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Having concluded the nonconference portion of its schedule with four consecutive wins, No. 15 Houston will open Big 12 play with something of a clean slate.

The Cougars (8-3) resemble the squad that claimed the regular-season Big 12 title in their first year in the league last season as they head to Stillwater, Okla., to face Oklahoma State on Monday.

Their balanced offense was on full display in an 87-51 home victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 21, with Emanuel Sharp (18 points), L.J. Cryer (17), Terrance Arceneaux (13) and Milos Uzan (12) sharing the load as Houston made a season-high 14 3-pointers.

The offensive display provided a complement to the Cougars’ usual brand of stifling defense and tenacious rebounding, and Houston coach Kelvin Sampson found it worth celebrating for a team whose shortcomings are too often overanalyzed.

“You can’t always just focus on things you’ve got to get better at,” Sampson said. “You’ll never focus on the things you’re good at.”

Oklahoma State will represent a step up in weight class, with the depth and athleticism to challenge the Cougars’ emerging offense. That comes as no surprise for the Cougars, who quickly became accustomed to the rigors of the Big 12, especially when the stakes are highest on the road.

“Being able to get shots at the goal and taking care of the ball in the hostile environment is always going to be a challenge when you go on the road in this league,” Sampson said. “That’s what we’ll be challenged with.”

The Cowboys (8-3) improved to 5-0 at home with their 86-74 victory over Oral Roberts on Dec. 22. Senior forward Abou Ousmane paired a season-high 19 points with a team-high seven rebounds in the victory, further validating the need for Oklahoma State to run more of its offense through its second-leading scorer.

Ousmane averages 12.2 points per game for the Cowboys, second to Marchelus Avery (13.0).

“It helps when we get him the basketball,” first-year Cowboys coach Steve Lutz said of Ousmane. “We don’t throw him the basketball enough. To his credit, he runs in transition, he seals for the most part darn near every time and our guards have to do a better job as they come across halfcourt of getting their head up and reading where the big is and (determining) can we get him the basketball.

“That’s going to be our quickest and best opportunity to score. We’ve got to continue to focus on throwing the ball inside to him.”

Oklahoma State enters conference play with momentum, having won four of its last five games. And while nonconference losses to Florida Atlantic, Nevada and Oklahoma proved disappointing, the setbacks showed the Cowboys have room for improvement.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” Lutz said. “We still have a lot of growth. I don’t ever like to look ahead at the beginning of the season and say our record should be X and X. I try to focus more on the day-to-day progress of our team, and there are days where I think we make progress and days where we slip back a little bit.

“We’ve got to continue with the process and get better and better each day.”

–Field Level Media