KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Top-seeded Houston will return to the Big 12 Championship final for the second straight year, looking for its first title, while squaring off against conference newcomer and third-seeded Arizona on Saturday.
But Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said the conference champion already has been determined.
“The game tomorrow night doesn’t determine the Big 12 champion,” he said after his Cougars manhandled fourth-seeded BYU 74-54 in the first semifinal Friday night. “The regular season determines the Big 12 champion. That’s why you play 20 games. We played a game on December 30, and we played the last one on March 8.
“This little (tournament), three games in three days? It’s an awesome chance for the Big 12 to show how great this conference is.”
No. 2-ranked Houston (29-4) won the regular season with a 19-1 conference record, claiming the league title by four games over second-place Texas Tech and five games over Arizona and BYU. Houston beat Arizona 62-58 on Feb. 15 in the teams’ only other meeting this season.
Houston was dominant against BYU. Emanuel Sharp scored 26 points and LJ Cryer added 20. Houston raced to a 41-20 advantage at halftime and saw the lead drop to 13 with 13:26 remaining before back-to-back 3-pointers by Sharp ended BYU’s hopes.
Houston held BYU to almost 28 points below its season average. That’s to be expected from Houston, which has the No. 1 scoring defense in the country.
“Our defense is our defense,” Sampson said. “We’ve been doing this for a long time.”
Caleb Love scored 27 points, 17 of those in the first half, as Arizona (22-11) knocked off No. 2 seed Texas Tech 86-80 in the second semifinal.
“It wasn’t easy,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “They were tough. They fought us every step of the way. They did a really good job of putting pressure on us and getting to the free-throw line, and then they were great on the offensive glass.
“All in all, I’m proud of our guys for hanging with it and making enough winning plays to come out on top.”
Arizona dominated the game on the inside. The Wildcats outscored Texas Tech 40-28 in the paint. Love was one of five Wildcats in double figures. KJ Lewis had 15 points, Trey Townsend had 12, and Jaden Bradley and Henri Veesaar each had 10.
No. 9-ranked Texas Tech had four players in double figures, led by Kevin Overton with 20 points. Christian Anderson had 19 and Kerwin Walton 13. But Arizona limited Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin to just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field.
“These guys made some big-time plays,” Lloyd said. “Texas Tech has a knack for hanging in games. Our guys did a great job answering all of those.”
So in the Wildcats’ first season in the league, their reward for advancing to the title game is a matchup against the Houston defense.
“They’re great on offense, they’re great on defense, they’re great on the glass,” Lloyd said. “If you want to drill it down and just say defense, that’s easier to understand. But they’re also great on offense, and that that’s what makes them so hard to beat.”
–David Smale, Field Level Media
