NCAA Tournament: Five reasons why NKU's upset bid fell short against Houston
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Northern Kentucky’s bid to become only the second 16-seed to win an NCAA Tournament game fell short Thursday night at Legacy Arena, like many of the Norse shot attempts during a frustrating night on offense.
NKU lost 63-52 to Houston to end its season at 22-13 in the third NCAA Tournament game in seven seasons for the Norse. Houston (32-3), the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region and top-ranked in the national polls, advances to play Auburn in the second round on Saturday.
NKU just missed becoming the ninth 16-seed since 2000 to finish within 10 points of the 1-seed in a first-round loss. The Norse were a 20-point underdog coming in.
Marcus Sasser, a first team All-American senior guard and UH’s leading scorer, scored five points in the first half and didn’t play in the second half after aggravating a groin injury he suffered last Saturday against Cincinnati.
“Give credit to Houston,” said NKU head coach Darrin Horn. “There's a reason they are the No. 1 team in the country. Really physical and aggressive. Played without their best player in the second half tonight. I'm unbelievably proud of our team, the fight that we showed. In a lot of ways, I don't think it's a stretch to say we outplayed Houston tonight. We just didn't make enough shots,”
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson expected a tough test against the Norse.
“I was proud of their team tonight,” he said. “They fought. They are well-coached. Their kids were tough, they are smart, they are old. They got a bunch of grad kids, seniors, older guys. I was impressed.”
Here are five reasons NKU’s upset bid almost happened, but didn’t.
Preview:Northern Kentucky basketball ready for top-seeded Houston
1. Norse had their worst shooting game of the season against Houston’s stout defense.
With 12 minutes to go in the second half, NKU had tied the game at 36. Junior guard Marques Warrick, NKU’s leading scorer at over 19 points per game, had two open 3-pointers that he shot with a soft touch. Both shots took multiple bounces on the rim and the ball thought about going in before rolling off to the side.
On Houston’s next trip, junior point guard Jamal Shead shot an open 3. The ball hit the front rim, bounced off the backboard, and hit a side rim before dropping in. Houston led 39-36 and never trailed after that.
The Norse had their worst shooting performance of the season. NKU finished 19-of-69 from the floor (27.5%) and 5-of-33 from 3-point range. The 52 points ties the lowest point total the Norse have scored this year, tying the mark at Florida Atlantic (31-3), who plays Memphis in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday. The shooting percentage was the worst of the season and the five 3-pointers was two off the team’s season low.
It was a long night for the Norse against one of the top defenses in the country. Houston allows 56 points per game and 36.4 percent shooting for the season. Warrick took the brunt of it, shooting 2-of-18 for the game for nine points, often being guarded by American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year Jamal Shead. The junior came out of the locker room after the game and stood near the court looking out at it for several minutes.
“Yeah, it was frustrating a little bit, but we don't think about that during the game,” said NKU sophomore Sam Vinson. “Our players and coaches saying, ‘Keep shooting, keep shooting the ball.’ But we came into the mindset to swing it, let the ball loose and shoot it if you got a shot. We were doing that all night, just to see a few rim and out or be close to going in, it hurts. But we just kept on shooting the ball and we had that mindset the whole game.”
Said Horn: “They are a great defensive team, and they didn't make it easy. At the same time I felt like we got a lot of good clean open looks that we usually make at a high rate that we didn't. For us to hang in the game the way we did and with Marques having the tough offensive night that he had. I kept thinking we were going to break through at some point and enough of those were going to go down at the right time, and we just weren't able to make them.
2. Sharp shooting put the Norse in a deep hole
Houston freshman Emanuel Sharp came off the bench to score eight key points in the middle of the second half to give Houston a cushion it would never relinquish.
With Houston leading 41-38, Sharp hit 3-pointers on two straight possessions to put UH up 9, 47-38, causing NKU to call time out with 10:47 to play.
A few minutes later, Sharp hit an athletic floater in the lane to put Houston up 10 at 53-43 with seven minutes to go. Sharp has been a dangerous threat off the bench all season, averaging 5.7 points with 38 3-pointers, third on the team.
3. Houston’s inside game was hard to stop
Houston was led by 6-foot-8 freshman Jarace Walker, an imposing physical presence who pundits expect to be an NBA draft lottery pick this summer.
Walker had 16 points and 6 rebounds, shooting 6-of-8 from the floor. J’Wan Roberts, a 6-7 junior, had 11 points and 12 rebounds.
With Houston leading 53-48, Walker scored a dunk off a lob pass from Roberts, then blocked a shot in the lane by Trey Robinson on NKU's next trip.
Houston shot 25-of-51 (49%) and outrebounded NKU by 9.
NKU fought back with 18 offensive rebounds. Senior Chris Brandon had a great game with six points and 14 boards. Vinson had eight rebounds to go with his team-high 15 points.
“C.B. does a great job,” Vinson said. “The way he rebounds is crazy. Super vital for our team. And he was getting after it all night long. And the way he crashed opened up lanes on the perimeter to get in there and get rebounds. With how we came into the mindset of shooting the ball, we knew we were going to get long rebounds. So with C.B. crashing, open up lanes so we could get rebounds as well.”
More:Northern Kentucky senior Chris Brandon excited to play against hometown team
4. NKU forced a lot of turnovers, but Houston got key baskets out of timeouts
NKU forced 17 turnovers against the a Cougars team that only averaged 10 per game, but only three in the final 12 minutes when the Cougars built their lead.
Still, the Norse made the Cougars uncomfortable all night on offense, which Sampson was concerned about going in. Houston got several key buckets by running plays coming out of a media timeout, but Sampson said the Cougars didn’t execute well enough within the flow of play. Shead had six assists against the Norse, but six turnovers as well.
“They don't play zone and they don't play man-to-man. It's kind of somewhere in the middle,” Sampson said. “So the stuff we run … our stuff out of timeouts tonight was great. I think we scored after every time out. It's the in between stuff where it's subjective. And I have been one of those teams like Northern Kentucky where we played our butts off and fought. That team had 21 points on second chance shots. Credit to them, man. You know, they were tougher than we were tonight, and that's not easy for me to say.”
Said Horn: “For us to play this game the way that we did, have a plus-10 turnover margin, get nine steals, I think it says a lot to the toughness and the character that our guys have, and just how good we are at what we do on the defensive end of the floor.”
5. Cougars got the big “Onions!” down the stretch
CBS sent its A-Team broadcasting crew to Birmingham to call the four games at Legacy Arena, led by legends Jim Nantz and Bill Raftery. Raftery, known for yelling “Onions!” after big shots are made, likely unleashed the classic phrase in the final four minutes as the Norse were trying to come back.
NKU was within five points at 55-50 with under four minutes to play. Tramon Mark hit a tough mid-range jumper to make it 57-50.
After a missed shot by NKU, Shead was pressured by NKU and the ball knocked out of bounds. With the shot clock running down, Shead spun and hit a tough turnaround jumper from midrange to put Houston up nine at 59-50 and quell any Norse hopes of pulling off the upset.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Analysis of Northern Kentucky loss to No. 1 Houston in NCAA Tournament
