Now No. 7 Houston basketball gets a last second win at UCF with a game winning layup from J’Wan Roberts to move into first place in the Big 12 standings.
Houston basketball wins their 10th straight game and remains undefeated in Big 12 play with a 6-0 record. Head coach Kelvin Sampson mentioned postgame how the play was to get the ball to Roberts to isolate him.
“We work on those late game situations all the time…when the time comes, we’re going to be prepared,” Sampson said.
The Cougars got out to a slow start on the road in Orlando as UH trailed the entire first half. UCF quickly got out to a 9-4 lead and took control with a fast-break alley-oop dunk by JJ Taylor that extended the lead to 30-19. While Houston tried to cut the deficit a bit, the Knights continued to respond as they brought the advantage up to 12, the largest of the game for UCF. Moustapha Thiam had 12 points along with four rebounds and three blocks to lead Central Florida at the half.
The eight-point lead at the half for UCF quickly evaporated as Houston went on a 9-0 run to open the second half and took the 40-39 lead. Both teams exchanged leads back and forth throughout the period and went right down to the end.
Takeaway #1: J’Wan Roberts being the leader
The 6th year forward was absolutely clutch for Houston with his go-ahead layup for the win with just one second left. Roberts delivered when he needed to for the Cougars as the inbound was with three seconds left in the game. The winningest student-athlete in program history has now put up back to back 20 point games, with three in total this season so far.
Roberts had 21 points and nine rebounds, along with 58% shooting from the field. 17 of those points came in the second half comeback for UH, where Roberts played the entire 20 minutes. The US Virgin Islands native additionally had two more baskets in the paint when Houston was trailing late, first with 2:12 left and then again with 1:07 left before making the game-winner.
Takeaway #2: Ja’Vier Francis was a first half savior
While Houston basketball struggled in the first half offensively, senior forward Ja’Vier Francis kept the Cougars afloat with an offensive clinic in the paint. Francis put up 14 points as well as seven rebounds in the first 20 minutes with critical baskets that limited UCF’s scoring runs.
Down 9-4, Francis had back-to-back shots as well as a second-chance layup from a turnover right before halftime to bring the deficit down to eight. Francis had five crucial offensive and a couple defensive rebounds to keep UH relatively in it. Overall, the 6 ‘8 forward had a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds.
“The guy who saved us, make no mistake about it, was Ja’Vier. He played like a senior. He was awesome. When he needed him the most, he played his butt off. Very proud of this young man,” Sampson said.
Houston led 23-9 in bench scoring over UCF, and Francis played a big part in that along with graduate guard Mylik Wilson who had seven points and five rebounds.
Takeaway #3: UCF unable to maintain first half momentum as UH stepped up
The Knights were having all the fun in the first half as the home crowd in Orlando erupted. UCF was up by double digits before UH had a couple of buckets right before the half. Junior point guard Milos Uzan had a couple of shots right before half and coming out of the half to help build Houston’s comeback. Two layups from Uzan to start the second half cut the lead down to four before Roberts started to take over.
Houston shot 52% from the field in the second half compared to just 33% in the first half and only had three turnovers compared to nine for UCF in the last 20 minutes.
The Cougars were second in that nation in three-point percentage led by junior guard Emanuel Sharp and graduate guard LJ Cryer, but those two were only 3/13 from three and 6/24 from the field combined. There were only 15 points total for the top two offensive performers, yet the Cougars showed their depth and still found a way to win.
The leading scorer for UCF, junior guard Keyshawn Hall only had six points for the Knights. Houston scored double the amount of paint points than UCF in the second half (28-14) which helped fuel the comeback.
Up next for Houston basketball (14-3, 6-0): vs. Utah (11-6, 3-3) – Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. EST
Up next for UCF basketball (12-5, 3-3): at No. 3 Iowa State (15-2, 5-1) – Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. EST
[…] road vs UCF in comeback fashion. After trailing the entire first half and down 38-30 at halftime, UH stormed back and won 69-68 on what ended up being a game winning layup from graduate forward J’Wan Roberts with 1.1 seconds […]