No. 6 Houston remaining on an even keel during run to top of Big 12 standings

By Canadian Press on February 15, 2025.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Kelvin Sampson has spent the past 11 years instilling a culture of discipline and consistency at Houston.

No matter what happens, the Cougars are going to play the same, never getting too high or low.

The buy-in has been evident the past few years with four straight Sweet 16s, a trip to the Final Four and, now, a stranglehold on the Big 12 race with less than a month left in the regular season.

“We’re really good at staying in the moment when everybody else is, somewhere else,” Sampson said Saturday after the sixth-ranked Cougars’ 62-58 win over No. 13 Arizona. “It’s not just about basketball lessons, it’s life lessons, focus. If you focus on what’s in front of you and not what’s ahead of you, you usually make better decisions.”

It’s hard to argue with Sampson’s methods.

The Cougars are annually one of the nation’s top defensive teams and usually one of the hardest playing. Facing them anywhere is often like getting into a street fight.

Houston (21-4, 13-1 Big 12) opened the season No. 4 in the preseason AP Top 25 and tumbled down the rankings after losses to top-ranked Auburn, No. 2 Alabama and San Diego State.

The Cougars have been almost unstoppable since then.

Houston beat UCF 69-68 on J’Wan Roberts’ layup with 1.1 seconds left on Jan. 18. The Cougars then pulled off one of the most improbable wins of the season two games later, knocking off No. 17 Kansas 92-86 in double overtime after overcoming a six-point deficit with 18 seconds left in the first extra period.

Houston’s only loss since the start of December was by one in overtime to No. 12 Texas Tech.

“We got lucky a couple of times, but whether we’re winning or losing, I don’t think it affects our preparation, our culture, how we go about our business,” Sampson said.

Houston created its own breaks against Arizona.

Playing their usual gritty style, the Cougars locked into a defensive battle against another of the nation’s best defensive teams. Houston trailed by seven midway through the second half, but went on a 12-0 run to go up seven and made all the big plays down the stretch to pull out a win in one of college basketball’s toughest road venues.

The Cougars have won 17 of 18 and have a two-game lead over the Wildcats in the Big 12 after stretching the nation’s longest active road-winning streak to 11.

“We played well enough defensively to win the game, we rebounded well enough to win a game,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “But you’ve got to play well on offense and that’s easier said than done against Houston.”

Defense has carried the Cougars in recent years and this year has been no different.

Houston leads the nation in scoring defense, giving up 57.3 points per game, and is sixth in field goal percentage against at 38.1%. The Cougars are third in the KenPom defensive efficiency ratings, behind No. 4 Tennessee and No. 8 St. John’s.

But with that D, Houston has a bit of offense to go with it.

The Cougars are middle of the pack nationally in scoring at 75.8 points per game, but are 7th nationally in 3-point shooting at 39.4% and 10th in offensive efficiency, according to KenPom.

Houston has multiple scoring options, with four players averaging in double figures, so it doesn’t have to rely on one person to carry the load.

Second-leading scorer Emanuel Sharp missed all six of his shots in a scoreless afternoon against Arizona, but Milos Uzan and L.J. Cryer took over when they needed to. Uzan finished with 19 points, Cryer had 15 and the pair combined to score 12 straight points during a key second-half run.

“The main thing was just having the confidence to take the shot — that’s how you win on the road,” Cryer said. “You’ve got to be confident in your abilities.”

The Cougars certainly aren’t lack for confident. Sampson has made sure of that.

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John Marshall, The Associated Press

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