Wake up, haters: Houston is a national title contender again, but more dangerous

NEWARK, N.J. — How do you make it to within one shot of winning a national title, bring back three key pieces from that team, start 10-1 and still float along the outskirts of the national radar?

Only one way: You’re the perpetually under-discussed Houston Cougars. 

I’m not saying it’s right, I’m just saying it’s how it is. Far too often. 

“Don’t sleep on Houston,” Kelvin Sampson famously said last April after the Cougars stunned much of the college hoops world by ending Cooper Flagg’s college career with the Coogs’ epic upset of No. 1 Duke in the Final Four.

It’s time to remind the world to wake up again. 

Maybe it’s because Houston loves to win ugly. 

Maybe it’s because its schedule hasn’t been flashy so far. 

Maybe it’s because the Cougars don’t produce one-and-done talent (though, read on, because that’s now no longer the case).

But here we are again, amid another season, and Houston is one of the best teams in the country. It’s time to start paying game-by-game attention to the Cougars once more, as they are the most reliably successful team in college basketball and proved that true again on Saturday with another physically authoritative, Houston-style win against overmatched Arkansas in the Never Forget Tribute Classic at the Prudential Center. 

The Cougars defeated the Razorbacks 94-85 to improve to 11-1, getting there behind 22 points from senior guard Emanuel Sharp and 21 more from freshman guard Kingston Flemings Jr.

Houston entered the game with a No. 8 ranking, Arkansas at No. 14. They didn’t look all that close. Arkansas was within breathing distance for the entire second half, but Houston broke the game open when it ripped off a 15-0 run to get the score to 41-19. The game teetered there. The only reason it wasn’t a blowout was thanks to the play of Arkansas freshman point Darius Acuff Jr., who kept the gap from becoming a chasm. 

Acuff, who may well be a lottery pick in next June’s NBA Draft, finished with 27 points and seven assists, both game-highs. 

John Calipari and Kelvin Sampson have 70 Seasons and 1,600-plus wins between them, but this was just the second time they’d ever matched its; Calipari got the better of Sampson in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. For Arkansas, the game was a missed opportunity. The Hogs are 9-3, but a victory here would have surely bumped their reputation up a tier. Instead, they’re one of six or seven teams with talent that are jumbled near the top of the SEC, which will start league play in two weeks. 

Houston’s in a much rosier position. The Big 12 is stacked with the likes of Arizona, Iowa State, BYU and even Kansas. It hasn’t dropped a bit from its perch in this sport. 

The answer as to why Houston wasn’t getting more attention is their schedule. Saturday’s win logs as just the second Quad 1 victory for UH through 12 games, joining the Nov. 16 73-72 defeat of Auburn in Birmingham, Alabama. Beating Arkansas also improved UH to 7-1 in the last eight games in top-15 matchups.

This is what Sampson’s teams do. Win way more than they lose, and when they win, they hurt you and tend not to make it close. 

You might’ve forgotten it amid the crunch of incredible November games, but Houston’s only loss came by three at Players Era in Vegas. I was there; Tennessee might not play a better overall game this season. And the Vols are obviously of good quality. That in mind, Houston having a lone single-possession loss against a team that might be a top-four seed shouldn’t displace them from the conversation of who’s elite in this terrific season. 

Houston’s adaptability Saturday was also admirable. Arkansas came into the game averaging 89.9 points, and it got close to that, but Houston had no problem making it a track meet. The game had 73 possessions, the most Houston’s played in regulation since the start of the 2024-25 season. I know Kelvin Sampson abhors seeing another team hit 80-plus on his guys, but having this kind of win will serve Houston well in the next three months.

The Cougars stymied the run-happy Hogs, who came into the game ranked No. 2 in fast break points at 22.7 per night. On this night, a mere seven — which is a half-point more than Houston gives up per game.

Houston knew it would have its moments on the offensive glass — Arkansas allows 16 per game in second-chance opportunities — and voila: Cougars got 16 on the board after securing 12 offensive rebounds.

No matter the cut-off you want to use, Houston leads all teams in college basketball in win total in the past five, six, seven, eight years. It’s no surprise the Cougars are great again. Not just great, but a national title contender, and while they don’t rate top-five in efficiency just yet, their DNA puts them in a deep pool of teams that includes undefeateds such as Arizona, Michigan, Duke and Iowa State. Then the one-loss bullies are Houston, UConn, Gonzaga, Purdue, Michigan State and North Carolina. (Undefeated Vanderbilt may well be in that class as well, but it’s yet to beat a top-30 team.)

Getting Sharp, Uzan and Tugler back, with that Final Four experience, is huge. But the addition of Flemings is what changes the dynamics in play. He’s a rangy lead guard who was ranked 20th in his high school class and has already outplayed that projection. He’s putting up better than 15 points, five assists and shooting almost 60%. 

Houston’s always been good/great under Sampson. Always been tough. Always been opportunistic. Always had a swagger. 

Kingston makes them dangerous. Uzan and Sharp are capable of taking and making the big shot, but Flemings is the guy who is the key to keeping Houston just as good this season as it was last season, and the one before that, and the one before that. 

But even more? He’s talented enough to make Houston believe that getting back to a national championship game should be the expectation, not the hope.