Houston smothers Vols, punches Last Four ticket
INDIANAPOLIS– The specifying theme of the 2024-25 college basketball season has actually been the dominance of the SEC. The league set a record with 14 NCAA competition quotes, developed another one with 7 teams in the Sugary food 16 and became the first conference to have 4 schools in each local final.But on Sunday in
the Elite 8, the University of Houston showed Tennessee and the SEC that the Huge 12 can still play the role of bully. Houston tossed a defensive haymaker in the first half and rendered Tennessee’s offense overwhelmed and ineffective, like so many victims of the SEC this season, in a 69-50 win.In a competition where SEC teams have won frequently by swallowing groups entire with athleticism, depth and an abundance of skill, Houston flipped the script.Editor’s Picks
2 Related Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars
have been the Huge 12’s most dominant program given that going into the league two years ago. And they have actually done so with a protective edge that Sampson started creating at Montana Tech when he first became a head coach in the early 1980s.”We play in a difficult conference,”Sampson said.”I believe going 19-1 in the Big 12, 10-0 on the roadway, prepared us for this. The Purdue game was type of like a road game. Tennessee game was type of like a roadway game, too, with their fans, however our kids are sort of calloused to that therefore congratulations to them. “On Sunday, Tennessee, coached by Sampson’s friend Rick Barnes
, ended up being the latest team to get ripped apart by Houston. Tennessee missed its first 14 3-pointers, tracked by as numerous as 22 in the very first half and looked at times like a directional school”purchase game “opponent in an early November matchup.”Houston, they do what they do,”Barnes stated. “That’s why they’re where
they are. That’s the requirement of their program.”L.J. Cryer got rid of a rough shooting efficiency against Purdue to score a team-high 17 points, and Houston controlled the paint by outscoring Tennessee 30-14 inside. Tennessee finished the game shooting 17.2%from 3-point variety and 28.8%from the field.Tennessee managed to cut the Houston result in 10 in the second half, but any coal of life the Vols revealed were extinguished by Emanuel
Sharp, who struck a set of second-half 3-pointers less than a minute apart to extend the lead back and completed with 16 points.The Cougars improved to 34-4 and will deal with East Regional champion No. 1 Duke in the Final 4 next weekend. This is Houston’s seventh Final 4, and its six looks in the event without a nationwide title are the most of any program.Sampson advances to the third Final 4 of his profession, and the second throughout his time at Houston. After advancing on a slick inbounds have fun with less than a second left against Purdue on Friday night, Houston’s protective brutality removed any chance at comparable drama Sunday. “The strength of our group has always been our team,”Sampson stated. “[ Our guys], they have actually all taken turns being the best player for that week or the next 2 weeks, however we have an excellent group, and whoever we play the next game we get prepared for it, which’s been our secret sauce. “The Final 4 will be another display for the impressive run of supremacy that Sampson has carried out at Houston. The Cougars own the nation’s longest streak of Sweet 16s, having actually reached the round in six straight years.By winning Sunday, Sampson avoided Barnes from reaching his 2nd Final Four. The result likewise kept Tennessee from reaching the very first Final 4 in school history. This was Tennessee’s 10th Sweet 16, the most by any school to never ever make a Last Four.The SEC currently had Florida advanced to the Final Four and added a second team after No. 1 Auburn defeated No. 2 Michigan State in the South Regional last. The Tennessee loss suggests the SEC will not connect the Big East’s record of three groups in the Final Four back in 1985. Tennessee belly-flopped from the start. Houston forced misses on 10 of Tennessee’s very first 11 shots and on the Vols first 14 3-pointers. By the time Zakai Zeigler hit Tennessee’s first 3-pointer, there were 39 seconds left in the very first half and the shot cut the Cougars ‘lead
to 34-15, which was the halftime score.The Vols were never ever actually in the game. Tennessee fell behind 9-2 to open the game, 22-6 later in the very first half and took more than 16 minutes to split double digits. Already, the Vols trailed 29-10 and Barnes had his hands jammed in his pockets in frustration.”I feel like we always wish to toss the very first
punch,”Houston guard Milos Uzan stated. He included:” It’s very important to keep our foot on their neck. So we did a great task with that.”Tennessee’s offending ineptitude– and Houston’s defensive disruption– had the NCAA interns getting paper cuts searching for historical lows in a competition game.It was the lowest first-half scoring overall by a group seeded No. 1 or No. 2 in NCAA history. It was likewise the second-lowest overall scoring half for a top-two
seed, with Kentucky’s 11 points against Georgetown in the second half of their national semifinal game in 1984 the just even worse showing.And it sets the phase for a possible home-court advantage for the Cougars in San Antonio, less than 200 miles from Houston. “Jump on the interstate and get here, that’s what we’ll do next week,” Sampson said.” We’ll get on the interstate and head down San Antonio. That’s why you do not grumble, since it can turn the other method.
Pleased with our guys for finding a way to win. We beat 2 impressive programs– not simply groups, terrific programs– this week in Purdue
and Tennessee.”