Jamal Shead nailed a clutch go-ahead bucket with 0.4 seconds left to play to beat Oklahoma on the road. | Anh Le/The Cougar

With the game on the line, Shead proved once again why he is one of the best players in college basketball and potential Big 12 Player of the Year. 

With the game ties at 85 in the closing seconds, the Cougars’ leader drove to the hoop but was able to get the rebound off of his own missed shot, where Shead put up the game-winning fadeaway jumper with 0.4 seconds left.

Oklahoma’s ensuing inbounds play resulting in a turnover and No. 1 UH won the game 87-85 on the road against the Sooners.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair with an astonishing 16 lead changes and 10 ties. Oklahoma hit five of its first six three-pointers while redshirt forward J’Wan Roberts hit his first five shots to lead a 66.7 percent shooting effort (18-27) in the half by Houston as a team.

The Cougars and Sooners continued to go back and forth on offense. Graduate guard Damian Dunn had some confident play, including a couple of shots from beyond the arc.

With freshman forward Joseph Tugler out for the season with a leg injury, freshman center Cedric Lath got more minutes early on.

Senior guard L.J. Cryer beat the buzzer with an incredible three as Houston led 48-45 at the half. Roberts went to the locker room late in the half to receive stitches on his hand but was still the leading scorer 20 minutes in with 16 points. 45 points is the most UH has allowed in the first half all season.

Cryer went on an 11-0 run to open the second half, including multiple three pointers to help extend the UH lead to double digits.

However, a 7-0 run by the Sooners brought the lead down to six with just under eight minutes left. Soon after, junior center Ja’Vier Francis picked up his fifth foul with six minutes left and had to leave the game. 

Oklahoma’s Sam Godwin had a tough layup to make it a one possession game, but the clutch gene of Sharp could not be denied with a very tough three ball to extend the lead to five.

With 30.5 seconds left, UH led 85-82. A Houston turnover after a missed free throw by Godwin proved costly as Sooners guard Javian McCollum drove in for the game-tying basket with 11.8 seconds left.

UH improved to 26-3 on the year and 13-3 in conference play. The Cougars will travel to play UCF on Wednesday in the team’s final road game of the season.

sports@thedailycougar.com

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“Jamal Shead’s game-winner lifts No. 1 Houston past Oklahoma” was originally posted on The Cougar

UH dropped two matches to in-state opponents thus past weekend. | Oscar Herrera/The Cougar

Houston Tennis took a 2-4 loss to UTSA and a 1-4 loss to UT Arlington this past weekend at the Barbara Wallace Winston Tennis Facility. 

Game 1

UH started the day unable to get the doubles point as the sophomore team of Sonya Kovalenko and Sophie Schouten lost 6-3 on court one. UTSA wrapped up the doubles with another victory over senior Laura Slisane and junior Maria Dzemeshkevich 6-1 on court two.

The Roadrunners took a 2-0 lead with an opening win in singles as Dzemeshkevich lost to Victoria Baccino 6-2 and 6-1. 

Senior Blanco Cortijo Parreno was able to get Houston on the board, taking care of her singles match with a 6-1 and 6-3 win on court six. 

UTSA answered right back but Slisane was able to win her singles match 7-5 and 6-4 to make it a one-point game at 3-2. 

The Roadrunners sealed the game with a three-set victory over Schouten. 

Game 2

On Saturday, Houston opened up with doubles against UT Arlington as junior Elena Trencheva debuted with Slisane and fell 6-2. Sophomore Gabriela Cortes and Parreno were also unable to win 6-1 as the Mavericks won the double point. 

Kovalenko went down in singles 6-1 and 6-1. Houston’s only point of the game came when Parreno won in singles for consecutive days  6-1 and 6-1. UTA earned back-to-back singles points over Cortes and Schouten to win 4-1. 

The Cougars dropped to 1-5 on the year and will open up their first season of Big 12 play on Thursday against Texas Tech.

sports@thedailycougar.com

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“UH tennis drops matches against UTSA, UTA” was originally posted on The Cougar

UH captured its first season-opening sweep in three years after beating Binghamton three times. | Oscar Herrera/The Cougar

The Houston Cougars opened their first baseball season as Big 12 members with a dominant three-game sweep over Binghamton at Schroeder Park, their first season-opening sweep since 2021.  

Game 1

In the first game of the 2024 season, Houston won 8-4. Senior infielder Alex Lopez had an unassisted RBI to get the scoring started in the first inning.

However, Binghamton eventually took a 3-1 lead in the third inning on a home run. The Cougars took the lead back in the fifth inning with some heads-up plays. Senior shortstop Jake Rainess had a sacrifice fly and senior outfielder Cary Arbolida scored on an error to tie. 

Eventually, Lopez scored on a wild pitch that made the score 5-3. UH put the game away in the seventh inning as Lopez continued his big night with an RBI double and sophomore outfielder Cameron Nickens had a two-RBI single that made it 8-3. 

Junior right-hander Jaxon Jelkin had the opening night start and pitched four innings, giving up one earned run on five hits with seven strikeouts. Senior lefty Chris Stuart got the win with two shutout innings in relief.

Game 2

Houston clinched the series win on Saturday afternoon with a convincing 8-2 win.

Binghamton scored first, but the Cougars took the lead back in the fourth inning as senior right fielder Tre Jones had an RBI single to right center. 

Senior second baseman Harold Coll had an RBI single to center field that extended the lead to 3-1. In the seventh inning, Rainess went yard with a two-run homer down the right-field line that made the lead 5-2. Houston had some smart base running that added three runs in the eighth inning which wrapped up the game. 

Senior left-hander Antoine Jean had the start for the Cougars, with a final line of four innings pitched, giving up one earned run with five strikeouts. Junior right-hander Graysen Drezek got the win with two shutout innings in relief.

