CINCINNATI — Sean Miller was proud of his team Friday night for hanging in there with the sixth-ranked team in the country at Cintas Center.
But after a 66-60 loss to the Houston Cougars, Miller cautioned the rabid fan base to have some patience with a team that has lost to two Top 10 teams, a Pac-12 power in Washington in Las Vegas and a home loss to Oakland last Monday.
“The last part I would like to say to our crowd, thank you for showing up,” Miller said in his postgame press conference. “Thank you for creating an atmosphere. No one’s more disappointed when we lose that we are but you have to hang in there with our team this year. First eight games is not going to be when we’re at our best. We will keep getting better as we keep moving on in our schedule. And you know, playing at Purdue, Houston at home, two games that we did not schedule.”
Miller is referring to the obligation of playing in the Big East-Big 10 series as part of the Dave Gavitt Games and Friday’s contest where Big East teams square off against a team from the Big 12.
“There’s a lot of coaches that will be absolutely shitting that we played those two games,” Miller added. “I mean, those are two one (seeds in March). It’s not one one seed, it’s two ones. It’s fine. We took it. We played them. But those aren’t easy games if you’re the best team in America, let alone right now our group. So, we’ll be tougher because of it and we’ll move on.”
As for the game, Xavier did manage to erase deficits of 16-4 in the first half and 46-33 in the second half with great defense, rebounding and transition offense. But in the end, it wasn’t enough to account for LJ Cryer’s 23 points and Houston’s pedigree down the stretch.
Sean Miller asks Xavier fans to hang with the team because they’re not the same team now they will be in March. Says playing Purdue on road and Houston at home this early was not his choice. pic.twitter.com/zXmvemycNn
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) December 2, 2023
Cryer scored a game-high 23 points while Jamal Shead added 13 to lead the sixth-ranked Houston Cougars (8-0) past the host Xavier Musketeers (4-4), 66-60, Friday night in a Big East-Big 12 series contest in Cincinnati.
J’Wan Roberts had 12 rebounds to go with nine points for the Cougars, who were playing their first true road game of the year.
Quincy Olivari scored 17 while Desmond Claude added 14 for the Musketeers. The game was slowed in the second half by 33 personal fouls and a technical on Houston coach Kelvin Sampson. In all, 50 fouls were call in the contest.
Houston entered the game beating their opponents by an average of 26.8 points, with their closest victory coming by 10 points against Utah.
Houston scored the first six points and raced to a 12-2 lead on three straight threes from Cryer.
“The first four minutes of the game and the first four minutes of the second half. The score is 22-6. They outscored us combined first four minutes of the game and the first four minutes of the second half. I don’t know if that’s necessarily our problem. Houston does that to a lot of teams. It’s part of their identity. We talked about that before the game.
“We also talked about that at halftime, but it’s those two segments that overwhelmed our ability to win. We did some great things in tonight’s game. I don’t know if anybody can really understand how difficult it is to out-rebound them. We have 42 rebounds to their 39. They had 14 second shots. A lot of them happened in the second half. It’s what they do.”
Houston’s defense smothered Xavier early on, forcing back-to-back shot clock violations midway through the half while jumping out to a 16-4 lead.
But the Cougars went on a scoring drought of four minutes, 46 seconds before Jamal Shead converted a pair of free throws with 10:22 left to restore Houston’s lead to 18-10.
Xavier scored seven of the next nine points as part of a 21-8 run that put Xavier ahead, 25-24, on a two Desmond Claude free throws with six minutes left in the half.
After taking a 36-31 halftime lead, the Cougars came out on fire in the second half. After an Abou Ousmane layup to cut the lead to three, Houston scored the next 10 points.
The 10-0 run was sparked by threes from Cryer and Shead, who drilled his as the shot clock expired. Houston led, 46-33, with 16:08 left when Xavier went on another spurt.
The Musketeers outscored the Cougars, 10-0, with Houston coach Kelvin Sampson picking up a technical foul in the middle of the run.
Houston finally ended their eight-minute stretch without a field goal when Cryer’s pull-up jumper fell to put Houston back up, 51-49.
Claude’s two free throws with 6:56 put Xavier ahead, 52-51. Emanuel Sharp’s two free throws put Houston up to stay, 53-52,with 6:34 left.
The two schools were meeting for just the third time and the first time since a 100-75 Cougars win in Houston on Dec. 16, 1977.
