GO COOGS!
Big 12 champ and No. 3 Houston wraps regular season with win at Baylor
Mar 10, 2025, 10:47 am
The Cougars beat Baylor, 65-61. Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images.
L.J. Cryer scored 23 points with six 3-pointers as Big 12 champion and third-ranked Houston won its 10th consecutive game, beating Baylor 65-61 on Saturday night to wrap up the regular season.
J'Wan Roberts added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Cougars (27-4, 19-1 Big 12), including two free throws with 13 seconds remaining. Milos Uzan had 12 points and Emanuel Sharp scored 11.
The Cougars won without making a field goal after Sharp's 3-pointer for a 58-48 lead with 6:07 left. They have won a national-best 14 road games in a row, including a 10-0 mark in Big 12 play.
Baylor (18-13, 10-10) led 29-26 at halftime and was up by seven before the Cougars used a 20-4 run to take the lead for good.
Freshman guard VJ Edgecombe scored 23 points for the Bears, who have lost four of their last six games.
Norchad Omier had 13 points and 16 rebounds, his 87th career double-double to match Tim Duncan’s total at Wake Forest for the second-most in NCAA history. Tom Gola had 96 for La Salle in the 1950s.
Takeaways
Houston: The Cougars have at least 27 wins for the fifth season in a row under coach Kelvin Sampson. ... Roberts has 1,000 career rebounds and 1,000 points, joining Elvin Hayes, Hakeem Olajuwon and Greg Anderson as the only Houston players to accomplish that feat.
Baylor: The Bears didn’t have a winning conference record for the first time since an 8-10 Big 12 mark in 2017-18.
Key moment
Ja’Vier Francis' baseline dunk eight minutes into the second half gave Houston its first lead since the 8:08 mark of the first.
Key stat
Cryer, part of Baylor's 2021 national championship team as a freshman, made his first six 3s. His first miss came early in the second half.
Up next
The Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. Houston has a double-bye into the quarterfinals Thursday. Baylor, the No. 7 seed, plays a second-round game Wednesday.
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After a rough weekend and a five-game home losing streak looming large, the Houston Astros return to Daikin Park on Monday night looking to get back on track against the visiting Washington Nationals. This three-game set opens a critical homestand for the first-place Astros, who, despite the skid, still lead the AL West with a 60-46 record.
Houston will turn to its ace, Framber Valdez, who’s quietly piecing together one of the most dominant seasons in the league. The left-hander is 11-4 with a 2.67 ERA and 129 strikeouts — and when he’s on, he’s a stopper in every sense.
The Nationals counter with Brad Lord, who brings a solid 3.39 ERA into the matchup but has just two wins in 7 starts. Lord’s numbers suggest he's pitched better than his record shows, though his 1.26 WHIP could be tested against a Houston lineup that has proven dangerous when clicking. The Astros are 33-7 this season when scoring at least five runs — the formula is no secret.
At the plate, José Altuve continues to anchor Houston’s offense, hitting .280 with 17 homers and 17 doubles on the year. The supporting cast has been inconsistent of late, with the Astros averaging just .241 and getting outscored by 17 runs over their last 10 games. Rookie Brice Matthews has shown flashes, with three homers in his last 10 games, but Houston is still searching for a rhythm without key power bats fully healthy.
The Nationals arrive in Houston at 43-62, last in the NL East but coming off a competitive 5-5 stretch. James Wood, one of their key young pieces, has slugged 24 homers and added 21 doubles while batting .263. Josh Bell has also been swinging the bat well, collecting 12 hits in his last 39 at-bats.
The Astros hold a 33-23 mark at Daikin Park this season, and they’ll try to lean on home-field advantage — something that’s recently been elusive — to jumpstart a second-half push. With the trade deadline approaching and the division tightening, Houston knows it can’t afford to drop games to teams below .500.
First pitch is set for 8:10 p.m. ET, with the Astros listed as heavy -232 favorites on BetMGM’s sportsbook. The over/under is 7.5, a nod to the belief that pitching could dominate this series opener.
Injuries
You can see all the updates in Brian McTaggart's post below.
And a plethora of injury updates pic.twitter.com/G1ZjhQlJxZ
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) July 28, 2025
It sounds like Jeremy Pena will return the soonest, followed by Spencer Arrighetti. Pena is playing for Sugar Land on Tuesday.
Peña will play tomorrow in Sugar Land. He’s close https://t.co/fBnNkfTwc5
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) July 28, 2025
Joe Espada is shuffling his lineup
Taylor Trammell is leading off and playing right field, with Cam Smith getting the night off. Altuve is once again hitting second and playing left field and is followed by the DH, Victor Caratini. Christian Walker will hit cleanup and play first base, no surprise there.
Jacob Melton has been recalled to the big league roster and Jon Singleton has been DFA'd. So Melton will hit fifth and play center field followed by Yainer Diaz (C), Mauricio Dubon (3B), Brice Matthews (2B), and Zack Short (SS).
It's City Connect Monday, y'all.
⚾️: 7:10 PM
🏟️: Closed
📺: @SpaceCityHN
🎙️: @SportsTalk790 | Spanish: 93.3 FM#BuiltForThis x @reliantenergy pic.twitter.com/2FmPaf8qHd
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 28, 2025
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*ChatGPT assisted.
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