The (defensive) Game of the Year

Good morning! Just one football game left this season. You may as well start brushing up on your March Madness research now.

Let’s dive in.

1. The crazy odds of Houston’s rally vs. Kansas

How improbable was Houston’s 92-86 double overtime win Saturday at Kansas? You haven’t seen anything like it between AP top 25 teams in the last 15 years and nearly 1,500 games. The scenario:

• Dajuan Harris — a career 72% free-throw shooter — missed two FTs with 18 seconds left.

• Houston’s Emanuel Sharp hit a deep 3-pointer that cut Kansas’ lead to three points with less than eight seconds remaining.

• Kansas couldn’t inbound the ball, called timeout, then committed a turnover — Houston’s first pressing TO of the season — that allowed Mylik Wilson (who had 18 points off the bench) to hit the game-tying 3 with two seconds left.

And that sequence was after No. 12 Kansas (14-5, 5-3 in Big 12) frittered away a four-point lead in the final 18 seconds of regulation (which included another failed inbounds). It was a remarkable show of resiliency from No. 7 Houston (which got smashed in its trip to Lawrence last year) to win at Allen Fieldhouse where Bill Self has won 95% of his games.

The victory maintained Houston’s 17-game league win streak, and gave the Coogs (16-3, 8-0) their first OT win of the season. After failing to close out Auburn in Nov., and losing a couple OT games at the Players Era Festival, this was just what Houston needed.

Any validation would be for AP voters. Advanced metrics placed Houston alongside Auburn and Duke as the season’s elite teams for most of the year. The remaining schedule still has tall orders — trips to West Virginia, Arizona, Texas Tech and Baylor among them — but they’re clearly in the driver’s seat for back-to-back Big 12 titles and to boost their case for a 1 or 2 seed.

As for Kansas, the loss will sting for a while, but it did provide a glimpse of the shooting Rylan Griffen can provide (he hit 5-of-6 beyond the arc, including two that in most cases would’ve been game-clinchers) and the continued growth of freshman Flory Bidunga.

He scored a team-high 19 points, grabbed seven rebounds and provided much-needed interior help for Hunter Dickinson. Sampson called him “a monster.” How his playing time meshes with Dickinson and KJ Adams (still out with a shoulder injury) will be a good problem for Self to have.

2. Texas’ comeback, Vandy’s upset, UNC’s escape and more

Houston had the most unlikely rally on Saturday. But it wasn’t the most impressive. That would be Texas’ 70-69 victory vs. No. 13 Texas A&M.

Subscribe to Premium to read the rest.