Houston Cougars Delivered Incredible Defensive Stand to Beat Auburn
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No. 1 Houston Cougars basketball found a way to remain undefeated (4-0) in a tough environment as they squeak by no. 22 Auburn in Birmingham, Alabama, 73-72.
Houston’s star freshmen officially broke out and showed their elite potential in a national showcase matchup as point guard Kingston Flemings put up 22 points on 8/13 shooting and forward/center Chris Cenac Jr. added 18 points and nine rebounds for a combined 40 points between them.
There was a lot to take away from this incredible game, but UH’s famous defense under head coach Kelvin Sampson put the nail in the coffin for this early season signature win.
The Defensive Wrap-Up
After the Cougars were up 73-66 with 2:57 to go, thanks to a 3-pointer from senior point guard Milos Uzan, Auburn made it a very tight and tense finish for Houston fans.
The Tigers rattled off six straight points thanks to four free throws and a dunk by Keshawn Murphy with 52 seconds left. The deficit was down to one thanks to the shooting at the charity stripe and a couple of Houston turnovers.
Senior guard Emanuel Sharp missed a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left, and that set up Auburn with the first of four chances to win it. Sophomore guard Tahaad Pettiford drove to the bucket for a layup, but that was cleanly blocked from behind by Flemings with 15 seconds to go.
On the following in-bound, Flemings once again came through as a pass to Pettiford was knocked out of bounds with just under 11 seconds left. The next in-bound featured another play for Pettiford as he finally got by Flemings to the bucket on this occasion but it was yet again rejected, this time by senior center Kalifa Sahko and freshman guard Isiah Harwell.
Now, just 1 second was left, but the game-ending block party was not over yet. On the deep in-bound pass to the paint, Uzan got a hand from behind for the final rejection and put the game away.
The Cougars were so relentless on the final four plays and displayed incredible discipline from a multitude of players to continuously block shots cleanly without fouling. The best team in the country will continue to have that title and showed why their defense is tough to go against down the stretch.
Five Cougars had a block in this game, compared to just two total for Auburn. While the Tigers had entered scoring at least 90 points in all three of their games, Houston limited them to just 72 points.
That is quite a common story when facing UH. Auburn shot 39% overall from the field and also made 21 free throws on 33 attempts, which certainly helped their point total.
Flemings was incredible on both sides of the ball, as he also dished out 7 assists and got five rebounds, besides his game-leading 22. His defense has not been talked about much, but it has been just as good as his offense.
The new-look Cougars pass their first test in a neutral-site road game, and there is a lot to look forward to.
Maanav Gupta is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He graduated from the University of Houston in the summer of 2025 with his bachelor’s in journalism and a minor in Spanish. Gupta spent three years at the student newspaper, The Daily Cougar, and also covered the 2025 Final Four and National Championship as Houston beat writer for College Basketball Review. He also has his own YouTube channel, Maanav’s Sports Talk, where he has interviewed professional athletes and broadcasters like Jim Nantz, Jose Altuve, J.J. Watt, Rich Eisen, and Alperen Sengun. Gupta was also a contributor to the Houston athletic program as a student. You can find Gupta on X, Instagram and TikTok @MGSportsTalk.