It wasn’t clean. It wasn’t easy. And for most of the first half at Gallagher-Iba Arena, it didn’t look like it was going to go Houston’s way.
But when reserve guard Chase McCarty caught fire in the second half — scoring 14 of his 20 points after the break — No. 7 Houston rallied past Oklahoma State 82–75 on Saturday to close the regular season on a winning note. Milos Uzan’s go-ahead three-pointer with 14:35 remaining gave the Cougars their first lead of the afternoon, and Houston never trailed again. The win pushed Houston’s final regular season record to 26–5 overall and 14–4 in the Big 12, locking in the No. 2 seed heading into next week’s conference tournament.
Oklahoma State Came to Play
If the Cowboys were playing spoiler, they came close to pulling it off. Oklahoma State — honoring seniors Christian Coleman, Parsa Fallah, Robert Jennings II, and Anthony Roy before tip-off — jumped on Houston from the opening possession. Anthony Roy and Jaylen Curry connected on back-to-back triples early, and the Cowboys built a lead they would hold for most of the first 20 minutes.
Houston got out to a 5–0 start but OSU answered with a run of their own, and the Cowboys’ three-point shooting kept them in front throughout the half. The Cougars chipped away and closed the half on a big run — McCarty hit two three-pointers in the final 90 seconds of the half, including one off a Uzan steal with 11 seconds left — to cut the deficit to 41–37 at the break. Without those back-to-back threes at the buzzer, this might have been a different game entirely.
McCarty Changes the Game
The second half belonged to Chase McCarty. The reserve guard had been a reliable contributor all season, but Saturday was his statement game. He scored 14 points after halftime — knocking down multiple threes, attacking off the dribble, and giving Houston a spark off the bench that Oklahoma State had no answer for.
Uzan’s three-pointer with 14:35 left gave Houston its first lead of the game at 50–49, and McCarty immediately extended it with a three on the next possession to make it 53–49. With 4:27 remaining, McCarty’s three extended the margin to 73–64 — what looked to be a comfortable cushion.
Oklahoma State Made It Interesting Late
The Cowboys, to their credit, kept scrapping. Andrija Vukovic’s layup cut the Houston lead to 74–73 with under two minutes to play, and the raucous Gallagher-Iba crowd was firmly back in it. Then Emanuel Sharp — steady as ever in big moments — silenced the building with a cold-blooded three-pointer to push the lead back to 77–73. Houston converted its free throws down the stretch to close it out at 82–75.
Roy finished with 27 points to lead the Cowboys. Kanye Clary added 23. Curry and Coleman each contributed 16. On another day, those numbers win a lot of games. But Houston found a way.
Context and What’s Next
This was Houston’s final road game of the regular season, and they won it the hard way — trailing most of the afternoon in a building where they were 2–8 all-time before this run. Kingston Flemings, who had put up 21 points and seven assists in Wednesday’s senior night win over Baylor, was solid throughout Saturday as well alongside Sharp, Uzan, and Chris Cenac Jr.
The Cougars enter the Big 12 Tournament as the No. 2 seed and will open play Thursday in quarterfinal action. The bracket and opponent are set. Houston finished the regular season 26–5.
March is here. The Cougars are ready.