The seeded n ° 1 Houston survives the fright of the upheaval

Wichita, Kan. – LJ Cryer equaled a career summit with 30 points, including two free throws with 14.2 seconds to do, and the seeded n ° 1 Houston was held to beat the eighth seeded Gonzaga 81-76 Saturday evening to reach the Sweet 16 for the sixth consecutive NCAA tournament.

I Wan Roberts added 18 points and Milos Uzan carried out two last free throws with 2.1 seconds to play, giving the Cougars (32-4) their 15th consecutive victory and pushing them in a regional semi-final against the head of series n ° 4 Purdue on Friday evening in Indianapolis.

Houston also ended the Nine Sweet 16 series in Gonzaga, which had been the longest active sequence in the country.

“It’s not just about winning the match,” said cougars coach Kelvin Sampson. “He beat an excellent program like Gonzaga.”

The Bulldogs (26-9) dragged 76-67 with just over 2 minutes to do when Graham Ike made two free throws to start their return offer, and most of them ended up at the fault line. And when Uzan returned the ball and Khalif Battle made his own free throws, the Bulldogs had drawn 77-76 with 21 remaining seconds.

Houston obtained the ball to Cryer, which was at fault, and he made his two free throws to extend the advance. At the other end, Ja’Vier Francis stuffed the trial of 3 points from Battle in the area, and Uzan overturned his lives to seal the victory.

“Gonzaga is as good as anyone we played all year round,” said Sampson. “If they had been cut elsewhere, it is a team that could have had a chance to go to the elite eight, or perhaps the Final Four. They are so good.”

IKE finished with 27 points for the Bulldogs. Battle scored 17 and Ryan Nembhard collected 10 points and 11 assists.

“It ended up being just an excellent basketball game, especially how our guys turned around.” Houston was all that we thought. “

Since no program has won more games than Gonzaga and Houston in the past eight seasons, it seemed that their second round match in the Midwest region would have been better suited for the second weekend.

Or even the Final Four, where the bulldogs and cougars were on the opposite sides of the support in 2021.

However, during a large part of the game, Houston looks deserving his seeded n ° 1 and Gonzaga his place at n ° 8. The cougars affirmed their physical domination on the power of the perennial West Coast, while Cryer – the great player of the year – paid in 16 points in the first middle to give Houston a 35-27 advance at the break.

Roberts, who walked the ankle in the conference tournament last week, took over in the second half. The most winning player in the history of cougars began to intimidate his way for baskets, which allowed the cougars to maintain their lead.

Gonzaga made a last race in the section but could never exceed them.

Take -out

Gonzaga finished second nationally by scoring 86.7 points per game, and exceeded this in a rout of 89-68 in Georgia in the first round. But the Bulldogs finished unless this brand against the defense of the Houston brand.

Houston was able to rest his stars in an unbalanced victory on Siu Edwardsville on Thursday. These fresh legs seemed to bear fruit in the last minutes on Saturday, while Gonzaga tried to return to the match.

The next

The cougars will face the drivers of drivers for a place in the elite eight.