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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Illinois Fighting Illini guard Trent Frazier Houston Cougars guard Taze Moore Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

3. Slow down Arizona’s tempo, trust your defense

Arizona plays at a very fast pace which is no surprise knowing where Tommy Lloyd was as an assistant coach previously at Gonzaga. The Wildcats want to push the ball up the court as much as possible to try and get as many possessions they can get on their end. Houston on the other side is a team that would much rather slow the game down and play at a slower pace compared to Arizona.

Look no further than their games over the last month for Houston. Dating back to February 17th, Houston is 11-1 and has held their opponents to under 70 points in ten of those matchups. Houston just brings and plays with great intensity every night it seems like watching them throughout the season. They do a great job of getting in the heads of their opponents too. The Cougars come in only giving up 59.0 points on average to their opponents which ranks fourth-best in the country.

Something is going to have to give here in this matchup as Arizona comes in averaging 84.6 points per game which is the third-best in the NCAA. As mentioned earlier, Arizona really likes to get out and run as much as possible to get more possessions, and to also not allow the opponents to get into their set defenses either.

An interesting stat is that Arizona has only been held under 70 points three times all season. In those three games, the Wildcats are 1-2. It is a small sample size but is worth noting that in games that they did struggle to fill it up on offense it resulted in a loss.