No. 3 Houston puts its four-game winning streak and the top spot in the Big 12 on the line when it travels north to battle No. 11 Baylor in Waco, Texas.
It’s the first time the teams have played since squaring off in the Final Four on April 3, 2021, in Indianapolis, a game won by Baylor 78-59 on its way to the national championship. Saturday’s game is just their third meeting since 2002 and first as conference opponents since 1996.
The Cougars (23-3, 10-3) hit the road after a rousing 73-65 win at No. 6 Iowa State Monday in a clash of the top two teams in the league standings. Jamal Shead had 26 points, 20 of them in the second half, to lead Houston while Emanuel Sharp added 20 as the Cougars captured their 20th straight home game.
Houston never trailed in the win and held on despite being outrebounded 39-30 and having an early 13-point lead cut to four midway through the second half.
“I’m just impressed with our team’s tenacity and toughness,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “They hung in there. We had some opportunities, we were up 11, had two open 3-pointers and didn’t make either one. Instead of being up 15-16, we have a four-point lead, but we never let them get below that. We kept finding a way to make a play.
“The key in the win over Iowa State was our single-digits turnovers. We had nine turnovers and turned them over 16 times and scored 20 points off their turnovers. That was the story of the game for us.”
Houston visits the Bears in their new arena, Foster Pavilion, in the only game scheduled between the teams this season.
Baylor (19-7, 8-5) heads home after a 78-71 loss at No. 25 BYU on Tuesday. Jalen Bridges led the Bears with 15 points and eight rebounds while Ja’Kobe Walter and Yves Missi each had 13 points. Baylor had a two-game winning streak snapped but has won five of its past seven games.
The Bears rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to lead 43-42 early in the second half. The game was tied at 54 before BYU reeled off an 8-0 run after which Baylor never got closer than five points.
“We took great shots early; we didn’t take as good of shots later,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “Credit the BYU defense for forcing that. I’ve got to do a better job coaching and getting our guys to work it more and get better looks.”
The Bears surrendered 14 3-pointers and were outrebounded 39-30, with 16 of those BYU rebounds coming on the offensive end and resulting in a 20-4 edge in second-chance points.
“You’ve got to control what you can control,” Drew said. “We didn’t share the ball well enough. Eight assists, nine turnovers — that’s not us. Twenty to four on second-chance points — that’s not us.
“Really disappointed with our rebounding. We work really hard on that and that’s something we’re really good at. And tonight, we didn’t have it. So, we didn’t deserve it. We’ll go back to the drawing board.”
–Field Level Media