Jamal Shead buzzer-beater sends Houston previous Oklahoma

NORMAN, Okla. — Jamal Shead hit a brief comply with shot with 0.4 seconds left, and No. 1 Houston beat Oklahoma 87-85 on Saturday evening, giving coach Kelvin Sampson a victory over certainly one of his former faculties.

Shead missed a driving layup try, however corralled the rebound and put the Cougars again forward after they blew a 15-point lead. Emanuel Sharp tipped away a desperation cross by Oklahoma’s Milos Uzan as time expired.

“The principle factor (on the final shot) was to get it to the rim,” Sampson mentioned. “We weren’t going to shoot something exterior of 5 ft. There have been 3 ways to win that recreation — a whistle, make the shot or (seize) an offensive rebound and put it in — and we bought the third one.”

Sampson credited the consequence to Houston’s “profitable DNA. We had quite a lot of issues go in opposition to us tonight. … We had been simply plugging the holes within the boat up.”

L.J. Cryer led Houston (26-3, 13-3 Massive 12) with 23 factors, making 5 of 9 3-pointers. J’Wan Roberts added 20 factors on 10-of-12 capturing, and Shead scored 14 factors. Houston shot 56.7% from the sector to assist overcome permitting a season-high 85 factors; Oklahoma was at 52.7%.

Rivaldo Soares had 16 factors for Oklahoma (19-10, 7-9). Le’Tre Darthard had 15 factors, ending 5-of-7 from 3-point vary.

Sampson coached Oklahoma from 1994 to 2006, and ranks second in program historical past with 279 wins and first in profitable share (.719). Earlier than Saturday, he’d by no means coached in opposition to the Sooners, however Houston’s entry into the Massive 12 for this basketball season supplied that chance.

Sampson obtained a heat welcome as he entered the Lloyd Noble Enviornment courtroom, with many followers applauding, cheering and standing. Simply earlier than participant introductions, Sampson and his three assistants with Oklahoma ties — former gamers Hollis Value, Quannas White and Kellen Sampson, his son — had been individually acknowledged with bulletins and photos on the video board.

“The recollections that I’ll take from listed here are simply superb,” Kelvin Sampson mentioned. “Oklahoma will all the time be residence in quite a lot of methods.”

Houston made its first week this season at No. 1 a profitable one, with two wins. The Cougars are a recreation forward of No. 8 Iowa State within the convention standings with two video games left within the common season and stay within the dialog for the general No. 1 seed within the NCAA match. Houston has gained eight of the final 9 video games it has performed because the No. 1-ranked workforce and is 35-5 total whereas atop the AP ballot.

Oklahoma dropped its second recreation of the week in opposition to a top-10 opponent, having misplaced 58-45 at Iowa State on Wednesday evening. It is misplaced 4 of its final 5 video games total, all vs. high 25 groups, and fell to 9-10 since its 10-0 begin this season.

The Sooners pushed Houston to the restrict. Javian McCollum’s layup with 11.8 seconds left tied at 85. It got here after a hustle play by Uzan, who tracked down a rebound off a missed free throw and threw it off the leg of Sharp, permitting it to carom out of bounds.

Oklahoma coach Porter Moser mentioned the vibe within the Sooners’ locker room was “robust. It wasn’t like they had been completely happy to be shut. They’re hurting. That is a great signal. … That is the elite of the elite and we have to discover a method to win that. That is my job.

“I assumed they had been resilient battling again. Houston made robust pictures, open pictures, good pictures. They do quite a lot of good issues … however I assumed we did too. We performed the most effective workforce within the nation, however we fell quick. The margin of error while you play a workforce that good is small.”

Godwin went 6-of-6 from the sector and led Oklahoma with 17 factors, lacking solely the one free throw in six makes an attempt, as effectively. He additionally had seven rebounds.

Info from The Related Press was used on this report.