No. 3 Houston Cougars Gear Up for Heavyweight Bout vs. No. 5 Iowa State
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The Houston Cougars, unsurprisingly, have been dominant once again as head coach Kelvin Sampson has his squad playing high-level basketball as the Coogs have been able to blend an experienced group with a young crop of talent to form a team that has only been getting better.
The Cougars are rolling heading into the back half of the season with a 23-2 overall record and sit at the top of the Big 12 rankings with an 11-1 conference record. Houston's only two losses of the season came early on against the Tennessee Volunteers and on the road against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
And like many of the games in the Big 12, the Cougars will face another tough challenge heading down the stretch of conference play, taking on one of the top teams not only in the Big 12 but in the entire nation.
Houston Battles Iowa State on the Road
The Cougars will return to the hardwood after taking care of the Kansas State Wildcats in a comfortable 78-64 victory at home. And now the Cougars will head back out on the road, traveling up to Ames, Iowa, to take on the No. 3 Iowa State Cyclones on Monday night.
Just like the Cougars, the Cyclones have also been rolling throughout the season, getting ready to host the Coogs with a 22-3 record and a 9-3 record in conference play, with those losses coming against the Kansas Jayhawks, Cincinnati Bearcats, and TCU Horned Frogs.
Head coach T. J. Otzelberger has his squad back on track after a loss to TCU with a big-time win there last time out, taking down the Jayhawks in their second meeting of the season, and the Cyclones put together a resounding performance, with a blowout 74-56 win at home against Kansas.
Iowa State is led by a high-powered front-court duo of forwards in Milan Momcilovic and Joshua Jefferson. Momcilovic will be the biggest name the Cougars will have to keep an eye out for as he enters the game as the Cyclones' leading scorer. The forward has been averaging 18.4 points per game while shooting over 50 percent from the field and from three-point range.
Jefferson is not too far from the Cyclones' leading scorer as the forward averages 16.7 points per game, the second most on the team, while shooting 48 percent from the field and 39 percent from three. The forward is also the Cyclones' leading rebounder, averaging 7.6 rebounds per game.
This game for the Cougars is the start of an extremely challenging three-game stretch beginning with Iowa State, followed by top-ranked Arizona, which will likely drop after its loss to Texas Tech, and then a trip to Allen Fieldhouse to take on currently No. 9-ranked Kansas.
