Houston tops BYU, 74-54, in semifinal of 2025 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship

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POSTED: March 15, 2025 -- 5:35 a.m. CT

KANSAS CITY, MO -- T-Mobile Center

The Houston Cougars defeated the BYU Cougars 74-54 Friday evening in the first semifinal game of the 2025 Men's Basketball Championship. With the win, Houston extends its winning streak to 12 and is now 29-4 this season. BYU's 9-game winning streak ends with the loss.

LJ Cryer scored Houston's first 5 points of the game. Houston scored the first 15 points of the game. Emanuel Sharp converted a 4-point play to cap the 15-0 start. BYU missed their first 9 shots -- including 2 "Lodged Balls" or "Wedgies" when the ball got stuck (wedged) between the backboard and the rim.

Houston led BYU 41-20 at halftime. Sharp (13) and Cryer (12) combined for 25 points in the first half and outscored BYU 25-20 in the half.

BYU shot 20.0 fg% (6 for 30) in the opening 20 minutes including a frigid 18.8 3pt% (3 for 16) from three.

"This is our -- I forget how many years it is going to these tournaments, but first half defense was outstanding," Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson said after the game.

BYU was much more aggressive in the second half and took advantage of Houston's lack of big men by getting the ball in the paint to big man Keba Keita. J'Wan Roberts, Houston's starting power forward, missed the game due to a sprained right ankle. Keita scored all 14 of his points in the second half. Keita also added 10 of his 12 rebounds in the second half.

Keita scored 6 points during an 8-0 BYU run as BYU trimmed 8 points off Houston's 21-point halftime lead and trailed 45-32 with 13:42 remaining in the second half. Coach Sampson called timeout. After the timeout, Emanuel Sharp hit back-to-back three-point shots to increase Houston's lead to 19 points. BYU didn't get closer than 15 points the rest of the ball game.

"We knew they were going to go on a run," Sharp said after the game. "We just had to survive it. We made some dumb plays, me included, at the beginning of the second half, and that's really what it was. Once we cracked down on.

"Once we made better decisions, you know, that led to us getting baskets, and kinda putting the fire out a little bit, but, yeah, wasn't much to it, just cracking down on mistakes."

Sharp finished the game with a season-high tying 26 points. Sharp made 7 of 13 field goal attempts including 5 for 7 three-point shots; and, he was a perfect 7-for-7 at the foul line.

LJ Cryer scored 20 points on 6 of 16 field goal shooting. Cryer made 4 of his 11 three-point attempts.

Houston starting point guard, Milos Uzan, added 14 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists. Sharp, Cryer, and Uzan combined for 60 of Houston's 74 points.

Mylik Wilson grabbed a Houston career-high 13 rebounds in 29 minutes off the bench. (Wilson had a college career-high 16 rebounds on January 16, 2021, when he played at Louisiana.)

"Mylik Wilson has been our best rebounding guard all year," Coach Kelvin Sampson commented after the game. "He's our best rebounding guard."

Coach Sampson continued, "But it was just a good win. Get a chance to play in a Championship game. But at the end of the day it's a three-day tournament. The game tomorrow night doesn't determine the Big 12 champion; the regular season determines the Big 12 champion; that's why you play 20 games.

"We played a game on December 30th and the last one on March 8th, and over the course of 20 games we decided who the Big 12 champion was.

"This three days is an awesome, awesome chance for the Big 12 to show how great this conference is, and BYU is going to get a great seed in the NCAA Tournament. They're going to be a tough out for whoever plays 'em."

Next: Houston's next game is Saturday, March 15, against Arizona, in the 2025 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship game. Tip is set for 5 pm CT on ESPN.

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