No. 5 Houston Basketball Rolls Past No. 14 Kansas To Advance To Big 12 Championship Game
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Houston basketball picked up a huge 69-47 win over the Kansas Jayhawks on Friday night in the semifinal round of the Big 12 Conference Tournament, in Kansas City, Mo.
Houston’s defense was the story of the night as they held the Jayhawks to just 47 points.
With the victory, the Cougars will face No. 2 Arizona in the championship game on Saturday evening at 5 p.m.
Houston vs Kansas Game Recap
After closing out a close 73-66 contest last night against BYU, Friday’s game was a different story as Houston dominated both sides of the ball.
The Cougars’ key to being successful starts on the defensive end, and tonight they were too much for Kansas.
Houston held the Jayhawks to a season-low 47 points and they had no answers on the offensive end.
They also forced Kansas to take tough shots all night long, leading to the Jayhawks to shoot just 25 percent from the field, which is the lowest field goal percentage ever in the Big 12 Conference Tournament.
Houston’s defense is starting to gel at the right time, and this level of intensity and effort will be needed as they face some of the best teams in the league throughout March.
For the offense, freshman guard Kingston Flemings took over and he led all scorers with 21 points.
He also went 3-for-4 from behind the arc, which is a good sign considering that three-point shooting isn’t Flemings’ strong suit.
The best player on the floor however was Houston’s other star freshman Chris Cenac Jr.
He helped power Houston to an eight-point halftime lead with 15 points in the first half.
Cenac finished with one of his best stat lines of the season with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
His commitment on the boards is what makes him a valuable weapon for the Cougars, along with his ability shoot from behind the arc, finishing 3-for-4 from deep.
Senior guard Emanuel Sharp also had a better shooting game after a tough stretch, finishing with nine points, coming from three made three-pointers.
Houston had total control of this game after suffering a 13-points loss to Kansas earlier this season.
Now, they will face the Arizona Wildcats in the Big 12 Championship game, which is a rematch from last season where the Cougars won 72-64.
The Cougars look to get revenge on Arizona, after the Wildcats handed them their only home loss of the season, and they took the outright Big 12 Regular Season Chamipon Title.
Ashton Grissom is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He is currently a senior at the University of Houston and majoring in Sports Media Production with a minor in Marketing and Spanish. He also works for two student organizations: The Cougar and CoogTV. You can find Grissom on his Instagram (@ashtonagrissom8) or Twitter (@ashtongrissom8).