L.J. Cryer scored 20 points to lead a balanced attack as No. 4 Houston topped visiting Cincinnati, 73-64, to capture its second straight Big 12 outright regular-season title.
Terrance Arceneaux contributed 10 points off the bench for the Cougars (25-4, 17-1) who beat the Bearcats for the 12th straight time and captured their 21st win in their last 22 games.
Houston is the first team to win two titles in its first two years in a major conference since Idaho did it in 1921-23 in the Pacific Coast Conference, which became the Pac-12.
The Cougars’ offense functioned smoothly, committing just nine turnovers and hitting 53.6 percent of its shots. Houston outscored Cincinnati 40-24 in the paint and 17-9 off turnovers.
Day Day Thomas scored 19 points for the Bearcats (17-12, 7-11) despite foul trouble limiting him to 19 minutes.
Jizzle James collected 18 points and five assists for Cincinnati, which had averaged 76.4 points in winning five of its previous seven games.
Against the Houston defense, which entered leading the nation in points allowed (57.8 per game), Cincinnati committed 11 turnovers and shot 44.1 percent from the floor and made 6 of 20 (30 percent) from 3-point range.
Houston started slowly, missing eight of its first nine shots, allowing Cincinnati to score 10 straight points.
Dillon Mitchell canned a 3-pointer and Simas Lukosius capped the run with another trey as the Bearcats grabbed a 10-2 lead before the game was seven minutes old.
The Cougars, however, responded with the next 14 points to take the lead for good. Houston did it with defensive pressure, holding Cincinnati scoreless for more than six minutes.
Joseph Tugler grinded for a putback three-point play to highlight the spree, which put the Cougars up 16-10 with 7:51 left in the first half.
Houston consistently worked for quality shots and ended the first half making 13 of its last 17 attempts from the floor to take a 37-25 lead at the break.
Thomas opened the second half with a 3-pointer and another jumper as the Bearcats reduced the deficit to 37-30, but that’s as close as they got.
After failing to score in the first half, J’Wan Roberts worked inside for four field goals, including a jump hook midway through the second half that stretched the Cougars’ edge to 56-38.
A step-back 3-pointer by Cryer maxed out the Cougars’ lead at 65-46 with 6:56 left.
–Field Level Media
