No. 3 Houston basketball returned home to Fertitta Center after an extended road trip in Utah and took care of a struggling Kansas State team 78-64 on Saturday afternoon.
It was closer than originally thought, and Houston struggled early, but got the job done comfortably in the end. Houston improved to 23-2 and 11-1 in the Big 12 with its fifth straight victory and remained unbeaten at home.
Here are two takeaways from the game.
Takeaway #1: Cougars overcame poor start
Houston basketball was down 15-6 after the first eight minutes in surprising fashion. The Cougars were going up against the last-place team in the Big 12 that got called out by their now former head coach Jerome Tang, but K-State was ready to fight. The Wildcats were on fire to start the game, while Houston was just cold on offense in the beginning. K-State did a great job in rebounding.
It wasn’t long before Houston got things going on both sides of the ball. The Cougars defense locked the Wildcats up while UH’s offense finally got shots to fall. Houston went on an extended 26-4 run for the rest of the first half that brought the halftime score to 33-19 for the Cougars. Houston was led by redshirt senior guard Emanuel Sharp to get the game under control with 14 first half points. Senior point guard Milos Uzan added seven as well.
Both teams shot quite poorly, but Houston’s defense made the difference in terms of forcing turnovers and getting extra possessions. Sharp ended up being the leading scorer of the game with 23 points and three triples, while Uzan added 12 points and 8 assists.
Takeaway #2: Winning ugly
Head coach Kelvin Sampson mentioned that no team has more ugly wins than Houston, and at the end of the day, the result stays the same. It’s hard to play exactly the same in every Big 12 game, and there will be inconsistencies at times. It was more of that in this game against K-State.
Houston basketball seemed to be in control up 20 in the second half, but the uncharacteristic turnovers brought K-State back in, and it was a 10-point game again. Uzan and the starting freshmen then put the game away. The Cougars had 15 total turnovers in the game that resulted in 26 Kansas State points. Both teams scored 45 in the second half.
Freshman point guard Kingston Flemings added 12 points, but has struggled mightily in his last two games. Flemings was 2/13 from the field and also had four turnovers. Houston ultimately shot slightly better than K-State and cleaned up the boards in its favor. The Cougars got a big boost with 20 bench points.
Up next for Houston basketball: at No. 5 Iowa State, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m.