Cougar Basketball is currently #1 in the country and enjoying great success. UH has also had great sucess every time they’ve played on Leap Day: the Coogs are 4-0 on February 29.
the daily #209 | 2/29/2024 | Archives
Houston 89, Drake 70 (1960)
In the last 10 days of the 1960 season, Houston hosted #1 Cincinnati, #2 Bradley, #16 Saint Louis, and Drake. UH beat Bradley but lost to the Bearcats and Billikens. On the season’s final day, and Houston’s final game in the Missouri Valley Conference, Houston was 12-12 before the Drake game.
The game was mauled by frequent “violent eruptions” between players, as the Des Moines Register called it, and 54 fouls were called. The Cougars shot 49 free throws, outscoring Drake by 19 at the line. That was the margin, too, in Houston’s 89-70 win.
#2 Houston 80, Baylor 65 (1984)
The #2 Cougars won their second-straight Southwest Conference championship, beating Baylor, 80-65, in front of 10,060 fans.
“It felt good to win the championship last year, but I believe this one is sweeter,” Guy Lewis said. It was UH’s fifth Southwest Conference title, but the first won at Hofheinz. That night, Michael Young became the all-time leading scorer in SWC history, passing UT’s Ron Baxter.
Akeem went 9/9 from the floor for 24 points and 18 rebounds. Reid Gettys had 11 assists.
Houston 79, Texas A&M 69 (1992)
The Cougars were not sharp but beat the overmatched Aggies 79-69. Bo Outlaw went 6/8 from the floor, blocked nine shots, and had five steals. Craig Upchurch had 20 points.
A&M led by five at halftime, thanks to a skinny walk-on named Chuck Henderson. Henderson hit seven three-pointers and scored 29 for the Aggies. But UH hit 13/16 free throws down the stretch to improve to 20-5 overall and 9-3 in the SWC.
“Today, we weren’t ready to play. I was the only one worried (before the game),” coach Pat Foster said. “But you need to win games like this, where you win on talent. You can’t rely on emotion for every game.”
Houston 82, Tulane 53 (2012)
It was senior night for Darian Thibodeaux, and the Cougars destroyed Tulane 82-53. Thibodeaux had 12 points and seven assists in his last game at Hofheinz. He also guarded eventual C-USA Freshman of the Year Ricky Tarrant, holding him scoreless for the first time all year. Tarrant led the league in scoring in conference games before Leap Day.
All five Houston starters scored in double figures, combining to shoot 31/50 (62%).
“It was a mindset overall to stop somebody like that from scoring,” Thibodeaux said. “He still played a good game; we just kept him from scoring.”
