Houston loses to Oklahoma State, 61-55

POSTED: December 15, 2019 -- 8:35 p.m. CT

HOUSTON, TX (Fertitta Center) -- The Houston Cougars were unable to overcome a woeful first half Sunday afternoon in a 61-55 home loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

Houston sophomore guard Nate Hinton made three consecutive 3-point baskets to erase a 9-2 deficit for an 11-9 Houston lead. However, Oklahoma State senior guard Thomas Dziagwa knocked down a three-point shot for a 12-11 Cowboys' lead with 13 minutes remaining in the first half.

Freshman guard Marcus Sasser answered with a 3-point basket for Houston for a 14-12 lead with 12:07 left in the first half. Dziagwa nailed his third 3-point shot of the first half for a 15-14 Oklahoma State lead with 11:33 on the game clock.

Houston led 16-15 with 10:08 until halftime. Houston's offense went into the deep freeze the remainder of the half.

Oklahoma State outscored Houston 20-3 the final 10:08 of the half. Caleb Mills, redshirt-freshman, made Houston's only basket in the final 10 plus minutes. Houston made just 1 of its last 16 field goal attempts and went scoreless the last 7:29 in the half.

Oklahoma State's defense limited Houston to 2 free throw attempts in the opening 20 minutes. The 2 foul shots occurred on two different 1-and-1 situations. Houston missed the front end of the 1-and-1 both times.

The first half field goal shooting numbers for Houston were 2 for 14 on two-point field goal attempts and 5 for 16 on three-point field goal attempts.

Houston trailed 35-19 at halftime.

"Obviously, the game started at two o'clock," Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson said after the game. "It didn't start at three o'clock; but, we were playing like the game started at three o'clock. Oklahoma State started playing at two o'clock. You shouldn't have to lose a game to learn a lesson."

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Oklahoma State scored the first two points of the second half for its largest lead of the ball game.

Nate Hinton got banged up diving for a loose ball and hobbled to the bench. Caleb Mills came into the game for Hinton and provided a spark. Mills knocked down three straight outside shots as well as made two free throws for pull Houston within 12 (39-27) with 16:24 remaining in the second half.

Mills kept Houston in the game. Mills scored 5 of Houston's next 7 points; then, freshman guard, Marcus Sasser, scored the next 5 points to trim Houston's deficit to 45-39 with 9:05 on the clock.

The Cowboys stretched the lead to 50-40 before scored 10 straight points to tie the game at 50 with 3:40 left in the game. Oklahoma State big man Yor Anei made two foul shots for a 52-50 lead; then, Mills split 2 foul shots.

With Houston trailing 52-51, Oklahoma State got a huge three-point basket from senior guard Lindy Waters III. Ironically, Mills blocked Dziagwa's jump shot attempt; but, Dziagwa rebounded the shot before passing to Waters who sank the well-defended three-point shot from the top of the key.

Mills knocked down a tough turnaround jump shot to pull Houston within 55-53; but, Cameron McGriff, senior forward, got free in the paint and banked in a shot off the glass for a 57-53 lead.

On Houston's next possession, Quentin Grimes missed a three-point shot. McGriff rebounded the missed shot; and, Anei scored a layup to put the game away. Anei finished the game with a game-high 18 points. He added 8 boards and 1 blocked shot.

Grimes had a game to forget. He was 0 for 7 on field goal attempts, including 0 for 5 on three-point attempts. Grimes did not score a single point in the game.

DeJon Jarreau was also scoreless in the game. Jarreau missed all 4 of his field goal attempts; and, he had 4 of Houston's 10 turnovers.

Houston's starting lineup of Grimes, Hinton, Chris Harris Jr, Jarreau, and Fabian White Jr combined to score 17 points on 6 for 30 field goal shooting.

Caleb Mills scored a career-high 23 points to lead Houston. Mills scored 20 points in the second half.

However, Coach Sampson said Mills was asked to carry too much of a load down the stretch.

"Mills shouldn't have to be our best player today," Sampson acknowledged. "You can't have two starters that didn't scratch. Think about it, the game was tied at 50. A bunch of guys just didn't show up to compete. I thought Marcus had some good moments; but, he also had some freshman moments. Caleb had some good moments; but, since no one could make a basket, we were putting a little too much on his plate and asking him to do a little too much, that wasn't fair to him.

Sampson summarized, "Fortunately, I haven't been able to say this a lot; but, very rarely do you see a team come here and out-compete us and that's what bothers me the most. It was a big win for them and a very disappointing loss for us."

Houston is 6-3 with the loss; and, Oklahoma State improves to 8-2.

Houston's next game is Thursday, December 19, at home, versus UTEP. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. ESPN3 will broadcast the game.

CLICK HERE for The HRR's write-ups of Coogs' men's hoops games.