Late in the second half, the Houston Cougars missed seven straight field goals en route to a loss against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

Tulsa ends Cougars' six-game winning streak in Houston loss

Tulsa ends Cougars' six-game winning streak in Houston loss
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Freshman guard Marcus Sasser missed a potential game-winning 3-point field goal, as the University of Houston Men's Basketball team (12-4, 1-1) dropped a heartbreaking 63-61 loss to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (10-6, 2-1), Saturday afternoon, inside the Donald W Reynolds Center in Tulsa, OK. With the loss, the Cougars' six-game winning streak came to an end, as Houston dropped their first game in conference play.

With 4:43 left in the second half, the Cougars held a 60-54 lead before going cold at the worst possible time. In addition to turning the ball over three times, Houston missed seven straight shot attempts as the Golden Hurricane took advantage of the Cougars' mishaps.

Tulsa closed the game on a 9-1 run ignited by a two-hand slam from junior guard, Darien Jackson, who led the Golden Hurricane with a career-best 19 points (7-13 FG, 3-7 3PT) and three steals in the win.

In the first half, Tulsa jumped out to a 5-0 lead and lead 13-8 before the Cougars tied the score at 13 points a piece. After taking a 16-15 lead midway through the first half, Houston went into the halftime break up 37-34 over the Golden Hurricane.

Following a career performance in the win against Temple, freshman guard Caleb Mills registered 22 points for the Cougars. Junior guard DeJon Jarreau added in 16 points, while Sasser tallied 14 in the loss.

Up next, the Cougars will return home for a Texas showdown against their in-state rival, the SMU Mustangs, Wednesday night, inside the Fertitta Center in Houston. Tip-off is slated for 8 P.M. CT.

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The Hawks host the Rockets on Tuesday night. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

The Houston Rockets have been one of the NBA’s more surprising teams this season. After their past three games, they shouldn’t shock anyone.

The Rockets beat the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers twice last week before traveling to Boston and pulling out a 114-112 victory over the defending champion Celtics on Monday night.

“We’re over halfway through now and our record is what it is, so it’s not just a fluke or anything,” Houston coach Ime Udoka said. “People watch film and see the physicality and the way that we play, it’s a little different than the rest of the league, maybe that catches people off guard initially, but I wouldn’t say we’re sneaking up on anybody anymore at this point in the season.”

Houston (31-14), which is second in the Western Conference, posted its ninth win in 11 games on Monday. Its record is a few percentage points better than that of the defending NBA champion Celtics (32-15).

The Cavs and Celtics were a combined 104-28 (.788) entering their games against Houston. The Rockets became the first team in NBA history to win three straight games against teams with that high of a winning percentage, with a minimum of 40 games for each opponent, according to OptaSTATS.

Amen Thompson hit a floater over Jaylen Brown with 0.7 seconds left to give the Rockets the victory at Boston.

“We feel like we can beat anybody, and this road trip is really proving that,” Thompson said.

Led by a balanced lineup featuring Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, veteran Fred VanVleet, Thompson and Dillon Brooks, the Rockets have been rolling since their 23-point home loss to the Celtics on Jan. 3.

“We don’t like to lose at home, especially to the Celtics,” Thompson said. “We just come in here every day and we just try to win.”

Teams around the league are taking notice of what Houston is doing. After the Cavaliers finished off their 19-point home win over Detroit on Monday, they spent time in the postgame locker room watching the Rockets’ victory.

“We’re just playing hard, playing together,” said Brooks, who finished with a 36 points against Boston, including a 10-of-15 performance from 3-point range.

“We have trust in one another,” Brooks said.

The Rockets are plenty confident, but they understand big wins mean nothing if they can't follow them up. They’ll get that chance Tuesday night when they play at Atlanta.

“Playing some of the top teams obviously gives us some confidence,” Udoka said.

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