Houston ran Texas out of the gym Saturday afternoon, the 82-61 final failing to quantify the beating. Texas went down early and clawed back to tie it at 17. UH scratched out a four-point lead, then Texas cut it to two. It was a game.

And then it wasn’t.

The Cougars took over. In two first-half spurts, the Cougars asserted their dominance over the Longhorns. It was 94 feet of organized mayhem, a chaos Texas couldn’t identify, much less counter.

the daily #198 | 2/18/2024 | Archives
 

8:49 Left

It was 22-20 Houston, and Mylik Wilson had it stolen. Texas gets the ball to Disu to take the lead, but he misses. They get an offensive rebound and get it back to Disu. J’Wan Roberts fouls him. It’s a one-and-one with 8:23 left in the half. Texas could tie it again. But Disu misses. J’Wan gets the board, and the Cougars go down the floor.

Jamal Shead takes it from Mylik Wilson at the top, dribbles into the lane, and hits a floater for two. On the other end, Max Abmas gets the ball to start the offense.

Immediately, J’Wan Roberts and Jamal double him, and he picks up the ball. Roberts steps away, and Shead is jumping up, surrounding him, it seems, from all sides.

Abmas got rid of it but got it back and was pushed to the sideline and threw a panicked pass to Dillon Mitchell. Mylik Wilson tips the ball out, Shead grabs it and takes it into the lane before dishing to LJ Cryer on the wing and

The building explodes. Timeout Rodney Terry. J’Wan motions for the fans to get louder, if that’s even possible.

26 seconds: a bucket, a steal, and an assist by Shead, and a three from Cryer.

1:14 Left

UH had extended the lead to 11, but now Texas had cut it to seven on a pull-up three from Disu in the corner.

Houston comes down, and Jamal throws it to Cryer, who gets a screen set by Ja’Vier Francis. Cryer dribbles to the top while Francis slides to the short corner. Texas double-teams Cryer, who wisely dishes to Roberts at the free-throw line.

Roberts takes a step to draw the only inside defender to him as Francis cuts to the hole. He passes to Francis, who slams it home with 53 seconds left.

Texas takes the ball down, but pressure defense knocks it away on the sideline with 42 seconds left. Texas tries to inbound in front of the UH bench as the CBS feed focuses on an arms-crossed Kelvin Sampson. Sampson surveys his defense across the court.

Suddenly, Kelvin’s face freezes, and he lurches back as Jamal Shead makes a play on the ball. They cut to another camera angle, and Shead tipped the ball from Disu on the inbounds. The ball bounces twice before Shead catches up with it at midcourt. With J’Wan Roberts trailing, Shead takes it in for a slam. 34 seconds left.

Texas was holding to get a final shot off with just a few seconds left before halftime. They go at 10 on the shot clock and 14 on the game clock. Abmas dribbles to his left and immediately sees a double-team. But Roberts pulls off back to his man. Now it’s Abmas and Cryer one-on-one. Abmas ducks to the elbow and puts up a weak, flat-footed shot. Ja’Vier Francis swats it 18 inches above the goal right back to Jamal Shead. Shead was fouled near midcourt and sank them both.

Houston’s aggression turned a seven-point lead into 13 at the half. For the Longhorns, it was deflating. UT had chipped away, but the Cougars attacked back.

The belligerence continued in the second half as UH started 5/6 from the floor, including back-to-back J’Wan layups, and built the lead to 23 before Rodney Terry called timeout again.

It was too late. The game was over.