AMES, IA – I woke up Tuesday morning, and the sun had indeed come up, and I started thinking about my life traveling with the Houston Cougars. About how good basketball and football have been on the road and how much fun I’ve had experiencing first-hand these road warriors. Then I started counting true road wins that I’d seen in person.
Before the trip to Iowa State, I did the double at Utah and BYU last week. Went to TCU and Baylor earlier in the season. All wins. During football season, I went to Orlando for the Friday night Space Game, Arizona State, and the emotional win in the aftermath of Kurt Hester’s passing, Oklahoma State, and the Section 231 students waving their shirts, and over to Rice. Four more wins in a row. Last hoops season, I ended the regular season at Baylor, gone to Texas Tech for that Big Monday win over the No. 9 Red Raiders, in Tucson for the second half beatdown against No. 13 Arizona, at Colorado for the pesky Buffs, flying to Pittsburgh to get to WVU and UH escaping with a win, the double-OT thriller at Allen Fieldhouse, and Oklahoma State just before New Years in 2024. WWWWWWW.
Before Tuesday, I had seen 15 consecutive road wins by Houston in the two major sports. 444 days since I last saw a loss, which was the BYU football game in 2024. The last time I saw Kelvin Sampson’s team lose was at Kansas in 2024, 14 roadies and 104 weeks ago. I’ve been blessed, and so have UH fans.
This team had won 20 of its previous 21 games on the road before Ames. That’s incredible.
Here’s a stat for you: UH had 0 points off turnovers against Iowa State. None. That had never happened in Kelvin Sampson’s 408 games at Houston.
Yes, Iowa State was there for the taking. But a really good team, with what many fans are calling their best environment ever, had their best 48 hours in the school’s history and took down No. 9 Kansas and No. 2 Houston. But after that disappointing loss in Ames, the Houston Cougars continue to lead the Big 12 and have five games left in their quest for a third-straight conference title. Over the next week, they’ll face No. 4 Arizona at home, then go to Lawrence to take on No. 8 Kansas a little over 48 hours later. It’s all in front of them.
The Cougars did not play well in wins over Utah and Kansas State, but they did play well at Iowa State. They lost, and that will sting for fans for a few days. There was a bad stretch near the end of the game, for sure. But they played well.
Kingston steps up in the biggest games, unlike any freshman I’ve ever seen. He goes into a slump vs. Utah and Kansas State, but shines in big moments like BYU and Iowa State.
A few more thoughts on Kingston:
– In a deep guard year, Kingston Flemings is playing like a first-team All-American.
– In possibly the deepest freshman class in history, Kingston is right there among the best. Freshman of the year probably goes to AJ Dybansta, and Cameron Boozer has put up great numbers, but Kingston is right there.
– Kingston played 37 minutes Monday night, 2.5 minutes more than Milos and 3 more than any other player in the game. And he was the best player in the game.
– In UH’s 10 biggest games (Auburn, Syracuse, Tennessee, Arkansas, at Cincinnati, Tech, TCU, at Tech, BYU, Iowa State), Kingston has averaged 22.9 ppg on 50.6% shooting, 44.4% from three, with 4.4 boards and 5.2 assists. Every one of those numbers, save assists, is better than his season as a whole.
Milos Uzan played a solid game on the road for the first time since Cincinnati. That’s critical. Milos has been good at home in Big 12 play, but it hasn’t translated well on the road. On Monday, Milos has to contribute at Allen Fieldhouse. Last year at Kansas, he was 6/11 from the floor with 9 assists and 0 turnovers.
I think I harped on this on CATS!, but Uzan missed a critical front end of a one-and-one with 2:27 left and UH up 65-63. Jamarion Bateman fouled Uzan in the corner, which was their 7th foul. UH needed Milos to make and give himself the chance for another to push it to a four-point lead.
After the Bateman foul, Milan Momcilovic went to the table ready to check in for Bateman, who had subbed in for him 40 seconds before. Milos missed the FT, and Iowa State rebounded the miss and then pulled Momcilovic back to the bench. A few seconds later, Bateman buries a three-pointer to give the Cyclones the lead.
According to ESPN, Arizona has the 3rd hardest schedule remaining. UH has the 38th hardest. I believe if UH holds serve at home (Arizona, Baylor, Colorado) and wins at Oklahoma State, they’ll win the Big 12 for the third straight year. If the Cougars beat Arizona and then win in Lawrence, they’ll clinch the title at home.
