KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Maybe it was the rust of five days off. Maybe it was the mid-game injury to J’Wan Roberts. Maybe it was Colorado being a match-up problem.
But the No. 1 seeded Houston Cougars didn’t quite look right in their 77-68 Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal victory over the No. 16 seeded Buffaloes.
If Houston’s opponent was unexpected, the Cougars’ overall performance certainly was, too. Houston coach Kelvin Sampson clearly wasn’t happy after the game. He seemed ready to just flush the game and move on.
“I’d have to watch the film,” Sampson. “I’m not going to watch it today and I probably won’t watch it tomorrow, so I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
He spent as much time praising the No. 16 seeded Buffaloes and their coach, Tad Boyle, who won their first two tournament games, than he did side-stepping a breakdown of his team’s performance.
“This time of year, all that matters is that you win,” he said. “Just win and move on.”
If anyone thought that was going to be a cakewalk for the Cougars (28-4), who just went 19-1 in Big 12 regular season play, well, when Houston walked off the court, it was only up five on the Buffaloes, 38-33.
On paper, the Cougars, who will play No. 4 seed BYU on Friday at 6 p.m., won just about every battle, including shooting, turnovers forced, and rebounding. But this game didn’t pass the “on paper” eyeball test.
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It was plodding, but never explosive. Houston’s defense didn’t tie Colorado’s offense up in knots. The intensity level in the arena dropped significantly after the dramatic BYU-Iowa State game, and the play on the court seemed to match it.
The Cougars didn’t bring the energy. They won, but the contest felt like they were just trying to get to the next game, as opposed to dominating the day. Perhaps that’s why Sampson doesn’t watch the film. He doesn’t need to watch it to know Houston can play better.
Also, Colorado may just be a bad matchup for Houston. Rewind to their Feb. 8 meeting in Colorado and the Cougars only won that game by 10 points. Compare the numbers from that game and Thursday’s game and they’re nearly identical. The Buffaloes hung in there. They avoided turnovers. They were only down four at the half. Houston had to, almost politely, pull away in that contest.
Houston was without Roberts for a significant portion of Thursday’s game after he sprained his right ankle. He was probable to return, but he only played 18 minutes and scored two points. The Cougars opted not to play him. Even without him, Houston had enough to win.
It just didn’t look, well, Cougar-esque. Houston has 24 hours to get things back to Sampson’s standard.
“We can certainly play better,” he said. “We’ll be OK.”
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
