The Houston Cougars were a mid-major team just two years ago. Now, as sophomores in the Big 12, they are headed to their first national championship game since 1984 after taking down the Duke Blue Devils 70-67.
No one had the ‘Cougs winning with 8:17 to go in the game, following a Tyrese Proctor free throw that put the Blue Devils up by 14, especially when Kelvin Sampson’s team has played with the nation’s 15th-slowest pace of play, averaging 19.6 points per possession.
“It took us a while to become who we are,” Sampson said. “At some points if you have a culture, quitting is not part of the deal. We’re not going to quit. We’re just going to play better.”
That’s exactly what his team lived by.
Going into the final minute down by six, junior Emmanuel Sharp made a tough three to cut the lead to three, and from there, the Cougars were just one Mylik Wilson steal, one Joseph Tugler putback dunk and two J’Wan Roberts free throws away from taking the lead and keeping it for the rest of the way.
Not allowing a single Duke field goal to finish the game, Houston’s defense came alive just when it needed to to finish off the legendary run by Jon Scheyer and his squad.
“What we did was not foul,” Sampson said. “I think that was a big choice that we had to make there down the stretch. We were going to put JoJo on the ball and create problems throwing it vertical so they had to get east and west. Those are the easiest ones to deny because the sideline, at some point you can’t go past that.”
Now Houston moves on to take on Florida in the national championship on Monday, attempting to win their first title in program history.
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