Houston gets crushed by Iowa State, 69-41, in Big 12 championship game

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POSTED: March 16, 2024 -- 10:43 p.m. CT

KANSAS CITY, MO -- T-Mobile Center

The top-seed Houston Cougars were clobbered by 2-seed Iowa State 69-41 Saturday evening in the championship game of the 2024 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship. With the loss, Houston's record is now 30-4 this season. With the win, Iowa State improves to 6-0 in Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship games.

Contrasting with the second-half red-hot shooting in Friday's 82-59 semifinal win over Texas Tech, Saturday's game is a prime example of what happens when Houston's guard / wings have a poor day making shots.

Houston's starting backcourt of LJ Cryer (3 for 12) and Jamal Shead (3 for 17) combined to make just 6 of 29 shot attempts. Starting small forward, Emanuel Sharp, missed his first 7 shots before making his last 2 attempts to finish 2 for 9 from the floor.

Add it up: Cryer, Sharp, and Shead combined to shoot 8 for 38 in the ball game. Houston won't be many (if any) teams -- especially teams as good as Iowa State -- with numbers like that.

Houston's offense never got into a rhythm and credit to Iowa State's defense for the Coogs' struggles on offense.

"Hats off to Iowa State," Kelvin Sampson, Houston Head Coach, said after the game. "We didn't play well. Iowa State had a lot to do with that."

In the first half, Houston shot 28.1 fg% (9 for 32) while Iowa State shot 46.2 fg% (12 for 26).

Houston only trailed by 7 (30-23) at halftime thanks to a 20-17 edge in rebounds and a 10-5 advantage in second-chance points.

Iowa State remedied those stats in the second-half.

Iowa State scored the first 10 points of the second half to boost its lead to 17 (40-23). Jamal Shead made a three-pointer to end Houston's second-half scoring drought; but, Iowa State put the game away with an 8-0 run to lead 48-26 with 12:45 to go in the game.

Houston missed 11 consecutive field goals and shot an ice-cold 25.0 fg% (6 for 24) in the second half and a pedestrian 26.8 fg% (15 for 56) for the game.

Iowa State freshman forward Milan Momcilovic scored a game-high 18 points (6 for 11 fgs, 4 for 8 threes). Keshon Gilbert scored 16 points and added 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Point guard Tamin Lipsey scored 9 points, dished out 6 assists, pulled down 5 rebounds, blocked 1 shot, and stole the ball 4 times.

Gilbert was named Most Outstanding Player of the 2024 Men's Basketball Championship. Momcilovic and Lipsey were named to the Tournament Team along with Cryer and Shead.

Shead scored a team-high 10 points for Houston in a day to forget for the Coogs and a day to remember for Iowa State.

NEXT: Houston's next game will be in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

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