No. 6 Houston basketball continued its early Big 12 dominance on Sunday evening with a 103-73 win over Arizona State at the Fertitta Center. After the 30-point blowout, Houston is now 17-1 and 5-0 in the Big 12.
This was UH’s 11th straight win and 15th consecutive at home. It was a blackout game, and the Cougars also honored legend Dwight Davis. Houston won their third straight game against Arizona State in their first home game against the Sun Devils since 1979.
Here are two takeaways from this wire-to-wire win.
Takeaway #1: Offensive clinic
Houston basketball has been able to put up some big numbers offensively throughout the year, which has been quite different from the past. The Cougars have never been particularly elite on that side of the ball, but have been scoring at a higher rate at times.
Houston put up 99 points against then No. 19 Arkansas and now crossed the 100-point mark in regulation for the first time in over three years. This was the first 100-point game in conference play since 2018. The Cougars had all five of their starters in double digits, as well as getting 21 points off the bench.
Freshman phenom point guard Kingston Flemings was the leading scorer with 20 points on 8/14 shooting, along with eight assists and four rebounds. The freshmen duo was on full display in this one, as stretch big Chris Cenac Jr. put up a career high 18 points and five assists while hitting a couple of 3-pointers.
Senior guards Milos Uzan and Emanuel Sharp each scored 16 points, while Uzan hit four 3-pointers. Houston shot a remarkable 56% from the field and 48% from three while also hitting 11/12 from the free-throw line. It will be hard for UH to obviously replicate this performance, but it shows what their full potential can be on a great shooting night.
Houston put up 56 points in the first half and did their typical work in terms of points off turnovers with 31 points off 17 forced.
Takeaway #2: Different kind of win for Houston
It was looking like a truly complete performance by the Cougars in this game on both sides of the ball. Houston basketball was up 27 points at the end of the first half, and gave up 29 points to ASU in the first half, about average for their defense.
That changed in the second half. Houston typically wins through their defense, but it wasn’t totally the case in this game. The Cougars gave up 44 points in the final 20 minutes that made a blowout into a competitive game at one point. Houston was up 33 points, and the deficit was brought down to just 13 with 7:31 to go.
ASU was effective at the free-throw line and took advantage of their 22 opportunities at the charity stripe, making 19 of them. Houston only shot five free throws in comparison. Both teams got nine points off turnovers in the second half. The Sun Devils were also very competitive on the offensive boards. Arizona State had four players in double digits as well.
Houston was able to go on a key run after that to eventually bring the lead back up to 30. UH gave up 85 to Arkansas as well, but has another way of winning. Kelvin Sampson knows that and mentioned they might win another game this way in a joking manner. Sampson would much rather have them continue to get better on the defensive end.
Up Next: at No. 12 Texas Tech, 5:30 p.m. CST