Well, that was interesting.
Saturday’s blowout loss was historic. And yet, who cares. It was the largest margin of victory over a #1 team since UH was blown out by UCLA in 1968. It was the worst loss in the Kelvin Sampson era and the fewest points scored in these 10 seasons. Iowa State allowed the fewest points in a win vs. the AP #1 since it beat a Will Chamberlain-led Kansas in 1957.
Let’s get the excuses out of the way first. UH had already locked up a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, so the game (and the Big 12 Tournament) didn’t matter. UH was banged up, and J’Wan Roberts only played 13 minutes. UH was also missing three other contributors off the bench. I am sure everyone can come up with more excuses to try and justify that annihilation.
You know the old saying about excuses. UH fans were in no mood to hear excuses from Kansas when they had their star guard hobbled and star center go out of the game in a 30-point thrashing. They certainly weren’t hearing it when Texas Tech had their best player out with an injury on Friday in a 23-point blowout. Fans have adopted John Rothstein’s “No Mercy” phrase for UH. That phrase goes both ways.
The fact of the matter is Iowa State was just better. That happens. After 30 games of being ‘just better,’ it’s ok when another team fills the role. They were better in every possible way. They shot better, they defended better, they played harder, and, maybe hardest to swallow, they competed harder. The Cyclones were flat-out fantastic.
They held a mirror up to UH Basketball and showed us what the Coogs normally do to other teams. It sucked.
As a basketball fan, I loved it. They came out gunning from the opening tip, and they never let up. They hammered away and hammered away until UH finally tapped out.
With all that being said, this loss changes nothing. This is still a Big 12 champion who won the league by 2 games. This is still a 30-win team that won 17 games against teams in the toughest conference in the country. This is still a team that averaged a 10.6-point margin of victory in Big 12 play (Iowa State was second best with 3.9).
The silver lining in this loss is that it brings this team back down to Earth. This team plays it’s best when they have a chip on their shoulder. They get excited when people doubt them. Kelvin Sampson no longer has to manufacture the “Houston vs Everybody” mantra.
If UH were going to lose, I would much rather lose big than a nail-biter at the wire. Losing a close one is tough on the psyche because it is easy to look back and say that if you played better on 1 or 2 plays, you would have won. Even if you played poorly, you could justify that performance with being just a couple of plays from victory. When you lose like UH did last night, you know you didn’t have a chance. There weren’t 1 or 2 things you could have done differently. It is much easier to accept the loss, move on, and return to work.
And that is exactly what this team will do. The real season starts this weekend. The tournament selection show will happen at 5 p.m. and the road to Glendale will be laid out for all to see.
Can’t wait.
