Expect points to be at a premium when top-ranked Houston squares off against No. 25 Texas Tech on Friday night in the first semifinal of the Big 12 Conference tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
The winner will advance to the tournament final on Saturday, with the league’s automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament in the balance.
The Cougars (29-3) own the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament after winning the regular-season championship in their first year in the Big 12. They rolled into the semifinals via a 60-45 win over eighth-seeded TCU on Thursday afternoon.
Houston took charge from the jump against the Horned Frogs, scoring the game’s first 16 points and then expanding its lead to 23 early in the second half.
Emanuel Sharp scored 14 points, Jamal Shead added 12 and J’Wan Roberts grabbed 10 rebounds for Houston. The Cougars’ defense was the difference maker, as TCU shot just 23.3 percent from the floor despite outrebounding the Cougars 55-39.
As well as Houston played in the dominating victory, there’s plenty of room to improve. The Cougars made only 39.6 percent of their field goals and surrendered 30 offensive rebounds.
“I liked our first-shot defense — after that, not a whole lot to like,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said after Thursday’s win. “I was disappointed with our physicalness and blocking out. I know we’re as good a rebounding team. Even if our guards can’t get it, that’s OK. Just make sure they don’t. Be more physical with your block-outs. Our defense was good, and we shared the ball well.
“When you get into a tournament, you win the game. You don’t spend all your time trying to rehash it, autopsy it or worry about it. Win and advance, that’s what we’ll do.”
Houston has won 10 consecutive victories, and Texas Tech has four.
Texas Tech (23-9), the fourth seed, earned a spot in the semifinals with an 81-67 quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded BYU earlier Thursday. Pop Isaacs scored 22 points for the Red Raiders, with Chance McMillian adding 17 off the bench.
Like Houston, Texas Tech took charge early, sprinting to a 9-0 in the opening minutes before stretching its lead to 14-2 and then forging a 42-23 advantage by halftime. The Red Raiders limited BYU, one of the nation’s best shooting teams, to just 37.3 percent from the floor and a 7-of-35 showing from beyond the arc.
“Our connected defense continues to improve, and I thought we made it hard enough on them, even though they did miss a few open shots,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “We’ve made a real commitment to defense in the last couple weeks, and I think we’ve ironed out a simple approach to how we want to defend people. We’ve got great fight, we’ve got a great team and really thankful to be moving on.”
The Cougars won the only game between the two teams this season, hammering Texas Tech 77-54 on Jan. 17 in Houston.
–Field Level Media