2 Takeaways: No. 7 Houston Basketball’s Comfortable Win Over Florida State

After more than a week off, No. 7 Houston basketball returned to action in a special Houston Hoops Showdown at the Toyota Center in downtown Houston, where they beat Florida State 82-67 on Saturday night. 

The Cougars improved to 8-1 on the season so far and showed a mix of promise and areas to work on after the victory over the Seminoles. 

Here are two takeaways from the win: 

Takeaway #1: Steals Played a Big Role

Although Houston basketball got out rebounded and gave up 18 second-chance points while only scoring seven themselves, the steals were the real difference in this one. Houston forced 15 steals, and as a result, dominated in the fast break with 17 points. Freshman point guard Kingston Flemings remarkably recorded eight steals, the highest in Cougars history since Clyde Drexler’s 11 in a single game. 

“He couldn’t do that a month ago…he’s a great young man, so his character allows him to be coached,” head coach Kelvin Sampson said postgame.

Junior forward Joseph Tugler also forced three steals as part of his usual great defensive effort. While the typical formula for Houston to win is to dominate on the glass, there are other ways this team can win. Forcing turnovers is one of them. The Cougars won the turnover battle 19-13. Houston struggled at times with navigating through the Florida State defense but found strong stretches of success. 

Takeaway #2: Trio of Scoring

Houston basketball were led by three primary scorers in this game that accounted for 63 out of the 82 points they scored. Flemings has taken over the college basketball world by storm since the start of the season and accounted for 21 points on 8/13 shooting along with five assists. He did turn the ball over four times, and that was noted by Sampson postgame, who is not ready to give all the praise in the world and maintains a high standard that Flemings has not reached yet. 

“I’m not ready to anoint him anything; most of his turnovers had a chance to blow this thing open,” Sampson said. 

Senior guard Emanuel Sharp came to life in a big way with a season-high 27 points on 6/12 shooting from three. Every time the Cougars needed to string some offense together, he delivered from beyond the arc in typical fashion as one of the leaders of the team. Besides that, freshman forward/center Chris Cenac Jr. had one of his better games of the year with a 15-point and 10-rebound double-double. Cenac Jr. is the Cougars’ best rebounder and is a natural at it. 

There was not much offense to speak of besides those three, and Houston has to continue to get better in having multiple scorers and not heavily relying on one. 

Up next for No. 7 Houston basketball (8-1): vs. Jackson State (1-7), Dec. 10 at 7 p.m.