Taze Moore scores 21 points to lead 5-seed Houston over 4-seed Illinois 68-53 in second round of the NCAA Tournament

Buy Houston Cougars Gear at Fanatics.com

Byron L. Riley, CPA; 832-303-3995; Do you need tax help? IRS Tax help available- Free Consult

UPDATED: March 20, 2022 -- 9:35 p.m. CT

POSTED: March 20, 2022 -- 4:35 p.m. CT

PITTSBURGH, PA -- (PPG Paints Arena)

The 5th-seed Houston Cougars men's basketball team defeated 4-seed Illinois Fighting Illini 68-53 Sunday afternoon in the Second Round in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament.

Houston (31-5) will face the 1-seed Arizona Wildcats, on TBS, on Thursday, March 24, in San Antonio, TX. Tip-off is approximately 8:59 p.m. CT.

Taze Moore scored a game-high 21 points to lead Houston. Moore is the third different player to lead Houston in scoring the last three games.

"Coach Sampson put me in isolations," Moore said after the game. "And, usually when I'm in those situations, I usually make a good pass or a good play. And if I can, I just try to play through the situation. But Coach put me in good spots for me to score the ball and make plays, and it just ended up working."

Houston limited Illinois big man Kofi Cockburn to 11 field goal attempts in the game. Kofi scored 19 points to lead Illinois; but, Houston's defense in the post made life difficult for the All-America center.

"Illinois, what you see is what you get," Kelvin Sampson, Houston Head Coach said after the game. "There is really nothing tricky about them. They throw the ball to Kofi. We have always taken pride on how we defend the post. And Kofi, you have to start defending him inside the three-point line so you don't get buried. Monsters, which are post doubles, were really, really good on the sides. And then we tried to front the middle and pressure the ball."

"Coach made a lot of emphasis that the easier they can get the ball to Kofi, the easier it is for him to score," Jamal Shead, Houston's starting point guard said. "So, for me it's go out and pressure and make the passes as hard as they can be so my guys don't have to go through so much and put it all on them. It's a team sport, it's a team effort, you know, we just wanted to help them as much as we can."

Neither team shot the ball well in the first half. Houston rebounded many of its missed shot attempts but failed to score second-chance points while Illinois combined poor field goal shooting with 9 turnovers.

Houston capitalized on Illinois' turnovers for a 12-5 edge advantage in points off turnovers.

The Coogs led 23-11 with 5:34 left in the first half; but, Illinois freshman Luke Goode swished a three-pointer after a layup by Cockburn. Illinois made 5 of its last 6 field goal attempts and scored 15 points in the final 5 plus minutes of the first half.

Trent Frazier sank a three-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer and slice Houston's lead to just 4 (30-26) at halftime.

Taze Moore scored 11 points in the first half to lead the Coogs.

---

Byron L. Riley, CPA; 832-303-3995; Do you need tax help? IRS Tax help available- Free Consult

---

SUPPORT The Houston Roundball Review:

Purchase your Coogs' gear at Fanatics.com via this link;

Get ESPN+ via this link;

Save when you get the Disney bundle (ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu) with this link;

OR, contribute via PayPal or the Cash App.

---

Cockburn scored the first points of the second half with 2 made free throws and a layup to tie the game at 30. Houston's center Josh Carlton rebounded a missed shot from Jamal Shead and scored and was fouled by Cockburn. Carlton made the free throw to complete the three-point play.

Moore scored a layup to put Houston ahead 40-37; however, Illinois' Alfonso Plummer sank a corner three-point shot to tie the game at 40 with 11:23 on the game clock.

Jamal Shead went to work. Shead banked in 2 runners before knocking down a jumper to give Houston a 46-40 lead with 9:32 on the clock. Each of Shead's three buckets were from high pick-and-rolls involving Cockburn on defense. Cockburn remained in drop coverage each time and Shead took advantage each time.

"They're going to highlight Kofi at one end," Coach Sampson commented. "And, we're going to go at him in the pick and rolls in the other. Basketball is both ends. Wherever there were weaknesses, I felt like Jamal could get downhill, and from there he's reading the corner and reading the roller."

Shead committed a turnover which led to a slam dunk by freshman RJ Melendez. Melendez was assessed an "administrative technical foul" for hanging on the rim after his dunk.

Shead made the free throw for a 47-42 Houston lead.

Cockburn responded with a layup and a free throw to reduce Houston's lead to 47-45 with 8 minutes remaining.

Taze Moore scored a jumper in the paint; and, Kyler Edwards drained a three-pointer to stretch Houston's margin to 7 (52-45) with 6:30 on the game clock.

When Shead sank another jumper, Illinois called timeout and trailed Houston 54-45 with 5:44 remaining in the game.

After the timeout, Alfonso Plummer made a three-pointer and was fouled by Reggie Chaney. Plummer made the foul shot to trim Houston's lead to 54-49.

Jamal Shead, once again, answered the challenge with another basket. Then, the play of the game took place when Houston's graduate forward Fabian White chased down a loose ball; saved the ball from going out of bounds and, with his left hand, tossed the ball to Taze Moore who had streaked from the backcourt into the frontcourt. Moore caught up to the bounce pass and scored layup for a 58-49 Houston lead with 3:52 on the clock.

"The culture play," Coach Sampson of White's great play. "That's what we call it. Those are culture plays. Whenever we watch film, we do edits. We always end our film sessions with culture plays. Everybody wants to be on the edit.

"So, I'm sure when that play was over -- there were three guys involved in that play. Somebody made a great effort play on the baseline, to throw it to the sideline, Fabian made a great effort play, and next thing you know, Taze is getting a layup."

White followed the great hustle play with 2 made free throws and a three-point bucket before Shead made two foul shots to give Houston a 65-49 lead with 2:28 left in the game.

Shead finished the game with 18 points -- 13 in the second half, all 13 in the final 11 minutes of the game.

Moore and Shead combined for 39 points on 16 for 29 field goal shooting.

Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood said: "I thought their guards were terrific. Give Shead and Moore a lot of credit."

CLICK HERE for The HRR's write-ups of Coogs' men's hoops games.