Sharp and Cenac lead No. 2 seed Houston into the Sweet 16 with a 88-57 blowout of Texas A&M

By Canadian Press on March 21, 2026.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Emanuel Sharp scored 18 points, Chris Cenac Jr. had 17 points and nine rebounds, and seed Houston rolled past Texas A&M 88-57 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday to reach the Sweet 16 for the seventh consecutive year.

Milos Uzan added 15 points for the Cougars (30-6), the No. 2 seed in the South Region. Houston will play in its home city on Thursday against either No. 3 seed Illinois or No. 11 seed VCU, and coach Kelvin Sampson’s squad — which lost in the national title game to Florida last year — again looks like an opponent nobody wants to play.

Josh Holloway scored 12 points in a reserve role for Texas A&M. The 10th-seeded Aggies (22-12), who beat St. Mary’s in the first round, struggled against Houston’s aggressive interior defense. The Cougars won the rebounding battle 46-29, had 19 offensive boards and blocked seven shots.

Holloway kept the Aggies close in the first half with a pair of 3-pointers. His second, with 9:21 left, cut the deficit to 23-19. But Houston, behind 14 points from Sharp and 10 from Cenac, outscored the Aggies 23-9 after that for a 46-28 lead at the break.

The Cougars, who made 30 of 68 shots (44%), extended their advantage to 67-39 on a 3-pointer by Milos Uzan with 11:17 left.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Tim Willert, The Associated Press

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