SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – When the Houston Cougars took the 200-mile trip due west to their regional semifinal matchup against top seed Arizona, they demonstrated the principle defense travels.
It was a showdown between the third-highest scoring offense in Arizona at 84.0 points per game against the third-stingiest defense in Houston at 59.0. That’s a 24-point difference.
The Cougars held the Wildcats to 60 points, their second-lowest output this season, and won 72-60 in a wire-to-wire victory to secure its second trip to the Elite Eight in as many years.
“The key to beating Arizona is controlling the pace,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said, according to ESPN. “We’re going to win a game in the 60s. But we’re not going to win a game in the 80s.”
Every time Arizona tried to overtake Houston, it failed to string together a long enough run to accomplish that. The Cougars jumped out to a 10-point lead less than six minutes into the contest and led by a half dozen at the…
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