Houston's defense carries Cougars into 7th Final Four with 69-50 March Madness win over Tennessee

INDIANAPOLIS — Houston’s relentless, harassing defense had Tennessee’s shooters dancing around.

Now, the Cougars are two-stepping it back to Texas.

L.J. Cryer finished with 17 points, Emanuel Sharp scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and the nation’s stingiest defense delivered a historic NCAA Tournament performance, leading top-seeded Houston past second-seeded Tennessee 69-50 on Sunday for the Midwest Region title and its seventh trip to the Final Four.

Next up is Cooper Flagg and five-time national champion Duke on Saturday in San Antonio, just a 3 1/2-hour drive from Houston’s campus. First, the Cougars wanted to savor the journey they took to this net-cutting celebration, one that failed to materialize each of the past two seasons when they were eliminated in the Sweet 16 as a No. 1 seed.

‘‘It’s a good feeling knowing what we’ve been through," Sharp, the region’s most outstanding player, said of Houston’s first Final Four appearance since 2021. ‘’A lot of people doubted us.‘’

The Cougars (34-4) broke the school’s single-season record for wins, extended the nation’s longest active winning streak to 17 games and gave coach Kelvin Sampson a third chance to reach his first national championship game.

Houston has played on college basketball’s biggest stage twice, losing title games in 1983 to N.C. State and in 1984 to Georgetown during the Phi Slama Jama era.

They’re back this time thanks to Sharp, who made two of his four 3-pointers in quick succession to thwart a second-half charge from Tennessee.

Chaz Lanier and Jordan Gainey scored 17 points apiece for the Volunteers (30-8), who again fell short of the program’s first Final Four appearance. Coach Rick Barnes’ team was also eliminated in a regional final last year.

Houston won this one with a familiar formula.

The nation’s top scoring defense held the Vols to 15 first-half points, the fewest in an Elite Eight game since 1979. It was also the lowest first-half scoring total by any No. 1 or No. 2 seed in a tourney game since seeding began that same year.

‘‘I feel like we always want to throw the first punch," said Milos Uzan, who scored four points after making the decisive basket against Purdue. ‘’Emanuel was able to get a jump ball early. I feel like that shook those guys up a little bit and it was super important to keep our foot on their neck."

The Cougars stayed locked in even when the Vols could have cut the deficit to single digits in the second half. The nation’s top 3-point shooting team quicklye extended the margin back to 17.

How bad was it for the Vols?

They made only 6 of 28 shots in the first 20 minutes and missed their first 14 3s before Zakai Zeigler finally ended the drought with 38 seconds left to make it a 34-15 game, an all but insurmountable advantage. Tourney teams that trailed by 19 or more points at halftime fell to 0-244 all-time.

Tennessee’s top scorers, Lanier and Zeigler, were a combined 5 of 27 from the field. Zeigler had five points and five assists.

‘‘When Zakai came off, it hurt me because I knew how much he cared. He said, ‘I’m sorry,‘’’ Barnes said. ‘’He’s got nothing to be sorry about because he gave us everything. I know those guys. They know I’m an older guy, they know I’d love to win a national championship, but they have not one thing to hang their head down or be sorry about.‘’

As the Vols head home, Houston is getting ready for this season’s last dance — close to home.

‘‘There’s probably 16,000 Tennessee fans here,‘’ Sampson said when told the attendance was about 18,500. ‘’That’s awesome for Tennessee — jump on the interstate and get here. That’s what we’ll do next week — jump on the interstate and head down to San Antonio.‘’

Points at a premium

Georgetown had the previous lowest-scoring first half in March Madness with 16 points in a second-round victory over SMU in 1984. That Hoyas team went on to win the national title. The paltry first-half total was matched by Miami in a 2013 Sweet 16 loss to Marquette and by Michigan in a 2019 Sweet 16 loss to Texas Tech.

Hello, friends

Peyton Manning watched his alma mater, Tennessee, from a courtside seat Friday. On Sunday, it was Jim Nantz’s turn.

The longtime CBS Sports play-by-play man wore a sweatshirt from his alma mater, Houston. Nantz retired from calling NCAA Tournament games in 2023 but continues as the network’s lead announcer for NFL games and, perhaps most notably, the Masters — which he hopes to continue calling through the 100th edition in 2036.

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