Kentucky 62, Houston 58

5 thoughts on the Cougars' loss to Kentucky in the Sweet 16

5 thoughts on the Cougars' loss to Kentucky in the Sweet 16
Kelvin Sampson. Getty Images

The Houston Cougars' magical season ended in the Sweet 16 with a 62-58 loss to Kentucky. The Cougars got down early and chased the game throughout. They got close late and took the lead, but could not close the deal. Five quick thoughts on the game:

1) Beaten in the paint

The Cougars have been a great rebounding team all year, but Kentucky's size proved too much. The Wildcats out rebounded the Cougars 37-23 and dominated inside.

2) Defenseless

The Cougars defense, strong all year, could not slow down Kentucky. The No. 1 team in allowing field goal percentage before the game at under 40 percent, the Cougars could not stop the Wildcats, who shot 56 percent in the first half and 47.8 percent for the game.

3) Davis locked down

Corey Davis Jr. has been a great scorer all season, but Kentucky's length and athleticism gave him fits. He forced shots and hit only 5 of 16 (1 of 7 on 3s) for 14 points in his last game as a Cougar. In general, when the Cougars lost this season, they struggled shooting the ball, and as a team they just could not make shots against the Wildcats. Give Kentucky credit for playing great defense, however. They held the Cougars to 40.4 percent shooting.

4) That was foul

The Cougars got in foul trouble with 10 in the first half and 23 for the game. When the Cougars can get by with physical play, they tend to win. But that did not happen against Kentucky. The Wildcats were the most athletic team UH has faced, and they simply did not have the guns to keep up. That led to fouls, which led to the loss.

5) Looking ahead

The Cougars will be really good again next year, assuming coach Kelvin Sampson hangs around. The guess here is he will, and despite losing Davis and Galen Robinson, the Cougars will bring back a strong squad. Maybe not as good as this year's, but they will be contenders in the AAC again. It was a great ride for UH, and it is a shame it ended when it did. The Cougars fought hard and gave themselves a chance late, but came up short. The team captured the imagination of the city and made a great run. Hopefully there is more to come.

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That was hard to watch. Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images.

C.J. Stroud couldn't believe it. Neither could his Houston Texans teammates.

They were frustrated after a 21-13 loss to the New York Jets on Thursday night when they couldn't get much going against a team that was seeing its season spiral after losing five straight games.

“It’s embarrassing to come out here in a prime-time game and get embarrassed like that is never fun,” Stroud said. “We have to be better in a lot of areas, and that starts with me. There are plays I've got to make, throws I've got to make.”

Stroud completed just 11 of 30 passes for 191 yards for the Texans (6-3), who played without injured receivers Stefon Diggs and Nico Collins. Stroud was also sacked eight times.

“If we want to win, this is not the recipe for it,” Stroud said. “We've got to learn how to dominate and stop learning to just go with the flow.”

It was the first of three consecutive prime-time games for Houston, with a Sunday night home matchup against the Lions on Nov. 10 next and a Monday night meeting at Dallas on Nov. 18.

“We just have to honestly just play football better, execute better, stop pointing the finger and realize at the end of the day this is not winning football,” Stroud said. "We can’t keep squeezing our way by. We are a really good football team. Once we buy into the systems and what is being coached, we have to have leadership to take over.

“This isn’t the end, but it’s definitely a great wake-up call for us to tighten up the ship.”

The Texans got on the scoreboard first on Joe Mixon's 3-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter. They also led 10-7 through three quarters, but couldn't close it out as Aaron Rodgers and an eye-popping catch by Garrett Wilson helped lead the Jets to a victory that stopped their skid.

“The most frustrating part is that we were the better team,” right tackle Tytus Howard said. "We let that game get away from us, especially in the second half. We didn’t come back out with the same intensity we had in the second quarter.

“We let a team steal a win from us.”

Texans coach DeMeco Ryans was particularly concerned with the offensive line after Stroud was hit 11 times. The second-year quarterback was on the turf for a few moments and was slow to come off the field after being sacked by Solomon Thomas shortly before halftime.

“Not sure what’s happening up front,” Ryans said. “We’ll watch the film. We gave up eight sacks and every drop back or pass situation looks like we’re in scramble mode. It’s just not good enough. We can’t operate on time. We've got to get that fixed.”

Stroud has been sacked 30 times this season, a total that ranks second in the NFL to Cleveland's Deshaun Watson, who's out for the season.

“We don’t want our quarterback getting hit as many hits as he took," Ryans said. "It’s not good enough. We've got to adjust, change things moving forward.”

After a slow start on offense, the Jets found a rhythm in the second half. Wilson's acrobatic, one-handed grab put New York in front 14-10 early in the fourth quarter. Rodgers' 37-yard TD pass to Davante Adams made it 21-10 with 2:56 left.

“When the passes went up in the second half, we didn’t win those passes,” Ryans said. “It was the same matchup we had in the first half. They made plays in the second half and we didn’t.”

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Fans of Houston sports and Houston food can now score tickets to The Tailgate, CultureMap's all-out party devoted to everyone’s favorite way to get in the gameday spirit. The event, presented by Verizon, goes down from 6-9 pm November 11 at 8th Wonder. Tickets are $75 for VIP and $50 for General Admission. For a limited time, we’re giving you $10 off; use code SPORTSMAP at checkout. Get your tickets now!

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