Three Thoughts on Houston’s 100-95 Win Over Texas A&M
The Houston Cougars beat the Texas A&M Aggies, 100-95, in a second-round game in the NCAA Tournament in Memphis, Tenn., on Sunday.
This game had EVERYTHING.
Four Houston (32-4) player fouled out. And not just any players. Their three top guards — Jamal Shead, L.J. Cryer and Emanuel Sharp — fouled out.
Houston became the first team to win an NCAA Tournament game with four players fouled out since UTEP did it in 1987.
Houston could have won the game in regulation. But Texas A&M (21-15) tied it on a 13-3 run to end the game and it wasn’t their hot-shooting guard Wade Taylor IV who pulled it off. It was Anderson Garcia’s in rhythm heave with a second to go that sent it to overtime.
It was his only 3-point attempt of the game.
Before Sharp fouled out he gave the Cougars the lead with a 3-pointer at the start of overtime. Before Shead fouled out he helped keep the Cougars in control with a jump-stop jumper and a couple of free throws.
With Shead out for the final 18 seconds, it was Ryan Elvin — who had attempted four free throws all year — and Mylik Wilson who made one free throw each to keep the Aggies at bay.
Houston survived. Houston advanced. Here are three thoughts on the game.
THE GUARDS SHALL LEAD THEM
It’s not an intuitive leap that Houston is to make a deep NCAA Tournament run their guards —Shead, Cryer and Sharp — have to carry a heavy scoring load. The trick against A&M was balancing that against a team with a red-hot shooter and a lineup that has an intuitive ability to rebound on the offensive end.
Well, the trio carried the day and it was Sharp who took the lead. Sharp played a huge role in the Cougars’ win over the Aggies in December and he just seems to have their number. The redshirt sophomore finished with 30 points and seven 3-pointers. That last one, at the start of overtime, might have been the most important.
Shead dropped in 21 points with 10 assists while Cryer added 20 point with three 3-pointers.
Combined the trio shot 22-for-49 from the floor and drilled 10 3-pointers.
These guys need a break and they’ll get one before the Sweet 16 in Dallas on Friday. But, man, the Cougars needed everything it could get from the trio.
HOW OFFENSIVE WAS THAT?
As in rebounds. Texas A&M had a lot of them. If you watched the beginning of the game it seemed like every time the Aggies missed a shot they found a way to rebound it. By the end of the first half Texas A&M had 10 offensive rebounds and, well, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson had seen enough of that.
But the Aggies are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country for a reason. Tyrece Radford was the biggest thorn in Houston’s side. The shifty guard led the Aggies with 15 rebounds, with nearly as many offensive (seven) as defensive (eight). He also had 27 points.
The Aggies needed all of those second chances because their biggest source of offense had an off night.
Taylor ended up with 21 points. But unlike the first-round game when he hit seven 3-pointers, Taylor only connected on three of them. But he kept driving to the basket and went 8-for-9 from the free-throw line.
By game’s end the Aggies had more offensive rebounds (26) than defensive rebounds (23). That’s difficult to do. But it wasn’t quite enough for the Aggies.
ON TO DALLAS
For the fifth straight NCAA Tournament, the Houston Cougars are heading to the second weekend of the tournament. They absolutely did it the hard way in the second round. The depth issues were exposed. Forward J’Wan Roberts re-aggravated his calf injury, fought through it and had 13 points and eight rebounds.
I’m not sure if this team will get to the Final Four. But I can promise you the Cougars will do everything possible to find a way.
What a game. What an incredible game.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
