No. 5 Houston will look to get back on the winning track and to build momentum for the NCAA Tournament when it hosts Colorado on Saturday afternoon in a late-season Big 12 Conference dustup.
The Cougars (23-5, 11-4 Big 12) have lost three consecutive games over eight days, with two on the road and all three against top-15 teams. It’s the first time since January 2017 that Houston has lost three in a row, but pollsters still view the Cougars highly. Houston remains projected as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“I’m proud of my team,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said after the third of those setbacks, a 69-56 loss at No. 14 Kansas on Monday. “It’s not the end of the world — we’re not going to go jump off the bridge because we lost.”
Kingston Flemings had 16 points and was the lone double-digit scorer for the Cougars in Monday’s loss. Houston shot just 31.8% from the floor and went only 5 of 24 on the 3-point attempts.
The Cougars’ losing streak included defeats at then-No. 6 Iowa State and at home to then-No. 4 Arizona.
“This is all behind us now,” Sampson said. “We lick our wounds. Basketball is a humbling sport, always has been. This is a great life lesson for everybody. When we play these good teams, you’ve got to be on top of your game and we weren’t.”
The Cougars took off on Tuesday and Wednesday (the latter day for the first time this season) to refresh and refocus on beating Colorado and the remaining games in the Big 12. Houston is in a four-way tie for second place in the league with Iowa State, Kansas and Texas Tech, with three regular-season games left.
The top four seeds receive a double-bye to the conference tournament quarterfinals, while seeds 5-8 get a first-round bye.
The Buffaloes (16-12, 6-9) head to the Bayou City after back-to-back wins at home, the most recent a 79-70 decision over Kansas State on Wednesday. Isaiah Johnson racked up 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for Colorado in the victory, with Ian Inman adding a career-high 17 points, Barrington Hargress hitting for 15, Sebastian Rancik tallying 13 points and Bangot Dak chipping in 10 points.
“The epitome of winning ugly, you saw it tonight on display,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said after Wednesday’s win. “Not too happy about it. I told our guys in the locker room, it’s my job to make sure we live in the truth, and I call it like I see it.”
Fifteen of Inman’s points on Wednesday came from five 3-pointers.
“Ultimately, it’s about me sticking to my grind,” Inman said. “It’s always been about sticking to my grind, sticking to my mentality. Ultimately, when my time comes, it’s about producing.”
Colorado has doubled its conference wins from a year ago when it finished 3-17 in league play. The Buffaloes are in 11th place in the Big 12, two games and three spots below the threshold for a first-round bye with three games remaining, and they cannot finish lower than 14th in the final league standings.
