If basketball have been a magnificence pageant, the Houston Cougars would not be invited. There’s not a lot flash and positively nothing horny about the best way Kelvin Sampson’s group performs basketball.
And that is completely okay. The Cougars are lovely in their very own means.
For years, Houston has flourished with in-your-face protection, relentless stress and eat-nails-for-breakfast toughness. In Saturday evening’s semifinal 70-67 win over Duke, it wanted each ounce of these three issues to advance.
The Cougars trailed by 14 with 8:17 to play and by 9 with 3:03 remaining. Even their comeback was a grind. Although Houston outscored Duke 15-3 within the remaining three minutes, nothing was straightforward. But it surely was completely Houston, and it has the Cougars competing for his or her first nationwide championship since 1984.
The comeback required Houston to lean into its id and, in the end, 5 issues that helped it win over Duke.
Protection
It is Houston’s calling card, and when it wanted it most, the protection confirmed up. Duke scored just one area purpose within the remaining 10:31, making simply two of its remaining 11 pictures. The Cougars compelled 5 turnovers in that span after Duke had solely turned the ball over twice within the earlier half-hour.
