No. 15 Houston will look to close its nonconference schedule with a fourth straight win as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi comes to town on Saturday.
Houston is coming off a balanced 78-49 win over Toledo on Wednesday as five Cougars scored in double figures, led by reserve Terrance Arceneaux’s 16 points. Houston beat Butler by 28 and Troy by 20 in its two previous games after closing November with a 73-70 loss to San Diego State at the Players Era Tournament in Las Vegas.
Houston, which opens Big 12 play at Oklahoma State on Dec. 30, suffered two of its three losses in Vegas, falling to then-No. 9 Alabama 85-80 in the tournament opener.
“We have a good team,” Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson said. “But I’m glad we get to play again on Saturday instead of having to wait nine more days or 10 more days. That’s kind of what we’ve been up against and it’s just hard.
“We need to catch a rhythm. It’s just so apparent. I’ve coached so many games over the decades, I think this is my fifth decade being a head coach in college. What I see from my lens will always be different from what you see. The thing that I see with this team is they just need games more than anything else.”
The Cougars (7-3), who lost just five games last season and four in 2022-23, haven’t lost more than six in a single campaign since the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season (eight losses).
Outside of San Diego State, Houston’s defeats have come against opponents currently ranked among the country’s top six teams. In addition to falling against now-No. 6 Alabama, Houston lost to current No. 2 Auburn, then at No. 11, 74-69 in early November after allowing 46 points in the second half.
Houston is led by backcourt duo L.J. Cryer and Emmanuel Sharp. Cryer averages a team-high 14.6 points per game on 39.8 field-goal shooting. Sharp trails just behind at 14.4 points in addition to 3.3 rebounds per game. Milos Uzan is the Cougars’ engine on offense, averaging a team-high five assists per game, while J’Wan Roberts is the team’s top rebounder (6.7 per game).
Corpus Christi is 7-5, although three of those wins have come against non-NCAA opponents. Another win came against Prairie View A&M, which is winless against NCAA opponents this season.
The Islanders are coming off one of those non-Division I wins as they travel to Houston, beating NCCAA foe Southwestern Adventist University 117-63 on Wednesday.
Corpus Christi has played only one Power Five opponent this season, falling to then-No. 14 Purdue 90-73 in its season opener.
“I thought we really struggled to contain them,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “We picked up the ball full court and they were just taking us in transition. When they were in the paint in the first half, they had success even though we were up 16. They just had zero success when the ball wasn’t in there.”
Corpus Christi is led by forward Garry Clark, who averages 14.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Clark matched his season high of 19 points in Wednesday’s win and has scored in double figures in all 12 games.
Clark is the only Islander averaging double figures in points, as Isaac Williams is second on the team in scoring (9.6).
–Field Level Media
