Houston’s Kingston Flemings scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half as he and Chris Cenac, Jr. helped the Cougars hold off talented Auburn. Photo courtesy of Houston Athletics.
The No. 22 Auburn Tigers and No. 1 Houston Cougars both exude the same character and culture as those were key qualities that led both to the Final Four last spring.
Coach Kelvin Sampson returns for his 37th season as one of college basketball’s exclusive talents on the sidelines and a career in the NBA as an assistant coach at Milwaukee and Houston from 2008-2014.
Sampson returned Emanuel Sharp, Jo Jo Tugler, and Milos Uzan from the national championship game last season. The addition of freshmen phenoms Kingston Flemings, Chris Cenac, Jr., and Isiah Harwell adds to the possibility of Sampson cutting the nets in Indianapolis on the first weekend in April.
Meanwhile, the Tigers’ culture and character are intact after Sunday’s tough 73-72 loss to the Cougars in Birmingham. Bruce and Steven Pearl turned this program immaculately into a national power and they will challenge forthe SEC title despite the loss of Johni Broome, Chad Baker-Mazra, Miles Kelly, Denver Jones, Chauncey Johnson, and Dylan Cardwell from a year ago.
No. 22 Auburn played an elite game against an elite program and fell after the Cougars’ defense managed four deflections on the last possession of the game.
Summary of the Last 23 Seconds: After Houston guard Emanuel Sharp launched a three-pointer with one second remaining on the shot clock, the Cougars posted a literal goalline stand to pull out the win.
Guard Tahaad Pettiford dribbled from the left side of the court and went into the lane on the right side of the basket. Cougars rookie Kingston Flemings blocked the shot on the layup attempt as he slid over the lane and made the block from behind.
On the inbounds pass, Tigers center Sebastian Williams-Adams found Pettiford on the right side. He once again drove, but this time it was 6-11 Cougars senior Kalifa Sokho who blocked Pettiford on the right side, and the ball went out of bounds, which gave Auburn one last chance.
With one second left, Tigers guard Elyjah Freeman inbounded the basketball from the sideline in front of the Tigers’ bench. He found post KeShawn Murphy on the left side of the basket, but Uzan came from the back and knocked the shot away, and the Cougars prevailed.
I thought we had to drop a side lob to get Murph a look late, get his hands on the ball, and get a shot up. I thought the execution was really good late in the game. With eight seconds, we’re able to get all the way downhill to the rim, play off two feet, shot fake, get him in the air like we talked about all week. — Auburn head coach Steven Pearl
“Auburn has a really good team,” said Sampson. “They are going to get a lot better. So will we.”
Prowling the Path – Auburn’s last lead came when Kevin Overton’s two free throws gave them a 21-19 lead with 6:19 remaining before halftime. Houston hit a 7-0 run over the next 56 seconds as Harwell scored on a three-pointer to pace the quick sprint.
Houston pushed its lead to eight points on four occasions, but each time, the Tigers fought back to within one point. Auburn leading scorer Keyshawn Hall made a pair of free throws to cut the Houston lead to 68-66 with 4:14 remaining.
Hall went out with what appeared to be an ankle injury, but he never returned to the game.
Milos Uzan drained a three with 2:57 remaining to give the Cougars the 73-66 lead with 2:57 to play. The Tigers’ defense held Houston to 0-0f-2 from the floor with three turnovers until the game’s end.
“I just thought we had too many live-ball turnovers that led to transition,” commented Pearl. “You know, I think if we make our free throws, it’s a different ball game.”
The Tigers finished 21-of-33 from the foul line, although Houston shot only 12 free throws.
“We did a really good job of decreasing the space that they had defensively to draw contact and get to the foul line,” Pearl said. “I thought we earned all of our free throws. Obviously, we gotta make – we can’t miss 12. We gotta make at least six of those, and then obviously it’s a different ball game.”
Young Cougars Embark on Challenge: Freshman Kingston Flemings set the tone early for the Cougars as he scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the first half. He scored eight consecutive points to keep them ahead of Auburn, 34-32, just 2:10 before halftime.
Chris Cenac, Jr., finished with 18 points and was 8-of-10 from the floor with nine rebounds as he was a tough matchup with his athleticism and ability to step outside and score.
Flemings came to Houston as the No. 17 player in the nation and No. 1 in the Class of 2025 in Texas, as he played high school basketball in San Antonio. Cenac, rated No. 6 last season in high school, joins No. 16 Isiah Harwell and Bryce Jackson as freshmen who will be major contributors.
“These guys were in high school last year,” noted Sampson. “I thought they handled the game well, whether it was the whistle or the crowd.”
Flemings and Cenac combined for 16 of the Cougars’ first 21 points to allow Houston to stay with Auburn in the first half.
“Cenac goes 8-of-10, and Flemings goes 8-of-13,” noted Pearl. “I thought they both made about three or four shots that we were happy with them taking. Flemings, obviously, made a really tough 3 at the end of the half. Cenac hadn’t shot the ball great so far from three this year, and he obviously made two really big ones.”
Hall Fuels Auburn’s Offensive Fire: Keyshawn Hall has scored over 20 points in each of his first four games, and has shot 51.1 percent from the floor, 54.5 percent from three, while making 39-of-42 free throws. Hall scored under pressure as he cut Houston’s leads back to two points twice and one point on three early second-half possessions that saw Auburn trail 50-49 with 13:32 remaining.
“Keyshawn Hall, once again, with a double-double, 20 points and 11 rebounds,” said Pearl. “It was good to see Tahaad make some big shots again and look more like himself. Those guys played heavy minutes, but I felt like they had to.”
Hall’s inside-outside game has allowed him to average a double-double in joining Pettiford and Overton as starters on the perimeter.
“Thought our guys played their tails off,” Pearl said. “Thought they did a really good job of limiting their turnovers. Houston only had six offensive rebounds in the first half. For them to have 14 offensive rebounds in a game where they missed 37 shots, you know, I thought our guys did a pretty good job in that area.”