With only a handful of games remaining before the Big 12 Conference gauntlet tips off, No. 7 Houston will take a bit of a breather Wednesday when it hosts Jackson State.
The Cougars (8-1) head back to their home court after defeating Florida State 82-67 on Sunday in a clash played in the downtown Toyota Center as part of the Houston Hoops Showdown.
Emanuel Sharp poured in 27 points in the win — the Cougars’ second in a row over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent as they beat Notre Dame 66-56 in Las Vegas on Nov. 26. That came one day after losing 76-73 to then-No. 17 Tennessee.
Freshman Kingston Flemings added 21 points, distributed five assists and recorded eight of Houston’s 15 steals as its pressure defense helped produce 19 Florida State turnovers. Freshman forward Chris Cenac Jr. racked up his second career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Cougars.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson knows his team, which rose a spot in the AP rankings on Monday, is far from a finished product. He lauded Flemings for his improvement and for taking his work in practice to the court for Sunday’s win.
“This team is a work in progress. Every time we play a game, there’s a comma,” Sampson said. “Kingston is getting better because of the way he practices.”
Houston was only ahead of the Seminoles 57-52 midway through the second half because of uncharacteristic mistakes and poor shooting.
“Our turnovers killed a lot of our momentum three or four times,” Sampson said. “They were making some crazy 3s to get the lead down to nine, and next thing you know we were up 15 or 16. Past teams we’ve had knew how to take a 16-point lead to 20, a 20-point lead to 25, and next thing you know we’re up 30 or 35. We haven’t been able to do that yet.”
Wednesday’s game is the first of two at home this week for Houston against mid-major opponents, with New Orleans coming in on Saturday.
Jackson State (1-7) travels to the Bayou City on the heels of an 88-73 road loss to Kennesaw State on Dec. 2. Daeshun Ruffin led the Tigers with 28 points, marking his sixth game this season in double-figure scoring, while Mike Williams added 12 points off the bench as Jackson State shot just 34.5% from the floor in the setback.
The Tigers trailed by 14 points at halftime and by 21 five minutes into the second half and had no answer through the end of the game.
Jackson State is coached by former NBA All-Star Mo Williams and was picked to finish third in the SWAC in preseason polls. Ruffin was named the SWAC preseason player of the year.
“We’re just trying to figure it out,” Williams said. “You know, we got some young guys stepping up that need to play for us this year. We’ve got to get better.”
The Tigers have played seven of their eight games on the road and have absorbed losses to four teams ranked at the time — No. 17 Illinois, No. 11 Louisville, No. 22 Auburn and No. 21 Arkansas — and all by at least 36 points.
