In Sunday’s Houston-Tennesse Elite Eight game, the Coogs would simply not be denied.
Top-seeded Houston took down Tennessee in a 69-50 victory.
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Houston had today’s game in control by the end of the first half, when they went into the break with a 34-15 lead. Houston’s 15-point allowance was far and away their best defensive opening half of the tournament so far. Their next best performance in a first half was against 16-seed SIU Edwardsville in the opening round, when they allowed 24 points.
READ MORE: Houston rolls SIU Edwardsville 78-40 in opening round of March Madness tournament
With just under six minutes to play in the second half, Tennessee brought the score back within 10 points after trailing by as many as 22. Facing their first adversity in what felt like forever, the Coogs proceeded to go on a 9-2 scoring run that essentially shut the door on a heroic comeback for the Vols.
LJ Cryer—who was held to just five points in Houston’s Sweet 16 win over Purdue—finished with 17 points to lead the Cougars in scoring. Tennessee’s leading scorers were Chaz Lanier and Jordan Gainey, who both had 17.
The win will send Houston back to the Final Four for the just second time since the iconic “Phi Slama Jama” team accomplished the feat in 1984. Their most recent Final Four run came in 2021, when the Cougars were smoked by the Baylor Bears in a 78-59 semifinal. Baylor would go on to win the national championship over Gonzaga with similar dominance.
Next, Houston will face Duke at the Alamodome in San Antonio for a spot in the national championship game. Tip-off is slated for 7:49 p.m. next Saturday night.
The Cougars are still searching for their first national title in program history.
