The Good, Bad, and Ugly from No. 1 Houston's Tight Win Over No. 22 Auburn
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After beginning the season 3-0 and moving to No. 1 in the country, the Houston Cougars were met with their first ranked matchup against the No. 22 Auburn Tigers. With some impressive defensive stops in the final seconds, the Cougars came away with the ranked win by a score of 73-72 on Sunday night in Birmingham, AL.
In last year's annual showdown between the two programs, the No. 11 ranked-Tigers knocked off No. 4-ranked Houston, 74-69. A little over a year later, head coach Kelvin Sampson and the Cougars looked to avenge the 2024 loss with a completely different starting five.
Offensively, Houston had four that reached double-digit scoring. Kingston Flemings led the way with a 22-point performance shooting 8 for 13 from the field, while Chris Cenac Jr. tallied an impressive 18 points shooting 8 for 10. Emanuel Sharp and Milos Uzan also scored 13 and 11 for the Cougars respectively.
The Good: Kingston Flemings is Taking College Basketball by Storm
The emergence of Houston's freshman class has been something special to watch this early in the season. At the beginning of the season, Kingston Flemings quickly established himself as one of Houston's best playmakers. The true freshman showed why he's been gaining national attention by tallying 22 points, five rebounds, and seven assists against the Tigers on Saturday afternoon.
In the first half, Flemings came out firing on all cylinders with an 18-point performance that allowed Houston to control the pace of the game. While the Tigers offense stayed within 4-5 points for the majority of the game, Flemings and his skilled shot creation allowed the Cougars to take a four-point lead into the second half.
In only four games as a Cougar, Flemings is averaging over 17 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game. To summarize, the freshman from San Antonio is special.
The Bad: Second-Half Foul Trouble
One of the more negative takeaways from Houston's win over Auburn was the trouble with fouling, particularly late in the second half. In the final four minutes, both Chris Cenac Jr. and Joseph Tugler fouled out leading to momentum shifting Auburn's way.
Without one of Houston's best defenders, the Tigers narrowed the gap and forced Houston into an uncomfortable style of play. As a team the Cougars totaled 23 fouls compared to just 14 for the Tigers. Coach Sampson was visibly frustrated when Tugler fouled out with under two minutes left to play.
The Ugly: Too Close for Comfort
While finding the ranked win as the visiting team is good, it doesn't take a basketball savant to tell you that the Cougars didn't play their best brand of basketball today.
Auburn, a program that tends to pride themselves on it's offense, shot only 39% from the floor and made just seven of 22 attempts from the three-point line. The Tigers also shot an underwhelming 64% from the free-throw line. If Auburn had shot just a little better either from the floor or at the line, we would likely have witnessed a completely different result.
This goes back to the foul trouble that the Cougars put themselves in with some sloppy defensive performances. Going forward, the Cougars are going to need to be smarter with how aggressive they are on both sides of the court.
