Houston basketball (17-3, 9-0) withstands a second half comeback and ultimately wins on the road comfortably 63-49 over West Virginia (13-7, 4-5).
The Cougars have now won 18 straight conference games, which is the second-longest in Big 12 history, and the longest by any team other than Kansas. UH also extends their win streak to 13, which is second in the nation behind Duke. This also marks Houston’s ninth straight road win. The Cougars have been road warriors, and in one of the toughest environments of college basketball in Morgantown, used their great start to ultimately stay in the win column.
“We kept the crowd out of it. There was no reason for them to believe the first 20 minutes because we played so well,” head coach Kelvin Sampson said.
Takeaway #1: Tale of Two Halves
Houston basketball quickly jumped out to a 8-0 lead after a couple of threes from LJ Cryer. UH continued to build their lead from beyond the arc as sophomore guard Terrance Arceneaux hit a couple triples right before the break. The Cougars held a dominant 39-19 lead at halftime with Joseph Tugler leading the way with 10 points, while shooting 50% overall from the field. This also included a 46% clip from downtown (6/13). Meanwhile, West Virginia shot 36% from the field.
It changed in the second half as the Mountaineers opened up an 11-0 run out of the gate that cut the lead down to single digits. After an Amani Hansberry layup that brought the deficit to just five points with 7:52 remaining, the Cougars woke up right when they needed to. Cryer made a three point play followed by a Tugler dunk and Milos Uzan three pointer as Houston went on a critical 12-2 run that put the game away.
While Houston had nine turnovers and their shooting percentage came down in the second half with just one three, UH was able to hold on. WVU had a strong last 20 minutes that made it close, but was not enough. West Virginia shot 57% in the second half, with 12 points off turnovers and nine fast break points, but Houston’s early advantage was too much.
“This ain’t no beauty contest, they don’t put pictures next to the score, it’s a win and I’m proud of our kids for coming back,” Sampson said.
Takeaway #2: Different contributors on offense for Houston basketball
J’Wan Roberts put up 24 points and Mylik Wilson had 19 off the bench in UH’s huge double OT win at Kansas, but in this road win, the leading scorer was graduate guard LJ Cryer with 17 points and sophomore forward Joseph Tugler with 12.
“They did a good job on Roberts, but it’s ok, we don’t need him to score…Darian did a good job taking away his left hand, but that opened it up for other guys,” Sampson said.
While rebounding was not a huge difference in the Cougars last win, it was in Morgantown. Houston basketball was +15 in rebounding, 34-19. UH also had 13 offensive rebounds to just five for WVU. That resulted in 16 second chance points compared to just three for the Mountaineers, which were huge for the offense to keep going.
Takeaway #3: Lots of positives for WVU but not enough
West Virginia ultimately had two close losses to Houston basketball this season where the Cougars went on a late run to ice it. Senior guard Javon Small was not able to break out again, as he only had eight points, almost 12 under his average. What also hurt the Mountaineers was shooting just 22% from three (4/18) as well as the six missed free throws (5/11). No one also scored in double digits for WVU. While West Virginia forced 14 Houston turnovers, which is way above their average of 8.7, the best in the country, it wasn’t enough.
Up next for No. 6 Houston basketball: vs. Texas Tech – Feb. 1 at 5 p.m. CST
Up next for West Virginia basketball: at Cincinnati – Feb. 2 at 1 p.m. CST
[…] no. 6 Cougars are coming off of two road wins, most recently at West Virginia 63-49 where senior guard LJ Cryer was the leading scorer with 17 points. That victory extended […]