Scouting report for Arizona men’s basketball vs. Houston

No. 4 Arizona (24-2, 11-2) at No. 2 Houston (23-3, 11-2) | Fertitta Center, Houston | 1pm | ABC | 1290-AM

0 G Jaden Bradley (6-3 senior)

5G Brayden Burries (6-4 freshman)

18 F Ivan Kharchenkov (6-7 freshman)

30 F Tobe Awaka (6-8 senior)

13 C Motiejus Krivas (7-2 junior)

3 F Anthony Dell’Orso (6-6 senior)

15 F Sidi Gueye (6-11 freshman)

21 G Evan Nelson (6-2 senior)

4 G Kingston Flemings (6-4 freshman)

7 G Milos Uzan (6-4 senior)

21 G Emanuel Sharp (6-3 senior)

11F Joseph Tugler (6-8 junior)

5 C Chris Cenac (6-11 freshman)

1 F Isiah Harwell (6-6 freshman)

14 C Kalifa Sakho (6-11 senior)

24F Chase McCarty (6-5 freshman)

The collection: The Cougars have gained three straight, relationship again to their 72-60 win over the Wildcats within the 2022 NCAA Sweet 16. They additionally beat UA twice final season, 62-58 at McKale Center and 72-64 within the closing of the Big 12 Tournament. Before that, Arizona swept a home-and-home collection over Houston in 2007-08 and 2008-09. The Wildcats have not performed at Houston since successful that 2007-08 recreation, 85-71.

Houston overview: Just a bucket shy of successful all of it final season, the Cougars simply may make it again to the NCAA title recreation for one other probability to offer veteran coach Kelvin Sampson a title. Despite dropping key gamers LJ Cryer and J’Wan Roberts from final season, the Cougars added a well-regarded freshman class of guard Kingston Flemings, guard Isiah Harwell and heart Chris Cenac to a powerful returning core of guards Milos Uzan and Emanuel Sharp, plus ahead Joseph “JoJo” Tugler.

The Cougars beat Auburn in Birmingham, Ala., throughout their fourth recreation of the season, however in any other case performed a comparatively gentle nonconference schedule. But they’ve cruised by means of many of the Big 12 play thus far, dropping solely by 4 factors at Texas Tech on Jan. 24 and 70-67 at Iowa State on Monday. Like Arizona, Houston is in the course of a tricky stretch, sandwiching its residence recreation with the No. 4 Wildcats between street video games at No. 6 Iowa State and at No. 8 Kansas on Monday.

Houston is successful video games the best way it all the time does beneath Sampson: It is disruptive defensively, rating seventh in total defensive effectivity, holding opponents to simply 45.9% from two-point vary and rating ninth nationally in defensive turnover proportion (taking the ball away on 22.0% of opponents’ possessions.

They additionally put on opponents down on offense. While the Cougars’ 3-point capturing has slipped from 39.4% final season to 34.1% this season, they make up for it by capturing higher from two-point vary (53.3%), taking good care of the ball and rating Twenty third in offensive rebounding proportion.

Houston ranks third nationally in offensive turnover proportion, dropping the ball on simply 12.6% of its possessions. Within that, the Cougars are seventh in offensive block proportion (having their two-point photographs blocked simply 6.4% of the time) and sixth in offensive steal proportion (7.0).

The Cougars’ bodily type can translate into fouls, nevertheless. Sharp’s foul bother within the second half at Iowa State appeared a key cause for the Cougars’ loss. The Cougars rank eighth to final nationally within the ratio of free throws taken to discipline objectives (simply 26.2 taken) whereas their opponents have a ratio of 39.4. In Big 12 video games, Houston averages 18.8 fouls per recreation and Sharp has fouled out in three of 13 video games.

On the perimeter, Flemings’ emergence as an explosive level guard permits Uzan to play on or off the ball, with each of them averaging over 4 assists per recreation. Flemings is the Cougars’ main scorer (16.6) total and is the ninth main Big 12 scorer in convention video games at 17.9 factors.

Sharp is averaging 16.1 factors in Big 12 video games and capturing 35.5% from 3, whereas Uzan is a 40.6% 3-point shooter in Big 12 play. A five-star recruit, Cenac is a double-double menace inside whereas Tugler makes drivers suppose twice about even getting near the basket: The 6-8 energy ahead ranks thirty sixth nationally in steal proportion (8.8) and 57th in block proportion (3.9).

He mentioned it: “Honestly, their deal is really simple. They’re a great offensive rebounding team. If they don’t turn the ball over and they get shots on goal, I think they feel like getting a shot up on goal is step one, and it goes in great, if it doesn’t, that’s OK. They’re gonna hedge their bet by pounding the offensive glass. And turnovers are really detrimental, so they’re really committed to not turning the ball over.

