The No. 4 Houston Cougars clinched a share of the Big 12 regular-season title, as they beat the No. 10 Texas Tech Red Raiders, 69-61, on Monday night.
Houston (24-4, 16-1) kept rolling and got revenge for their only loss in Big 12 action this year, as the Red Raiders beat them in their meeting in Houston. The Cougars’ new point guard, Milos Uzan, had a huge night and the game’s biggest shot.
Texas Tech (21-7, 12-5) was without two of its biggest stars and played only six, but the Red Raiders were in this game until the very end. Plus, Patrick Mahomes II was in town, so you know it was a big game.
Here are three thoughts on the game.
MILOS IN FULL
One of the questions I got many times this offseason was whether or not Milos Uzan was capable of replacing Jamal Shead as Houston’s point guard. First, there is no replacing a player like Shead. But, I said that Uzan would bring the Cougars what they needed — a facilitator who knows how to run the offense, can defend and put his teammates in great positions to produce. Plus, he knows the Big 12 after two years at Oklahoma.
There was also a question I had. Could Uzan get his shot back from distance? As a freshman at OU, he was a 40% 3-point shooter. He took a step back last season to 29.6%.
Well, this season he’s back to 41.5% and as this Big 12 season has gone on, he’s hitting bigger shots. He dropped a career-high 22 points, made 3-pointers and the last one was an absolute dagger. After Texas Tech had cut the lead to three and nearly created a turnover, LJ Cryer got the ball to Uzan at the arc, and he did this.
Ball. Game. I knew Uzan would fit in with the Cougars. I did not expect him to stand out.
TEXAS TECH’S GRIT
Texas Tech was without its two leading guards on Monday, as Darrion Williams and Chance McMillian were out with ankle injuries. That was 30 points on the bench watching the game.
Like Iowa State on Saturday — which was without their top guards, Keshon Gilbert and Curtis Jones — the Red Raiders gave the Cougars everything they had.
JT Toppin had a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds). Kerwin Walton was hitting big shots with four 3-pointers, including a huge one late. But what did Tech in was shooting 30% from the floor. Coach Grant McCasland was only able to play six and I felt they were worn down by the end of the game, understandably so.
No one likes moral victories, of course. But the Red Raiders showed what they can do without their stars, and they can do plenty of damage. But if this team wants a deep NCAA Tournament run, well, it needs Williams and McMillian back soon.
HOUSTON’S MILESTONE
With the victory, Houston clinched a share of the Big 12 regular-season title. Expect them to clinch it outright soon. The Cougars now have a three-game lead with three games to play. It’s inevitable.
The Cougars are the third team to claim back-to-back regular-season titles. Baylor did it in 2021 and 2022, with the latter shared with Kansas. The Jayhawks also won the 2023 title outright.
Houston also did something that hasn’t been done in more than 100 years. During the broadcast, ESPN spotlighted the Idaho Vandals. Why?
Back in 1921, the Vandals joined the Pacific Coast Conference, which at the time was populated with most of the teams that would form the Pac-12. Well, the Vandals won the conference’s regular-season title in their first and second seasons in the PCC. No team had done that in their first two years in any league until Houston did it on Monday.
Just incredible stuff from Houston, which was built like a Big 12 team before it joined the league and had the perfect coach in Kelvin Sampson to guide them toward a potential Final Four appearance this season.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
