Houston Cougars On SI

4 takeaways from Houston’s 30-point win at Kansas State

Cougars play a turnover-free first half in recording 8th straight victory
Buck Ringgold|
Houston forward Joseph Tugler (right)
Houston forward Joseph Tugler (right) | Scott Sewell/Imagn Images

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Houston Cougars

Make it eight straight wins for Houston’s basketball team, and the Cougars’ latest victory may have been the most impressive in that span.

The Cougars got five players in double figures and used a pair of pivotal first-half runs to build a big lead and maintain it in an 87-57 win at Kansas State Saturday in Big 12 Conference action.

Houston downs Kansas St.: Live updates, score of Big 12 Conference basketball battle

Here are four takeaways from the latest win by Houston, which also moved to 4-0 in conference play.

Houston's J'wan Roberts achieves pair of milestones in latest Cougars' win

Turnover-Free Half

One of the main stats from Saturday’s win was the fact that Houston did not commit a single turnover in the opening half.

At that point, the Cougars were in command, taking a 46-24 lead into the locker room at intermission. Houston didn’t commit its first turnover until nearly 13 minutes left in the game, and finished with only five turnovers.

By contrast, the Houston Texans committed two turnovers in the first half of Saturday’s AFC wild card game, including one on their very first play. But the Texans shook off those errors, and went on to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers, 32-12.

“Not to make this game complicated because it’s not, if you defend, rebound and take care of the ball, those three things, you’re usually going to be pretty good,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “I think we led the nation last year in fewest turnovers committed, and we’ve got a brand new point guard (Milos Uzan), and we’re kind of trending that way again. 

“Our guys made good decisions with the ball. … Turnovers are usually because of poor decision-making.”

Still Sharp

For the third straight game, Houston junior guard Emanuel Sharp hit double figures, and achieved that before halftime.

Sharp led the Cougars with 15 points, all coming in the first half. He also had three 3-pointers.

His first trey came at an opportune time. Kansas State opened the game on a 9-5 run, but Sharp got the Cougars within a point after making a 3.

That started a 16-2 run that put Houston ahead to stay, 21-11, with Sharp making another 3 during that spurt. Sharp’s last 3 gave Houston a 28-16 lead with less than nine minutes to go in the half.

After Coleman Hawkins made a 3 seconds later for Kansas State, the Cougars reeled off 12 straight points. The last two points on that run came on a jumper from Sharp with exactly four minutes to go until the break, which put Houston in control with a 40-19 advantage.

Double-Doubling Up

Houston sophomore forward Joseph Tugler achieved a career first in Saturday’s win, getting his first double-double.

Tugler ended up with 13 points and got his elusive double-double with his 10th rebound. He also blocked two shots, one of which set up a dunk from Tugler on the other end, receiving a pass from Milos Uzan for the follow slam.

That, ironically enough, doubled the Cougars’ lead on the Wildcats, 44-22, late in the first half.

Houston nearly had a second player record a double-double as senior center Ja’Vier Francis had 11 points. But he finished a rebound shy of that, ending up with nine, though both his point and rebound totals were season highs.

Another Reunion

Houston graduate guard LJ Cryer has a bit of a history with Kansas State coach Jerome Tang.

Cryer previously played at Baylor, where Tang served as an assistant coach. Both were part of the Bears’ 2021 national championship team.

Tang is in his third season at Kansas State. He faced off against Cryer last season when the Wildcats traveled to face Houston, with the Cougars taking a 74-52 win, with Cryer scoring 7 points.

Saturday, Cryer got in double figures, ending up with 11 points. Afterward, he downplayed the significance of going up against his old assistant coach.

“It’s pretty cool, it’s not as big of a deal as other people may make it seem,” Cryer said. “That’s not my first time playing them, but it’s always good to compete against somebody you know, it’s kind of like a little friendly (rivalry).”

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Buck Ringgold
BUCK RINGGOLD

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