COOGS HOUSE
A.J. Hoffman: With win over Cincinnati, UH may be headed for the NCAA Tournament
Feb 16, 2018, 8:32 am
Rob Gray might be playing in the NCAA Tournament. UHcougars.com
Nothing is official until March 11, the day the committee looks over all the resumes and picks a field of the 68 teams they deem most deserving, but the Houston Cougars basketball team may have locked up an NCAA tournament bid on Thursday night. The Cougars beat the 5th-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats 67-62, giving them their first win over a top 5 team in the AP poll since 1996 (No. 3 Memphis). The win marked their 20th of the season, and barring a major collapse, Kelvin Sampson is poised to take the Coogs to their first tournament since 2010.
While their resume doesn’t hold a ton of wins over other tournament teams, beating Cincinnati, who hadn’t lost since early December is a massive feather in the cap of the Cougars. As it stands today, the Cougars have five wins over teams that sit in the top 40 in RPI. Those wins are Temple (39), Providence (34), Arkansas (33), Wichita State (19) and Cincinnati (9). The bad news is, zero of those wins have come on the road. The committee wants to see that teams are capable of winning in hostile environments, and to date the best road win Houston has is a four-point win at UCF (59th in RPI).
The good news is Houston gets a chance to get a solid road win on Sunday at Temple (39th in RPI). As important as the win tonight was, a win over Temple could be even bigger. The AAC appears to be a three-bid league, barring a conference tourney surprise. As of today, Houston would be the third team in from the conference. The closest team to catching them for that final spot is Temple, who started conference play in disastrous fashion, but have bounced back in recent weeks. Temple’s strength, at least in the eyes of the selection committee, will be non-conference wins over Auburn and Clemson, who are currently projected as 2-3 seeds. While I don’t believe a loss would be a dealbreaker, Houston winning there would put more space between them and their closest pursuer, as well as adding a strong road win to their record.
Beyond the Temple game, Houston has 4 games left, all against teams who currently sport a losing record in the American Conference. If they take care of business in those games, and win a game or two in the conference tournament, the Cougars could end up packing their dancing shoes, and looking at potentially a 9-11 seed. That would give them a legitimate shot at the program’s first tournament win since a guy named Olajuwon led the Cougars to a 49-47 win over Olden Polynice, Rick Carlisle and the Virginia Cavaliers in the Final Four of the 1984 season.
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Sengun’s season-high not enough as Rockets lose to Timberwolves
Dec 28, 2024, 3:13 pm
Lamar Jackson broke the NFL career rushing record for quarterbacks in Baltimore's 31-2 victory over the Houston Texans on Wednesday, bolstering his case for MVP as the Ravens moved closer to the AFC North title.
*Don't miss the video below as the guys from Texans on Tap react to the game live on YouTube!
Jackson threw for 168 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 87 yards and another score. He pushed his career rushing total to 6,110 to move past Michael Vick, who had 6,109 in his 13-year career.
The Ravens (11-5) have already wrapped up their third straight playoff berth and need a victory over Cleveland next week to win the division over Pittsburgh. The Steelers dropped a third straight with a loss to Kansas City on Wednesday.
Jackson, the MVP last season and in 2019, put on a show rivaled only by the spectacular Super Bowl-caliber halftime performance by Beyoncé to give Baltimore its third straight win. And he needed just more than three quarters to do it, giving way to Josh Johnson with about 10 minutes left and the game long decided.
Jackson threw 9- and 1-yard TD passes and was not touched on a 48-yard scoring scamper that made it 24-2 in the third quarter.
Derrick Henry ran for 147 yards and set the Ravens season record with his 16th touchdown on a 2-yard run in the first quarter. He eclipsed Ray Rice (2011) and Mark Ingram (2019).
Baltimore dominated a Houston team reeling after losing dynamic receiver Tank Dell to a season-ending knee injury Saturday.
The AFC South champs struggled to finish drives and got their only points on a safety in the second quarter. C.J. Stroud threw for 185 yards, but was sacked five times and threw an interception and Joe Mixon managed just 26 yards rushing as the Texans (9-7) lost a second straight.
Rookie Kamari Lassiter dropped Henry for a 4-yard loss for the safety with about 10 minutes left in the first half to cut the lead to 10-2.
Dameon Pierce then returned the kickoff 45 yards to get the Texans to their 43. But they came away empty when Mixon was stopped on the 1 after grabbing a short pass on fourth-and-3.
Jackson then orchestrated a 99-yard drive to pad the lead. He scrambled to evade the rush and found Mark Andrews for a 67-yard gain to get the Ravens in the red zone with just more than two minutes left in the first half.
Isaiah Likely’s 9-yard TD reception two plays later made it 17-2. It was the first 17-2 halftime score in NFL history.
Kyle Hamilton intercepted Stroud's pass on the first drive of the second half. Two plays later, Jackson’s long TD run made it 24-2.
He set the rushing record on a 6-yard run on Baltimore’s next drive. Later in the drive, he scrambled to escape several defenders before finding Andrews for a 1-yard score to leave Baltimore up 31-2.
Injuries
Ravens RB Rasheen Ali injured his hip in the third quarter and didn’t return. … Texans TE Cade Stover returned after missing two games following an emergency appendectomy.
Up next
The Ravens host the Browns, and the Texans visit the Titans next weekend. The game dates have yet to be determined.