Game 3

In the final game on Sunday afternoon, UH had a shutout 7-0 win. Senior righty Duncan Howard got the start and threw five shutout innings, allowing only three hits with five strikeouts. 

Senior utility man Justin Murray got the runs going with an RBI double to right-center in the first inning and an RBI single to left field in the third to make it 2-0. 

There was no more scoring until the bottom of the eighth inning when the Houston offense exploded and scored five runs to put the game away. Lopez homered to right center on a 3-2 pitch. 

It was followed by a two-run 397-foot blast to right center by freshman pinch hitter Ace Reese, his first collegiate home run. Another two-run shot to left field, this time by Coll made it 7-0. 

For the first time since 1997, Houston baseball scored at least seven runs in all of its opening weekend games. The UH pitching staff also had two 10+ strikeout-no walks games. 

Up next, Houston will look to win their 4th straight game against Prairie View A&M on Tuesday at Schroeder Park.

sports@thedailycougar.com

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“UH baseball opens season with sweep of Binghamton” was originally posted on The Cougar

The UH softball team played five games over the weekend to open its 2024 season, going 4-1 across said stretch. | Oscar Herrera/The Cougar

UH softball got out to a strong start to its 2024 season over the weekend, posting a 4-1 record across five games in the Houston Invitational.

Game 1

The UH softball team opened its inaugural season in the Big 12 with a resounding 10-0 run-rule win in five innings over Colgate. 

UH got the lead early in the first inning.

With the bases loaded in the second inning graduate outfielder Paige Hulsey, sophomore infielder Mandy Esman and junior catcher Turiya Coleman each had an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-0.

Graduate catcher Kennedy Thomas had her 10th career multi-RBI game with a bases-clearing two-rbi single to make it 9-0.

Sophomore pitcher Tamya Waiters threw three innings of one-run ball to earn her first win of the season. 

Game 2

Houston dominated in the second game of the day in a 13-1 run-rule win over Indiana State. 

In the second inning the Cougars had back-to-back doubles from Esman while junior infielder Lair Beautae scored two runs to extend the early lead to 3-1.

In the very next inning Thomas hit a grand slam to right field for her first Houston home run. Beautae and Coleman each had two-run blasts to power the lead to 12-1.

Graduate pitcher Shelby Smith got the win with four strong innings. 

Game 3

The next day at the Houston Invitational, UH faced Indiana State again and won in seven innings 6-1.

A couple of two-run shots from Coleman and graduate utility player Bree Cantu in the early innings gave the Cougars a strong 4-0 lead.

After four innings, the score reached 6-0.

Sophomore pitcher Paris Lehman threw four innings, giving up only one earned run to get her first win in relief as a Cougar.

Game 4

Houston lost their first game of the season Saturday 10-2 to Rutgers.

UH got out to a quick 2-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Scarlet Knights attacked the Cougars pitching and sophomore pitcher Nicole Bodeux took the loss giving up three runs in three innings.

Game 5

UH wrapped up the Houston invitational with a get-back win vs Rutgers 6-3 on Sunday morning.

Cantu had a huge three-run shot to center field to make a statement in the first inning making the score 4-0.

Coleman had the second home run of the game, a two-run homer that brought the lead back to 4. 

Lehman picked up her second win of the young season with six relief innings, allowing only two runs. 

UH will look to continue its winning ways at the Houston Classic next weekend. 

sports@thedailycougar.com

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“UH softball impress in opening weekend contests” was originally posted on The Cougar

Houston women’s basketball fell on Sunday afternoon to No. 13 Baylor despite a promising first half showing. | Emma Christensen /The Cougar

The UH women’s basketball team came up short against No. 13 Baylor on Sunday afternoon at Fertitta Center 83-60 to drop to 12-10 on the season and 3-8 in the Big 12. 

The Cougars and Bears went basket-for-basket to start the game though Baylor eventually grew a 17-9 lead.

Later graduate guards Brittany Onjeye and N’Yah Boyd each hit a three to cut it to 19-17. 

At the end of the first quarter the Cougars trailed Baylor by a score of 21-17. 

Shortly out of the second quarter gate senior guard Laila Blair tied the game up and later sophomore forward Logyn McNeil scored a layup to take the lead at 27-26.

Despite UH’s positive stretch, Baylor had answers and retook the lead shortly thereafter.

Yaya Felder of the Bears made a shot in the paint and a three-pointer with around one minute to go in the first half to extend Baylor’s lead.

Houston trailed 37-29 at halftime. 

Senior forward Peyton McFarland made a couple buckets to start the second half for the Cougars.

Baylor continued to add on to its lead, up by 14 points halfway through the third quarter. 

Back-to-back threes from Blair and graduate forward Bria Patterson cut the UH deficit back down to ten points. 

The Bears extended their lead at the end of the frame with a 6-0 run to enter the final quarter in firm control 58-43. 

Onjeye hit a three to start the fourth quarter but Baylor continued to answer back, growing a 69-50 lead and forcing a Houston timeout. 

The Bears went on to win by a final score of 83-60.

Blair was the leading scorer for the Cougars, scoring 14 points. 

Houston shot just 31% from the field. Though UH forced 26 turnovers it was not enough as the Cougars got outnumbered in both total rebounds and points in the paint. 

UH head coach Ronald Hughey spoke postgame of not being able to finish quarters. 

“The second quarter going into the half is where it started to fall off for us,” Hughey said. “We didn’t do that down the stretch. At the end of the day, toss it and move on to the next one.” 

UH will look to rebound on the road in Lawrence, Kansas against the Jayhawks on Thursday night.

sports@thedailycougar.com

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“UH Women’s Basketball falls to No. 13 Baylor” was originally posted on The Cougar