Houston Basketball: 3 keys to beat Miami Hurricanes in Sweet 16 matchup

Houston Basketball is two wins away from playing in the Final Four in their home city. First, they have a matchup with the Miami Hurricanes in the Sweet 16. The Cougars were able to use their five days off to get players healthy and to install a game plan for a challenging Miami team that is going to pose some problems for Houston that they have not seen this year. Houston is a number 1 seed for a reason, and they are going to be favored in this game but if it starts out like the other two tournament games for Houston, they may not be able to recover.

The Cougars find themselves in this position after an uninspiring win over Northern Kentucky in the first round and then a win over Auburn in a game that was truly a tale of two halves. In the first half against Auburn, Houston played their worst half of basketball all season they were unorganized and were not playing Cougar defense. At Halftime something switched, and Houston came out and had one of the best defensive performances I have seen in a long time. Auburn made 4 shots the entire second half and struggled mightily from the line. The momentum changed in the game as soon as Houston got a lead, and they were able to take a 10 point half time deficit and turn it into a 17 point win.

The further teams advance in the tournament the games get more intense and you are going to get every teams best shot. Houston should be as close to healthy as they are going to be for the rest of the season. The Cougars are going to need to be on top of their game to dispatch a tough Miami team. As I have mentioned numerous times before I believe Houston will win the National Title and that would mean that I believe they beat Miami. Here are three things that the Cougars should focus on in their Sweet 16 matchup against the Hurricanes