The week ahead in College basketball: North Florida Ospreys make a trip to Houston

The University of North Florida will add another marquee program to its list of opponents in money games when the Ospreys travel to Houston to play the top-ranked Cougars for the first time on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Houston (8-0) has made the NCAA Final Four and Elite Eight in the last two seasons under coach Kelvin Sampson and has gone 151-20 in the last five seasons to date.

The Cougars are also 84-3 at home during the same span, and 5-0 this season. Houston has a 19-game winning streak at the Fertitta Center in non-conference games since a 72-71 loss to BYU on Nov. 15, 2019.

UNF is 1-4 against teams in Texas and has previously made forays to the University of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Rice. The Ospreys beat Prarie View A&M 84-66 in 2010 in a holiday tournament in Cancun, Mexico.

Ospreys coach Matthew Driscoll was an assistant coach at Baylor from 2003-2009 before taking the UNF job.

Men

Player of the week: Flagler sophomore guard Omar Figueroa had two 20-point games last week, both off the bench. He scored 21 points in a 94-83 loss at Savannah State and then had 24 points and made six of nine 3-point shots in a 94-93 victory at Rollins on Saturday. Figueroa, a North Alabama transfer, made 16 of 31 shots overall and eight of 16 3-point attempts.

Stat line of the week: Flagler sophomore forward Kyle Young had 30 points, 12 rebounds, three blocked shots and three assists in the Saints' 94-83 loss at Savannah State. He also made 9 of 9 free throws.

Noting UNF (2-5): The Ospreys had lost twice this season in games in which they scored 82 or more points. In a 93-88 loss at High Point on Saturday, there were 14 ties and 11 lead changes and a 3-point attempt by junior guard Jarius Hicklen with 10 seconds left that could have tied the game rolled around the rim and spun out. ... Senior forward Carter Hendricksen came one rebound short of two double-doubles last week. He had 15 points and nine rebounds in a 90-49 victory over Trinity Baptist, then had 22 points and 11 rebounds in the loss to High Point.

Noting JU (4-2): Saturday's 74-39 victory over Trinity Baptist was the Dolphins' 18th consecutive home victory. Sophomore center Oumar Koureissi played 23 minutes, his most of the season by 17, and had 16 points five rebounds and made 7 of 9 from the floor. ... In an 80-61 loss at Alabama-Birmingham earlier in the week, senior guard Kevion Nolan had 20 points and made 5 of 7 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Noting Edward Waters (2-2): The Tigers beat Miles 58-55 on Saturday with some clutch free-throw shooting. EWU made 9 of 10 from the line in the second, including its last eight attempts, and Felix Hayes made 4 of 4 in the final 2:59. Graduate transfer center Larry Kuimi had 15 points and 10 rebounds, following a game in which he had 14 points and seven rebounds in a 103-98 loss at Kentucky State. Sophomore guard Tavares Oliver had 30 points in that game.

Noting Trinity Baptist (3-6): The Eagles played JU and UNF last week and lost 74-39 to the Dolphins and 90-49 to the Ospreys. None of the Trinity players scored in double figures and they shot 30.4 percent in the two games. ... Sophomore center Fausto Alvarez made 5 of 6 free throws in the closing minutes to lift the Eagles over Florida Gateway 55-52. The Bartram Trail graduate had 12 points and nine rebounds.

Noting Flagler (5-4): The Saints' victory over Rollins was their first in six attempts since they first played in 1995. Spencer Bain's 3-pointer with 1 second left was the game-winner after Hutton Yenor hit two free throws for Rollins with 8 seconds left for a 93-91 lead. In addition to Figueroa's point total, Chase Fiddler had 21 points, seven rebounds five blocked shots and three steals and Young had 14 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three blocks. The Saints hit 19 3-pointers, one short of the teams's Division II record. There were 21 ties and 30 lead changes.

This week’s schedule 

Tuesday

North Florida at Houston, 8 p.m.

Wednesday

Jacksonville at VCU, 7 p.m.

Saturday

Bethune-Cookman at North Florida, 2 p.m.

Flagler at North Georgia, 3:30 p.m.

Jacksonville at North Carolina-Wilmington, 4 p.m.

Edward Waters at Paine, 4 p.m.

Women

Player of the week: On a night when UNF came up mostly empty from outside the 3-point line, senior forward Emma Broermann was a force inside in a 54-42 victory over host Bethune-Cookman. Broermann had 18 points and 12 rebounds and made 7 of 10 shots from the floor.

Stat line of the week: JU senior guard Seraphine Bastin had 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists in the Dolphins' 71-56 victory on Saturday at Presbyterian.

Noting UNF (2-4): The Ospreys shot only 5 of 19 from beyond the 3-point arc and junior guard Lyric Swann (1 of 10 from the floor), failed to score in double figures for the first time this season. But led by Broermann, UNF scored 30 points in the paint and outrebounded Bethune 46-38

Noting JU (5-2): Sophomore forward KK Hayes has averaged 21.7 points and 7.0 rebounds in her last three games and has hit 65 percent of her shots. In the victory over Presbyterian, JU's first-ever game against the Blue Hose, Hayes had 16 points, four rebounds and three steals.

Noting Edward Waters (4-4): The Tigers lost both games last week and turnovers were the primary culprit. EWU had 19 turnovers in a 61-53 loss at Kentucky State and 27 in Saturday's 64-60 home loss to MIles. The Tigers gave up 37 points off turnovers in games they lost by a total of 12 points. ... Junior guard Jourdon Avery had 17 points against Miles and 14 against Kentucky State.

Noting Trinity Baptist (3-6): In two of the Eagles' three games last week, freshman forward Katia Bogun had 30 points and 19 rebounds and connected on 12 of 21 shots from the floor. In Saturday's 81-66 loss to Florida National, Bogun had 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Noting Flagler (2-6): Senior forward M'Mya Pierce had 18 rebounds in the Saints' 63-62 victory over Emory & Henry and has 32 in the last two games. Her 18 rebounds were five off the single-game school record. ... Flagler's seven turnovers were the fewest in one game since a game against Embry-Riddle on Nov. 4, 2019.

This week’s games

Friday

Trinity Baptist at North Florida, 7 p.m.

Saturday

Flagler at North Georgia, 1:30 p.m.

South Carolina Faith A&M at Trinity Baptist, 3 p.m.

Sunday

Jacksonville at Iowa State, 1 p.m.

Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @GSmitter

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: The week ahead in College basketball: UNF Ospreys travel to Houston