No. 8 Houston basketball faced a formidable UCF team that was one of the better teams in the Big 12, but the Cougars absolutely smoked them after a slow start, 79-55 at home in Fertitta Center on Wednesday night.
UCF had just beaten then No. 11 Texas Tech at home in Orlando, but just did not have a chance in Houston after the first few minutes. Houston basketball improved to 20-2 on the season and 8-1 in the Big 12 while UCF dropped to 17-5 and 6-3 in the Big 12.
This was the Cougars’ 17th straight home victory. Here are two takeaways.
Takeaway #1: Dominance in the paint
Houston basketball did not need the 3-point shot in this game at all. The Cougars dominated the points in the paint battle 42-14. It was the reason for their offensive success and the 55% shooting overall from the field. It started with freshman point guard Kingston Flemings, who is known for his incredible attacking ability, and he was the leading scorer with 18 points and six assists on 67% shooting.
Freshman big man Chris Cenac Jr. had one of the better games of his young career with a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double. His shot looked great. The impressive part was the passing among the team with 18 total assists. That included four alley-oop dunks, which put on a show for the crowd. Cenac Jr. had one slam on a pass from Flemings, while graduate center Kalifa Sakho put up the best game of his career with multiple lob rim attacks and seven total points and seven rebounds.
Junior forward Joseph Tugler chipped in with three early buckets in the paint to start the second half, while senior point guard Milos Uzan scored 10 of his 12 in the last 20 minutes. He got to his floater and then knocked down two 3-pointers.
Takeaway #2: A Houston signature
Houston basketball’s defense was on point throughout this game. The only reason UCF even got over 50 points was because it was a 30-point blowout towards the end, and Houston basketball put in their bench. UCF was limited to just 31% (16/52) from the field and no Knights players even scored 10 points. Their leading scorer, Riley Kugel, had nine points on 1/10 shooting with six free throws in 30 minutes. Themus Fulks added eight on 3/10 overall, along with three turnovers in 34 minutes.
Houston forced double-digit turnovers as usual, with seven of them being steals. Besides that, it was typical Cougars basketball in terms of rebounding, as UH won the battle of the boards 40-29 and were +9 on the defensive glass.
Up next: at No. 16 BYU, Feb. 7 at 9:30 p.m. CST