The Star's Bruce Pascoe breaks down the starting lineups, storylines and stats as the top-seeded Arizona Wildcats prepare to take on No. 5 seed Houston Thursday night.
What: No 5 seed Houston vs No. 1 seed Arizona , NCAA Tournament South Region semifinalsSocial media: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on FacebookF Azuolas Tubelis C Josh Carlton How they got here: Houston went 15-3 to win the American Athletic Conference outright, then beat Cincinnati , Tulane and Memphis to win the AAC Tournament. The Cougars were then given a No. 5 seed in the NCAA South Region and beat UAB and Illinois last weekend in Pittsburgh.
To the Wildcats, Houston might look like a better version of the TCU team that took Arizona to overtime in a second-round game Sunday, in part because the Horned Frogs scored 19 second-chance points off 20 offensive rebounds. Houston is just as tough defensively, albeit with a somewhat different style, and the Cougars excel on the offensive glass. They pull down 37.
Without Sasser, who was averaging 17.7 points and shooting 43.7% from 3-point range, the Cougars have been doing it by committee. All five starters average double-figures in points, if you round up point guard Jamal Shead’s 9.8 points per game. “One of the things they do on the ball screen is they string it out, which is a little different than some teams. There's always two guys on the ball and then they recover back to their guys . They try to play in the gaps and they put good ball pressure on you. They don't overextend too much. They try to create good inside position on all shots and plays when you have the ball.
“ is a glue guy for them, capable scorer. He does what's needed. Edwards is certainly their team's best perimeter shooter. He's really looking to get shots from 3 and doesn't need much time to get them off. Moore's a tremendous athlete. You’ve got to find him in transition because he's explosive. White is a big time scorer inside and Carlton is a big guy who scores around the basket. He rebounds the ball and is just very physical. Probably a lot like Lampkin.
“I think it's something hard for teams to really guard against or scout because it's every possession. Every possession we've got four guys on the glass. We know that we're going to be able to have the opportunity to do that again against Arizona, so that's going to be a big emphasis for us.”Arizona's Bennedict Mathurin addresses the video of him allegedly touching a TCU cheerleader while walking off the court in San Diego. pic.twitter.
Then Mathurin was asked about himself again. “I basically said it was my first time playing March Madness and it was a pretty good experience," he said.In French, Christian Koloko says Bennedict Mathurin is "a winner and he's really confident. Every time he steps on the court, he just wants to win." pic.twitter.com/cXGiDguGg9
Lloyd said Kriisa hasn’t practiced fully this week, making it still uncertain if he would start – even though the Wildcats played better after Kriisa came off the bench in both halves Sunday. Then Dickinson threw some particular shade at Wisconsin, which lost 54-49 to Iowa State in the second round.