The Houston Cougars brought their undefeated conference play back home to the Fertita Center Tuesday night against the West Virginia Mountaineers increasing their win streak to 10. Now having a record of 16-1 overall and 4-0 in Big 12 competition.
After solid wins over two in state universities, home against Texas Tech and on the road against the Baylor Bears the No. 7 Cougars were welcomed warmly by a Houston Blue crowd. They fed off the energy early with center, Joseph Tugler winning the opening tip and scoring an and one on the opening possession.
As usual for Houston the energy was doubled on the defensive end, forcing three early turnovers which helped push them get an early 15-2 lead. They ended the game hitting their season average, forcing 15 turnovers, scoring 17 points off of the extra possessions as well as tallying 20 points in the paint with 19 second chance points.
“There’s a reason why they are who they are,” West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge said. “They’re a handful to keep out of the paint, you want them to see bodies but I don’t think we got out quick enough and to Milos’ credit he made a couple difficult ones and that’s what you would expect from a senior guard who played in the national championship.”
This was another strong night for Houston’s wings, each doing their part to maintain the lead. Freshman guard Kingston Flemings finished with 10 points and 7 assists, while senior guards Milos Uzan and Emanuel Sharp combined and shot 8/18 from 3.
“I workout with Milos every day. We go at each other in our workouts,” Sharp said regarding their play. “It’s always competitive, we’ve built that chemistry over time. Especially with Kingston coming in we’ve spent a lot of time going against each other. That’s the good thing about all three of us, we’re unselfish. When we play off of each other that’s when we’re at our best, not just us three but all five of us.”
Milos Uzan had his best shooting night of the season thus far, gaining 15 of his 17 points from behind the arc shooting 55% from three. When asked about the team chemistry he kept it simple and agreed.
“Spot on,” Uzan added.
Houston’s bigs continued to hold their own and capitalized on extra possessions they created. Junior forward Joseph Tugler secured five offensive rebounds, had four steals and finished with 10 points. While freshman center Chris Cenac Jr. had a team high of 10 rebounds.
“The work I do out there lets me know if I had a good game,” Tugler explained. “Rebounding, stopping the ball [creating] turnovers, line of scrimmage, guarding the pick and roll. All the small stuff, that’s how I know if I had a good game, the small stuff.”
The Cougars will look to extend their home, conference and overall winning streak Sunday evening against the 10-6 Arizona State Sun Devils back at the Fertita Center Sunday evening.
Delivered by Le’Raun Peron
