No. 5 Houston relied on a fundamental program tenet to carve out its second straight victory last week, and the win mattered more than how the Cougars achieved it.
Houston (19-4, 11-1 Big 12) needed a late push to fend off Colorado 69-59 on Saturday, keeping the Buffaloes winless in conference play.
The Cougars, who will host Baylor on Monday, took a similar path to victory against Oklahoma State last Tuesday, perhaps confirming that they haven’t reclaimed their swagger following a home loss to Texas Tech that snapped several lengthy streaks.
The Cougars outlasted Colorado in part by turning 15 offensive rebounds into a plus-10 margin in shot attempts. It marked a similar refrain for Houston, where winning trumps style points.
“That’s a big part of our formula is getting more shot attempts than the other team,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “If you go back to all of our six road wins that’s a common theme.
“Usually around 40-45 percent of our misses we usually get back. On nights when you shoot well you look great. On nights when you don’t, you still win and you have to look in a dictionary and find out what ‘ugly win’ is. But bottom line is we know how to win.”
The Cougars have labored over the four games following their double-overtime victory at Kansas on Jan. 25. That Houston struggled to dispatch the scuffling Buffaloes could serve as a point of concern with Baylor set to pay a visit, but the Cougars are focused on the results.
“It’s a great win for us. A great win,” Sampson said. “It puts us at 11-1 in the league and we’ve got a big game on Monday, and we’ve already moved on to that one.”
J’Wan Roberts paced Houston with 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting while only four of his teammates joined him on the scoresheet. L.J. Cryer (14.3 ppg), Emanuel Sharp (12.5) and Roberts (11.8) lead the Cougars.
Baylor (15-8, 7-5) welcomed Langston Love back in its 91-76 home win over UCF on Saturday but lost Josh Ojianwuna to a left knee injury less than five minutes into the contest.
Love tallied 16 points in his first action since the Bears’ conference opener on Dec. 31, but the loss of Ojianwuna (7.4 points, 6.4 rebounds per game) dampened the victory.
“Obviously that’s really frustrating for us,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “We finally got eight together, we outscore them on the bench 40-14 and then you have this happen. God’s always got a plan. Hopefully, we get a miracle and Josh, it’s not a season-ending injury.
“We’ll have to get with the staff and figure some things out. If Josh is out for the year it will give an opportunity for someone to step up and we’ll figure out who that is.”
Ojianwuna started all 23 games for the Bears and, at 6-foot-10, offers the size Baylor will need to battle the Cougars on the boards. Given the likelihood of his absence, the Bears are aware of what is required when they travel to Houston to face the conference-leading Cougars.
“You can’t go in there soft, you can’t go in there not ready for a war,” Drew said. “If you do that, that gives you a chance to be in the game. Otherwise, you don’t even have a chance.”
Norchad Omier had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Baylor against UCF and leads the team with 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per contest.
–Field Level Media
