No. 5 Houston basketball suffered its worst loss of the season on Big Monday against No. 14 Kansas in Phog Allen Fieldhouse 69-56 and lost three games in a row for the first time since January 2017.
This was the toughest three-game stretch in college basketball, and Houston basketball came up short in each one. The Cougars’ three-game win streak against Kansas came to an end, and Houston dropped to 23-5 and 11-4 in the Big 12. UH is now fourth in the Big 12 standings, and any chances of winning the Big 12 regular season title are gone.
Here are two takeaways from this defeat.
Takeaway #1: Cold shooting
Houston had its worst shooting night of the season, and coach Kelvin Sampson said they ran out of gas in the second half. Both senior guards were dealing with injuries, and it just wasn’t their night. A lot of the shots were coming up short, and fatigue looked to be a big part of it.
Houston basketball shot 32% from the field overall and was just 5/24 (21%) from 3-point range. Houston was 1/10 from three in the first half. Houston was only 30% from the field in the second half. Meanwhile, Kansas was on a heater in the second half and shot 57% in the last 20 minutes. The Jayhawks were also 5/8 from three in the second half.
Senior guard Emanuel Sharp had the worst game of his season with just five points and was 1/10 from the field. Milos Uzan had just seven points, and freshman point guard Kingston Flemings was the only player in double digits with 16 points. However, even he was 6/18 from the field. Freshman big man Chris Cenac Jr. contributed nine points and was 4/13 shooting as well.
Takeaway #2: Looked like Houston early
Houston basketball got back to its formula in the first half and was up 27-20 with three minutes left before giving up a disappointing 11-0 run to Kansas to go down four at the half. There was another big run in the second half from KU that put the game away.
The Cougars did some of the little things well at the start and got the turnovers to fuel the offense. Houston’s defense also looked much better in terms of rebounding. Houston forced seven turnovers and got nine points out of them. Houston ended up winning the offensive rebounding battle in the game, but just could not buy a shot in the second half.
Up next for Houston basketball: vs Colorado, Feb. 28 at 11 a.m.