Offensive rebounding is “an id that they coach to each single day, and it is a worth of their program. The approach you fight it’s it’s important to battle it again. You need to be nice on the defensive glass, and you’ve got to have the ability to put our bodies on our bodies, to carry block outs once you’re in a rotation. You’ve bought to ensure if considered one of your bigs is coming over to guard the rim, that somebody’s rotating and choking down on their large man. And you’ve got bought to have the ability to win free balls. Numerous these rebounds are going to be tipped round. They’re not simply going to be clear, as a result of there’s going to be large our bodies in there.” — UA head coach Tommy Lloyd

Actually simply the third-highest rated of Houston’s incoming freshmen this season, behind Cenac and Harwell, Flemings has exploded, actually, into the faculty recreation along with his skill to make performs at a excessive velocity with minimal turnovers contemplating his tempo. He’s the fifth-rated total participant within the nation in Kenpom’s analytics-based rating and is a nationwide honors candidate.

The Wildcats’ flooring chief is the man they’ve turned to all season when the going will get tough. Bradley struggled offensively in UA’s losses to Kansas and Texas Tech however is coming off a double-double in a 38-minute look towards BYU. Rest will not be an possibility.

Sampson says Cougars ‘poor’

You know that stuff about how a recruit picks a university perhaps as a result of he likes a campus, the coaches, perhaps even the climate?

That’s not the truth Houston’s Sampson spoke of just lately.

“People ask about recruiting. Teams that have the best recruiting classes usually have the most money,” Sampson mentioned earlier this month. “That’s the way it is today.”

And though Sampson managed to tug within the nation’s third-highest rated 2025 recruiting class, behind solely Duke and Arizona, he indicated he is undecided how for much longer he can do such a factor in that atmosphere he spoke of.

“We have a very poor athletic department,” he mentioned. “We’re poor. We were poor when I got here and we’re still poor. … the way our recruiting is going we have to stop at some point, because we don’t have enough money to keep bringing in really good players, and that’s not easy for us to do.”

Sampson’s remark predictably obtained a mixture of reactions. UCLA coach Mick Cronin jokingly Venmo’d him $1, whereas UA’s Lloyd mentioned it did not matter in a single sense.

“That guy is such a good coach, he can win with anybody,” Lloyd mentioned.

Houston’s athletic division funds was about $99 million in 2023-24, the latest yr out there within the US Department of Education database, whereas Arizona’s was $139 million, and a few packages have budgets exceeding $200 million.

While UA and different high-major faculties are actually paying gamers the utmost of $20.5 million throughout all their sports activities from these budgets, outside-funded NIL offers usually push particular person participant compensation packages even greater. Top faculty basketball groups have rosters into the eight figures this season.

That’s a mind-boggling change for a coach who roamed the McKale sidelines as soon as a season as Washington State’s coach within the Nineteen Eighties and early Nineteen Nineties.

“Even though we’ve been doing this NIL thing (since 2021), it still feels funny for me to even say that,” Sampson mentioned. “It’s like a culture shock that’s coming out of my mouth, because for so many years it’s illegal to do that. But it’s legal now. That’s why they call it NIL – now it’s legal.”

Arizona guards Bradley and Brayden Burries have been among the many 30 gamers named to the Naismith Trophy’s late-season workforce Thursday.

Burries has overcome a tough begin to turn into the Wildcats’ main scorer with a median of 15.5 factors a recreation, whereas Bradley is averaging 13.3 factors and 4.7 assists with an assist-turnover ratio of almost 3-1.

The Wildcats’ backcourt duo was joined by seven different Big 12 gamers on the Naismith record: Texas Tech’s Christian Anderson and JT Toppin, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson and Flory Bidunga, BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Houston’s Flemings, and Iowa State’s Joshua Jefferson.

With an help from the Big 12 and the backloaded schedule it handed Arizona, the Wildcats will likely be going through their fourth straight recreation towards a ranked opponent for the primary time since 2001-02.

That season, simply after the Wildcats had misplaced the majority of their 2001 Final Four workforce to the NBA Draft, Arizona confronted No. 2 Maryland, No. 6 Florida, No. 23 Texas, No. 8 Kansas and No. 5 Illinois.

The Wildcats beat all of them besides Kansas, and went on to complete second within the Pac-10 and attain the Sweet 16.

But whereas that schedule was orchestrated by then-coach Lute Olson, this stretch is a results of the Big 12’s emphasis on pitting their greatest groups collectively extra usually after the Super Bowl, in order to maximise publicity and media associate preferences.

“It’s a smart business move, but I’m telling you, it’s a lot for a program,” Lloyd mentioned on his radio present. “If that’s something that’s going to continue, we’re going to have to figure out how to navigate that a little bit.”

10: Conference Coach of the Year honors won by Sampson, from five different conferences.

25.8: Percent of Arizona opponents’ missed shots that those opponents rebound (giving UA the 15th-best defensive rebounding percentage in Division I.

36.7: Percent of Houston missed photographs that the Cougars rebound (giving UH the Twenty third-best offensive rebounding proportion in Division I.)