Houston Basketball: Keys to upsetting Arizona in Sweet 16 matchup

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - MARCH 20: Taze Moore #4 of the Houston Cougars is lifted up by Kyler Edwards #11 after defeating the Illinois Fighting Illini 68-53 during the second round of the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 20, 2022 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images) /

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Houston Basketball (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

The Sweet 16 has become a very familiar place for this Houston Basketball program the last few years as they have now reached the Round of 16 for the third consecutive season. The Cougars were able to knock off fourth-seeded Illinois in the second round on Sunday by a final score of 68-53.

The Cougars were really able to pull away late with some key shots, especially by guards Taze Moore who led the way scoring 21 points, and Jamal Shead who contributed with 18 points on his end. Houston seemed to really shrink the court on Illinois all game long and force them into a good chunk of turnovers.

This year’s path to the Sweet 16 has already been tougher on the Cougars compared to last year. Last year Houston had a favorable path to the Final Four not having to face a single-digit seed until their game against Baylor in the Final Four. You can only control what your team does in March Madness though, but some media outlets still thought it was an easy path.

Houston has already beaten a UAB team which some were saying could possibly upset the Cougars, and also an Illinois team some thought had a final four type run in them. Now it gets even more difficult for Houston as they face off against the Arizona Wildcats who are the number one seed in the South region. Houston may not be the higher seed in this matchup, but they do get to stay in the state of Texas which could provide a potential home-court advantage type atmosphere for Houston.

The Arizona Wildcats have had a great year under first-year head coach Tommy Lloyd, but definitely beatable with losses to UCLA, Tennessee, and Colorado. The Wildcats were able to survive in dramatic fashion in overtime 85-80 against a feisty TCU team in San Diego that just never wanted to go down.

Arizona was led by their PAC-12 Player of the Year in Bennedict Mathurin who finished with 30 points, and fellow first-team All-Pac-12 teammate Christian Koloko had 28 points and 12 rebounds. No offense to TCU, but Houston is just a better team than the Horned Frogs. If Arizona plays the same way against Houston as they did on Sunday against TCU the Wildcats could be joining fellow number one seed Baylor with being knocked out of the tournament.

Really looking forward to seeing who is able to control the tempo of the game on Thursday night in this matchup. Here are a few keys to how Houston can upset Arizona and move on to the Elite 8.