OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Emanuel Sharp scored 18 points, Chris Cenac Jr. had 17 points and nine rebounds, and Houston rolled past Texas A&M 88-57 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday to reach the Sweet 16 for the seventh consecutive year.
Milos Uzan added 15 points for the Cougars (30-6), the No. 2 seed in the South Region. Houston will play 2 miles away from its campus against either No. 3 seed Illinois or No. 11 seed VCU on Thursday, and coach Kelvin Sampson’s squad — which lost in the national title game to Florida last year — again looks like an opponent nobody wants to play.
Houston became the fourth team and first since North Carolina in 2008 to win its first two March Madness games by 30 points or more.
“When you win a lot it’s because you have good players, and they’re pretty consistent with their effort and their discipline,” Sampson said. “We’re pretty good at both of those.”
Josh Holloway scored 12 points in a reserve role for Texas A&M. The 10th-seeded Aggies (22-12), who beat Saint Mary’s in the first round, struggled against Houston’s aggressive interior defense. The Cougars won the rebounding battle 46-29, had 19 offensive boards, blocked seven shots and turned it over just seven times.
“I don’t know that anything we did was out of the ordinary. We keyed on their shooters,” Sampson said. “You know, we’re No. 1 in the nation in fewest turnovers. We don’t turn the ball over, so you’re not contributing to your demise.”
Holloway kept the Aggies close in the first half with a pair of 3-pointers. His second, with 9:21 left, cut the deficit to 23-19. But Houston, behind 14 points from Sharp and 10 from Cenac, outscored the Aggies 23-9 after that for a 46-28 lead at the break.
“We knew we had to play a really good game,” Texas A&M coach Bucky McMillan said. “Houston is a really good team, and when their guards are playing like that, they’re going to be a really tough out. I think they can go win this whole thing.”
The Cougars, who made 30 of 68 shots (44%), extended their advantage to 67-39 on a 3-pointer by Uzan with 11:17 left.
“I thought our guys did a good job of attacking the rim,” Sampson said. “We didn’t want to take as many 3s today, although the ones we got were really good looks. We didn’t do a very good job of making many of them, but of getting the ball to the rim. I thought if we could get to the rim we could get second and third shots.”
Aggies can’t buy a bucket
Texas A&M shot just 35% from the field and made 6 of 24 shots from beyond the arc (25%). The Aggies missed 12 straight shots and didn’t score a point during a stretch of 6:25 in the first half.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness