Houston Basketball: 3 takeaways from Cougars big win over Texas Tech

HONOLULU, HI - DECEMBER 23: Quentin Grimes #24 of the Houston Cougars drives the baseline past Michael Devoe #0 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets during the first half of the game at the Stan Sheriff Center on December 23, 2019 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /

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Houston Basketball Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /

17th ranked Houston Basketball took down the 14th ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders on Sunday, to improve to 3-0 on the season.

Sunday’s matchup between Houston Basketball and Texas Tech was a battle of two top 25 squads, who are expected to do damage in their respective leagues (AAC and Big 12). For the first 3 and a half minutes of the game, neither team was able to create much separation.

That changed pretty quickly when Houston guard, Marcus Sasser, connected on two straight three-point jumpers and helped the Cougars enjoy an early 14-5 lead, with 15:17 remaining in the first half.

When Texas Tech head coach, Chris Beard, called a timeout after Sasser drained his second three, I was almost positive that he would settle his team down, and make the appropriate adjustments. However, I was sadly mistaken, because the Red Raiders saw their deficit increase over the next few minutes, and with 8:08 still remaining in the first half, the Red Raiders found themselves trailing the Cougars 27-9.

For the remainder of the half, the Cougars didn’t give the Red Raiders an opportunity to tighten the ball game up, as they limited them to just 10 points in the final 8:08 of the half, and went into halftime with a stable 37-19 lead.

Texas Tech’s shot selection improved significantly at the start of the first half, which resulted in them scoring 6 points in a little over two minutes. With that being said, Houston was able to fully maximize their offensive possessions as well, which is why the Red Raiders had to face the same uphill battle, that they faced in the first half.

The game looked like it was getting out of hand with 14:10 to play in the game (when Houston was trouncing Texas Tech 50-30), but the Red Raiders displayed some resilience. It may have taken them longer than it should have, but the Red Raiders managed to fight their way back into the game, and give the Cougars a scare late in the contest.

Despite allowing Texas Tech to gain the momentum, and briefly disrupt their offensive flow during a crucial stretch of the game, the Cougars found a way to close out the Red Raiders in the end. The Cougars were leading the Red Raiders 55-48 with 5:31 to play, when they buckled down defensively, and held Texas Tech to just two field goals the rest of the way, en route to a 64-53 victory.

Even with the mini hiccup that occurred in the second half, Houston still had a very impressive overall showing against Texas Tech and demonstrated that is deserving a little more national love. There are a bunch of positives that I took away from Houston’s win on Sunday, but in this article, I want to highlight three positive takeaways, that I took away from the Cougars’ monstrous early-season victory.