3 Takeaways From No. 7 Houston Cougars' Thriller Win Over No. 14 Texas Tech
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In front of a packed house at Fertitta Center, freshman guard Kingston Flemings' late heroics helped the No. 7 Houston Cougars capture a thrilling come-from-behind 69-65 win over No. 14 Texas Tech in their Big 12 home-opener Tuesday night, to help them move to 14-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
Over the final 2:11 of the game, Flemings mounted nine points, including two clutch triples that were a sight for sore eyes considering the Cougars had trouble getting good looks from the floor, capping his point total at 23 on the night.
When faced with the mounting wingspan of the Red Raiders and the Big 12's second-best rebounding leader in junior forward JT Toppin, the Cougars took what once was as large as a minus-6 margin on the glass to finish with a narrow edge.
The margin that mattered for Houston to secure the late win was none more than its cleanliness with the basketball, as the Cougars finished at plus-8 in turnovers off a team heavy on the pick-and-roll.
The three biggest takeaways lie within the top two scorers of the night for Houston, not just from Flemings' late-game heroics, but from a turnaround out of a scoreless outing from the floor and a surprise pair of double-doubles in the starting frontcourt
Flemings with the minutes of the year for Houston
If any player in men's college basketball could be a true recipient for a "minutes of the year" award, Flemings' final two minutes made the case.
Knowing Houston had a 2-for-10 stretch from the floor late as if it couldn't buy a shot considering the torrid stretches from deep from freshman guard Jaylen Petty and senior guard Donovan Atwell, Flemings took to a nine-point spurt that forced the Red Raiders to foul away late.
Nonetheless, it's just another candidacy outing for Flemings in the race to finish as a Big 12 Freshman of the Year finalist, possibly contending for the awarding.
Sharp's bounce-back outing proves substantial
If there was a complete confidence-inspiring performance from a 0-for-9 outing from the floor on Saturday against Cincinnati, Sharp's 17 points on 5-for-12 shooting showed a stacked effort when paired with Fleming's 23-point night.
From a collision he sustained eight days earlier with the use of heating pads to soften the blow, the worry for Sharp was him not feeling "100-percent" despite being a full go in practices.
That worry was dashed away, considering he had good looks from the floor Saturday, and instrumentally, he found his stride across playing nearly all 40 minutes on the floor tonight with 3-pointers already hard to come by from Texas Tech's defensive setup.
Frontcourt double-doubles
What helped Houston inch from behind in the rebound battle was potentially the best outing of the season by far in its starting frontcourt.
In contending with the likes of Toppin and redshirt junior forward LeJuan Watts, freshman forward Chris Cenac Jr. and junior forward Joseph Tugler each posted 11-point double-doubles off 10 boards.
Considering it was also their cleanest outing from foul trouble in a highly contested game, this proved crucial towards being able to create extra possessions with time running out.
Michael Carrara is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He attends the University of Houston, where he is a journalism major and a marketing minor. He is also a sports writer and reporter for the Daily Cougar, having covered baseball as an NCBWA member. You can find Michael on all major social media channels, including X on @michaelcoalec.