Houston basketball fell to Auburn, 74-69, in one of the first instant classics of the season.
In what felt like a March Madness game and atmosphere, the Houston Cougars and Auburn Tigers played a classic back-and-forth exciting game where Auburn was eventually able to come out on top. The matchup of top 11 teams in the battleground 2k24 definitely lived up to the hype.
“Tonight, we got exposed in certain areas that we’ve gotta go back and figure out how we can get better,” said Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson.
Auburn took control in the middle of the first half with a 13-2 run over five minutes to take a 19-12 advantage. The Cougars were able to fight back and found Mylik Wilson off a turnover who slammed it as the game was tied at 26. Houston started to settle in defensively after a strong start and added to the lead via free throws. Sophomore guard Terrance Arceneaux hit a buzzer-beater three right before halftime to give Houston some momentum with the 33-28 halftime advantage.
The Cougars opened the second half on an 8-2 run with some quick offense for a nine-point lead at 41-32. The Tigers once again came back to tie it at 49 and kept fighting even as Houston controlled the lead as freshman guard Tahaan Pettiford took over on offense. Free throws from freshman forward Joseph Tugler kept UH afloat, however the Tigers took a four-point lead at 66-62 with three minutes left.
This time, the Cougars fought back with a mid-range jumper from junior point guard Milos Uzan and a big-time three from junior guard Emmanuel Sharp to take a 67-66 lead. Chad Baker-Mazara came through for Auburn with the go-ahead bucket and free throws, while the last few possessions for Houston were missed shots and turnovers.
Here are 3 Takeaways:
#1: An extremely physical matchup (Auburn giving UH a taste of their own medicine)
Going into this game, head coach Kelvin Sampson knew the kind of physicality and relentless defense that the Tigers brought.
Houston did struggle in terms of in-bounding the ball and turnovers early on. The strong and in-your-face defense continued throughout the night and while the Cougars were able to put up slightly better offensive numbers as the game went on, it seemed like the physicality they were matched up with made it difficult when playing defense.
Houston ended up only shooting 41% from the field.
Takeaway #2: Cougars defense not holding
Going right off the first takeaway, in the first half the Houston defense did what they typically do.
The Cougars allowed only 28 points and just two of those were in fastbreak, which was what Auburn excelled at. They also forced eight turnovers. However, it was a different story in the second half, where Auburn put up almost 50, with 12 fastbreak points and only had four turnovers.
“To shoot 57% from the field vs Houston is almost unheard of,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl.
It was an incredible shooting performance with 40% from three thanks to Pettiford’s 15 second-half points.
Takeaway #3: Ja’Vier Francis
The 6 ‘8 forward had his season debut in this game, but only played nine minutes due to his injury suffered earlier last month and scored four points.
Tugler ended up with 31 minutes and scored 10 points with six rebounds as Sampson said postgame that Francis is not ready.
“He’s just not in game shape, it’ll take a while,” said Sampson.
Overall, both head coaches were very impressed with their oppositions as Sampson had plenty of praise for All-American Johni Broome and Pettiford, who “changed the game” in his eyes.
“There is no shame, this is certainly not a bad loss for us. It’s a loss we hope we can learn from,” said Sampson.
Pearl was pleased with the win and the rise of Pettiford. The Tigers head coach said “Nobody does it better in the country than Houston,” and called Kelvin Sampson “one of the best coaches to ever coach this game.”
Next up for Houston: vs. Louisiana (1-1) – Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. EST
Next up for Auburn: vs. Kent State (2-0) – Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. EST