No. 7 Houston basketball comfortably took care of business at home against West Virginia in a 77-48 win on Tuesday night at the Fertitta Center in head coach Kelvin Sampson’s 400th game.
This was Houston’s 10th win in a row, and the Cougars improved to 16-1 overall (4-0 Big 12). UH is now 4-0 against West Virginia in the series. Houston was rocking their blue uniforms and won after suffering their only Big 12 loss in that swag last season.
Houston is the only NCAA Division I school in the nation with winning streaks of 13+ games at home and on the road. Here are two key takeaways from this dominant win.
Takeaway #1: Milos Uzan
Houston’s leading scorers throughout the season so far have been either freshman point guard Kingston Flemings or senior guard Emanuel Sharp. In this game, senior point guard Milos Uzan came to the party. It hasn’t been the most productive offensive season for Uzan so far, but he typically shows up when needed.
Uzan put up a season high 17 points and hit five 3-pointers. When the Cougars really need something on offense, he can provide it. The Las Vegas native hit six 3-pointers in both the Big 12 tournament championship and the Sweet 16 against Purdue.
It wasn’t the best offensive performance, but this was quite the comfortable win for the Cougars. Houston did have four players in double digits, as Sharp added 13, while Flemings and junior forward Joseph Tugler each had 10. Freshman guard Isiah Harwell has also started to chip in well off the bench.
Takeaway #2: Dominant physical defense
Houston basketball’s defense just completely stifled West Virginia. They really had no answer and seemed overwhelmed as even when they got open looks, they completely missed. The Cougars were up 28-5 through the first 15 minutes, and WVU only scored 18 points in the first half.
It took some time for Houston’s defense to get things going, given Sampson is starting two freshmen and playing four of them for the first time. It seems like they are starting to get more connected. The turnovers forced were completely lopsided, with 15 that resulted in 17 points for Houston. UH also doubled WVU’s amount of offensive rebounds.
Although the Mountaineers shot better from three and hit nine beyond the arc, they were only 37% overall and 26% in the first half. Chance Moore, their second-highest leading scorer, scored 0 points.
Up next for Houston basketball: vs. Arizona State, Jan. 18 at 5:30 p.m.