No. 5 Houston basketball wrapped up the regular season with a come-from-behind 82-75 win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday afternoon on the road in Stillwater.
Houston basketball finished the regular season schedule with a 26-5 record and a 14-4 mark in the Big 12, good for second in the conference. The Cougars shot 51% from the field while four starters scored double digits, including junior forward Joseph Tugler with 12 in a good sign for Houston.
Here are two takeaways from the last regular season game.
Takeaway #1: Chase McCarty takeover
It was the redshirt freshman forward who took Houston basketball over the top in this one. McCarty has emerged as the sixth man off the bench for the Cougars, and he delivered in a massive way. He scored a game and career high 20 points on 7/10 shooting from the field. Most importantly, McCarty was on a heater from 3-point range. He went an incredible 6/9 from downtown.
He scored 14 of his points in the second half and helped fuel that comeback late. Houston basketball trailed for 27 out of the 40 minutes in the game. Besides taking a 5-0 lead from the start, Houston did not experience the lead for the rest of the first half and was down 41-37 at halftime.
McCarty drilled one 3-pointer after another and ended up making half of Houston’s triples in the game. The Cougars finally took the lead with about 14 minutes left, thanks to a Milos Uzan three-pointer, and it continued to go back and forth. McCarty hit a couple of 3-pointers that extended the lead to 73-64. OSU stormed back, but Sharp followed up with McCarty, who put the game away on back-to-back treys.
Takeaway #2: A road fight
This was not an easy game whatsoever for Houston, going up against what was an 18-12 Oklahoma State team on its senior day. Anthony Roy was consistently knocking down his step-back three, and four OSU players were in double digits. Oklahoma State only had three turnovers in the first half, and Houston was not able to get in transition and score much off them. That changed in the second half, and the Cougars eventually got 21 points off 11 turnovers. Oklahoma State also doubled the second chance points, 18-9 over Houston.
Up Next for Houston basketball: Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals, Mar. 12 at 6 p.m. CT in Kansas City, MO