The Rockets lost two games in three days to OKC. Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Houston Rockets 112-95 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight win.

Jalen Williams had 24 points and Chet Holmgren added 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder, who are tied with Minnesota for the best record in the Western Conference.

The Thunder outrebounded the Rockets 55-46.

“I think we brought physicality from the jump tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We didn’t have our best offensive game, but we brought the fight to them in the beginning. We were able to kind of get a lead and maintain the lead for most of the night because of it.”

Alperen Sengun had 23 points and 11 rebounds and Jabari Smith Jr. added 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Rockets, who also lost to the Thunder on Sunday. Oklahoma City packed the paint against the Rockets in the rematch and held them to 38.9% shooting from the field.

“They take away the pocket, obviously, and collapse and crowd, and you get a bunch of wide-open looks," Houston coach Ime Udoka said. "You don’t make that stuff and it stresses everything else out and causes us to force it a little bit too much individually. So we love the looks we got — a lot of wide-open ones — and didn’t shoot it well tonight at all. So, you've got to live with the shots, but, play better.”

Houston fell apart late in the first half. With the Thunder leading 54-48, Rockets guard Fred VanVleet was whistled for a foul on a drive by Holmgren. Udoka challenged the call and was unsuccessful, then Smith and Udoka were called for technical fouls — Smith for questioning the integrity of the officials and Udoka for profanity directed toward the officials.

So instead of Houston trailing by six and getting the ball with a successful challenge, Oklahoma City made four free throws to extend its lead to 10. The Thunder led 60-50 at the break after closing the half on a 12-2 run.

Early in the third quarter, Holmgren caught a lob from Williams, dunked it two-handed behind his head and was fouled. Holmgren made the free throw to put the Thunder up 65-56.

Lu Dort missed his first seven shots before hitting a 3-pointer that put Oklahoma City up 71-61 and prompted Udoka to call a timeout. The Thunder led 84-74 at the end of the third as Gilgeous-Alexander scored nine points in a three-minute span late in the quarter.

“Just take what the defense gives me and trust my work," he said. "There’s moments, and you can feel it when you’ve got it going and you should be aggressive. And there’s also moments when you need your teammates and you've got to kind of play the game. And it’s something that I notice and I try to work on every game, every day. And I’ve definitely gotten better.”

A driving dunk by Williams after a bounce pass from Josh Giddey put the Thunder ahead 96-79. A lob from Holmgren to new Thunder player Gordon Hayward made it 98-81, and Oklahoma City remained in control from there.

“Bottom line is play better,” Udoka said. "They had three or four guys play better than ours.”

UP NEXT

Rockets: Visit the Phoenix Suns on Thursday.

Thunder: Visit the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday.

houston rockets nba oklahoma city thunder rockets

Listen Live

Texas hosts Clemson on Dec. 21. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

No. 4 Texas will be competing for a return trip to Atlanta when it plays at home against No. 13 Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

The winner of the Clemson-Texas first-round game on Dec. 21 will play No. 10 Arizona State in the Jan. 1 Peach Bowl in Atlanta in the CFP quarterfinals.

For Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, who is from Austin, Texas, the game will be a homecoming.

“We recruited him hard," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Sunday, calling Klubnik “a winner. He will do whatever it takes to put his team in position to be successful.”

Added Sarkisian: “When he made the decision to go to Clemson, honestly I wasn’t surprised. Both his parents went to (Texas) A&M.”

Klubnik applauded the announcement of the game at Texas for Clemson's seventh CFP appearance.

“For him to be going to his first playoff in Austin, Texas, where he grew up, you can’t make that up,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “Pretty cool opportunity for him and his family to go compete against Texas there in Austin.”

Swinney said his only visit to the Texas stadium was to watch Klubnik play in a high school playoff game.

“We’ve never played Texas or played in that stadium,” Swinney said. “... It’s going to be amazing. It’s one of the best venues in college football.”

The Longhorns (11-2) were seeded No. 5 in the CFP following their 22-19 overtime loss to Georgia on Saturday night in the Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta.

Sarkisian said his players were “really excited” to see Texas land the No. 5 seed and have the opportunity to play in the Longhorns' first game against Clemson.

Texas safety Andrew Mukuba is a Clemson transfer. Sarkisian said players already were calling the matchup the “Mukuba Bowl.”

Swinney said: “I love Mukuba. I just love his spirit and love his heart. He was a really neat kid.

“I certainly wish he had been able to finish here. He did everything that was asked of him at Clemson. Made a bunch of big plays.”

Clemson (10-3) beat SMU 34-31 in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game Saturday night to land an automatic CFP berth. The Tigers are ranked No. 16 in the CFP but were given the 12th and lowest seed. As the fifth-highest ranked league champion, the Tigers do not get a bye and instead must visit Texas.

Arizona State (11-2) earned a bye by rolling over Iowa State 45-19 in the Big 12 championship game Saturday. The Sun Devils were led by running back Cam Skattebo's 170 rushing yards in their impressive win to cap their first season in the Big 12.

Peach Bowl president Gary Stokan noted the Sun Devils were picked to finish last in the Big 12.

“You proved them all wrong,” Stokan told Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham.

Arizona State players celebrated the announcement of their No. 4 seed.

Dillingham said he hopes the conference championship and berth in the CFP helps him recruit and continue to build the program.

“Hopefully this stage will help get our branding out there, and show people that we can be one of the newer brands in college football," Dillingham said. "Every 10-15 years a new brand shows up, and a new brand becomes a national brand.”No. 4 Texas will be competing for a return trip to Atlanta when it plays at home against No. 13 Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff.