History was made Saturday afternoon as the #2 Houston Cougars hosted the #4 Arizona Wildcats, making this the first top 5 matchup ever held at the Fertita Center. The difference was felt immediately upon arrival—a sold out arena, nationally televised game, and every attendee ready to witness top tier basketball.
The Cougars haven’t had many incredibly tough opponents for their home games, with the exception of Texas Tech. There also hadn’t been an upset alert in the Fertita Center before this game. However, the Wildcats aren’t just any other team.
Sitting at 24-2, Arizona has been playing elite ball all season, and they showed that from the jump after winning the tip (no pun intended). Getting out to a 9-2 lead early, they maintained this gap for the entirety of the first half, with their largest lead being 32-22 with over five minutes to play.
It proved tough for Houston to find consistent offense early on, as Arizona forced the Cougars to seven first half turnovers while only allowing five assists.
“At some point you’ve got to get transition points. The last two games that’s been our biggest bug-a-boo. We’re having to play way too much in the halfcourt,” coach Sampson explained. “If you’re not going to turn them over you have to turn their misses into transition points,”
Another separating factor lied in the bench scoring. Once again, Houston found itself on the lower half. Wings Chase McCarthy and Isaiah Harwell both hit timely threes to stop the score from getting out of hand early, but Arizona guard Anthony Dell’roso was the leading first half scoring 14 points off the bench, nearly doubling his season average.
With the exception of the turnovers, the Cougars still capitalized where they could. Scoring on putbacks as well as shooting 9-10 from the free throw line, they kept themselves in striking distance going into halftime.
Freshman forward Chris Cenac was making his presence known early putting up six points and leading the way with four rebounds. One of them being an offensive putback to end the half keeping them in range with Arizona leading 36-31.
The final half of play started even more competitive than the prior, Arizona still kept the lead but the shots fell early for Houston. Emanuel Sharp hit his second three of the game assisted by Kingston, then Milos Uzan dropped a dime to Cenac Jr. for a nice hook shot.
Every time Houston brought the score within one point Arizona caught a break. From a slip and a fall or a questionable call, the Cougars just couldn’t get over the hump. Until Milos Uzan curled off a screen on an inbound play under the basket and drained his first three.
Fertita Center was waiting to erupt. All they needed was a reason, and Uzan gave it to them. With a little under 15 minutes left, Houston now led 44-42.
The energy continued to rise, and Cougar freshmen duo Kingston Flemings and Chris Cenac rose to the occasion. Matching Arizona’s scoring, they took turns going back to back trying their best to hold on to the lead.
The Wildcats showed that this pressure isn’t new to them, keeping their composure and sure enough regained control, leading 58-50 with just under six minutes left.
Entering clutch time, Houston tightened up their loose ends. Forward Kalifa Sahko did his part with hitting free throws and having back to back blocks. Flemings hit a pull up three with over a minute left and Joseph Tugler got a putback dunk.
While Arizona had to work for every bucket they got, they still got every bucket they wanted. Tough shot after tough shot, and Houston just couldn’t fully keep up, even when the offense worked to perfection, the ball would rim and roll out the hoop.
Proving why they’ve been ranked number one majority of the season, the Wildcats were able to secure a 73-66 win at the Fertita Center.
“The message was simple, winning things,” Kansas head coach Tommy Lloyd said. “Get back to winning things and the things and the things that drive winning. Don’t be result oriented, walk into a process.”
For the first time this season, and in four years, the Cougars have lost back to back games. Iowa State and the University of Arizona are two of the toughest teams in the country, and Houston’s schedule will remain just as tough as they head into Allen Fieldhouse to play against the #8 ranked Kansas Jayhawks Monday night.
Delivered by Le’Raun Peron
