One year ago today, the Houston Cougars rolled past Ohio State to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1984. Corey Davis scored 21 and had 6 rebounds in the 74-59 win, while Galen Robinson had 13 points and six steals, a career-high.
“I saw a lot of proud Cougars up there behind us tonight,” a beaming Kelvin Sampson told the media. “And the ones I was happiest for were the guys who have been supporting this program since those days.”
The win was the 33rd of the season for the Cougars, breaking the school record for wins in a season, also set in 1984.
“I thought our best player tonight was our senior point guard, Galen Robinson,” Sampson said about the guy who laid the foundation for the Cougar revival. “As far as Galen, he’s been here four years. He’s won a hundred and — how many games? 108, 109? So he doesn’t know anything but winning.”
The UH defense started the game focused on collapsing and shutting down Ohio State’s inside game. But the Buckeyes started hot from three-point range, hitting six of their first nine attempts. The Cougars stayed with the Buckeyes, though, shooting a white-hot 55% in the half. Down three with just under 10 minutes left, Houston went on an 18-7 run to end the half and never trailed the rest of the game.
Brison Gresham (9 points) and Fabian White (11) were key in the middle for the Coogs and kept Ohio State’s bigs in check. UH outscored the Buckeyes 34-12 in the paint (20-2 in the first half).
The Coogs had depended on the three-pointer all season but struggled shooting it in the second half, going just 1/8 from deep. But it didn’t matter. Repeatedly, Galen and Corey went the length of the court or blew by a flat-footed defender.
The two seniors also played tremendous defense as Ohio State went over 8 minutes in the second half without a bucket. The Buckeyes were 8/25 (32%) in the half, including just 2/12 (16.7%) from beyond the arc.
