No. 5 Houston ousts No. 4 Illinois to reach NCAA Sweet 16

Houston just kept on dancing Sunday, long after the Cougars saw an opening and pounced.

And just like that, they’re headed to their third consecutive Sweet 16 appearance.

Taze Moore scored 21 points, and fifth-seeded Houston capitalized on a controversial technical foul call against No. 4 Illinois in the second half to pull away for a 68-53 victory in a second-round NCAA Tournament East Region game at PPG Paints Arena.

Jamal Shead added 18 points and Kyler Edwards 15 for Houston (31-5). Moore shot 9 for 16 and led the Cougars with seven rebounds.

Houston, back among a group of just 16 teams standing from the original field of 68, will play top-seeded Arizona in the Sweet 16 on Thursday in San Antonio, just a jaunt from the Cougars’ campus.

“I couldn’t be more proud,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “You know, you go into every game with a plan. Plans mean nothing if the players don’t believe in it and execute it. I thought our execution today at both ends was really good.”

The decisive outcome set off a wild locker room celebration that saw Sampson doused with water by his players after he pulled off his shirt and started to dance.

“You know, he’s an emotional coach,” Shead said. “When we win and we’re happy, he shows it sometimes, too. I’m so happy to play for him. It’s a joy to play for him. We love each other so much that when those emotions are high, we’ve got to let them out.”

A Final Four team last season, Houston is playing like it wants more, despite the absence of two injured players, Marcus Sasser (17.7 ppg.) and Tramon Mark, who were part of last year’s team.

Even without the duo, Houston took another step in the tournament in emphatic fashion, using a late 11-0 run to put away the Fighting Illini, who kept it close before freshman RJ Melendez was tagged with a technical for hanging on the rim.

Replays show Melendez holding onto the rim and appearing to slow his momentum while looking for a safe landing place after his two-handed dunk cut Houston’s lead to four points with 8¹⁄₂ minutes remaining.

“(The official) told me he shouldn’t ever have called it, but in the moment he calls it,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “Maybe it’s personal, I don’t know. When a kid has a full head of steam going 100 miles an hour, and we all talk about safety and well-being of student-athletes, come on.

“And then, to kill momentum like that? Horrible.”

After trailing for most of the first half, Illinois (23-10) kept the pressure on and caught Houston on a basket by Kofi Cockburn less than 2 minutes into the second half, tying the score 30-30.

Houston tried distancing itself again, but Illinois stayed close and again pulled even at 40-40 on Alfonso Plummer’s 3-pointer with 11:23 to go.

And again, Houston started to pull away, getting the advantage to 46-40 on three straight baskets by Shead.

His free throw after Melendez’s technical was a sequence that clearly rattled the Illini as Underwood protested and Illinois’ fans showered the officials with boos.

Melendez said he couldn’t get an explanation for the call.

Sampson said he didn’t see the play develop.

“I was on to something else, and then I looked back and he called a technical,” Sampson said. “I think I was so much in the moment. I think that was irrelevant. Because of our defense. Our defense was so good. The one play, technical foul had nothing to do with how many stops we were getting and the loose balls we were getting.”

Illinois committed 17 turnovers.

“We won a Big Ten championship. They’re going to hang a banner. We’re going to get a ring, and it’s a Big Ten championship,” Underwood said, searching for positives. “We happened to have fewer points than our opponent today, and that happens.”

The 7-foot Cockburn, who was playing in perhaps his final college game after returning to Illinois for his junior year, led the Illini with 19 points and eight rebounds.

Cockburn’s three-point play at the 8-minute mark kept Illinois close at 47-44, but Houston scored the next seven points to take a 54-45 lead, capped by Shead’s jumper, with 5:44 to go.

The Cougars finally got the lead back to double digits on two free throws by Fabian White Jr., giving Houston a 60-49 advantage, part of an 11-0 Houston run that sealed Illinois’ fate and sent the Illini packing with another second-round loss.

They bowed out of the tournament last season with a double-digit loss to Loyola Chicago in the second round

Cockburn, who was enveloped all game by Houston’s swarming defense, shot 6-for-11 and made all seven of his free throws.

“The relevant thing is not how many points he had but how many shots he got,” Sampson said. “He had 11 shot attempts. That’s great defense. But our kids are tough kids. This is a tough program. That’s how we’ve achieved to this point.”

Houston wound up shooting 42.4% (25 for 59) but made just 6 of 22 from 3-point range. Illinois struggled to finish at 34% (17 for 50) and made only 6 of 25 from behind the arc.

“These days are never fun,” Underwood said. “It means the end to a great season, to a championship season, and we don’t want to lose sight of any of that in that locker room.”

Illinois got back into the mix late in the first half, outscoring Houston, 15-7, over the final 5:34 to trail just 30-26 at the break, thanks to Trent Frazier’s 3-point buzzer-beater.

And, seemingly all of a sudden, the halftime score gave off a sense of reality.

.@CoachSampsonUH was LIT in the locker room after Houston's win over Illinois ????

(via @CoachAlanBishop) pic.twitter.com/zxwZijDaOy

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 20, 2022