressure-free South Regional

Getting to play 2.7 miles from UH’s campus brings some benefits along with it. 

A short, 10-minute drive to the team hotel. A golden opportunity for Houston fans to make their presence felt. Players’ and staff members’ families don’t have to travel far.

Still, the Cougars kept their same routine as if they were flying out of an airport, packing up all their luggage, boarding the bus and even carrying their usual travel meals.

Of the drawbacks it may have, one of them will not be additional pressure from playing so close to the university.

“I feel like pressure is self-induced. I don’t really think you should have more pressure because you’re playing in Houston,” Flemings said. At the end of the day we’re just excited to play here.”

Just one year ago, Houston was having to play de-facto road games in the Midwest Regionals against Purdue and Tennessee, at Indianapolis, In.

Houston won both of those games to advance to the Final Four, proving a homecourt advantage on paper could only do so much. 

“It doesn’t really give you too much of an advantage, honestly,” Uzan said. “Every team here is good, and, yeah, it doesn’t really give you too much advantage. I think we just continue with the same preparation and live with the results.”