No. 4 Houston and old rival Texas square off for just the second time in 23 seasons when they meet in Monday’s Big 12 contest on the Longhorns’ campus in Austin.
The Cougars won the most recent meeting, 73-72 in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational at Houston on March 20, 2013. Prior to that, the Longhorns recorded a 71-60 win at Houston on Dec. 20, 2000, in the last regular-season meeting.
The matchup is highly anticipated by Houston faithful. The two schools used to meet regularly before the demise of the Southwest Conference following the 1995-96 season, when Texas joined the Big 12 and Houston was left behind.
Now the Cougars are in their first season in the Big 12 just as the Longhorns prepare to depart for the Southeastern Conference next season.
So the renewal of the 64-meeting series — each team has won 32 — might not last very long.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson isn’t getting caught up in the history.
“I don’t know the significance of it,” Sampson said. “It’s a 40-minute game played on a 94-foot slab of rectangular wood, and we’ll try to win the game. And then when that game is over, we’re going to move on to the next one.”
The Cougars (18-2, 5-2 Big 12) will be looking for their fifth straight victory. Houston routed visiting Kansas State 74-52 on Saturday.
Texas (14-6, 3-4) has won just three of its last seven games after falling 84-72 at No. 21 BYU on Saturday. However, the Longhorns are 10-2 at home.
Texas averages 76.8 points per game. The Longhorns have topped 80 on six occasions but have failed to reach that mark in 10 straight games and 13 of their past 14.
Plus, points are hard to come by against Houston, which leads the nation in scoring defense (51.9 points per game) and field-goal percentage defense (35.1). The Cougars have allowed 60 or fewer points in 16 of their 20 contests.
And Sampson expects the Houston defense to get better.
“Our goal is to keep improving, and we won’t get significantly better but we have to keep getting better,” Sampson said. “That’s what I focus on, I don’t focus on storylines.”
The Cougars were sturdy against Kansas State in a game they never trailed. Houston forced 18 turnovers and led by as many as 29 points.
Jamal Shead led the Cougars with 17 points. Shead is third on the club in scoring at 11.7 points per game, trailing LJ Cryer (15.2) and Emanuel Sharp (12.2). Cryer (60) and Sharp (40) have combined for 100 3-point baskets.
Texas has a potent offensive performer in Max Abmas, who leads the team with a 17.6 scoring average and 63 made 3-pointers.
Abmas has 2,914 career points and is tied for 14th place on the Division I all-time scoring list with Alfredrick Hughes (1981-85) of Loyola of Chicago. He stands 37 points behind 13th-place Danny Manning, the former Kansas legend.
Dylan Disu scored a team-high 19 points in the loss to BYU to increase his average to 15.5, second-best on the Longhorns.
But the problem against the Cougars was the Texas defense. BYU shot 64 percent (32 of 50) from the field, which stunned Longhorns coach Rodney Terry.
“Our goal was to make them take tough 2s and take the 3s away, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that,” Terry said. “At times, we got spread out a little bit and they hurt us in the paint with their cuts and their passing ability.”
The Longhorns and Cougars will also meet in Houston on Feb. 17.
–Field Level Media