NCAA Men’s March Madness live updates and Sweet 16 results: Alabama, Illinois, Clemson, UConn advance to Elite Eight

Early in the second half of Houston’s first-round game against Longwood, the No. 16 seed Lancers crisply rotated the ball around the perimeter and found guard DA Houston, who drained a 3-pointer from the wing, just barely over the outstretched arm of Houston defender Mylik Wilson. As both teams raced to the other end of the floor, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson ripped into Wilson with full-throated rage.

“You gotta get out there, that’s an emergency!” Sampson growled from the sideline.

The Longwood bucket cut Houston’s lead to 29 points.

“I was like, damn, I thought he was out there,” chuckled Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich after the game, an easy 86-46 Houston victory. “The pace at which they play is really remarkable. You just don’t get an open shot. They’re not going to let anything be easy.”

The Cougars did to Longwood what a No. 1 seed is supposed to do, dominating the Big South tournament champions from the opening tip. But what stood out is what often does for Houston, which overwhelmed Longwood not by leaning on superior talent or shot-making ability, but rather a defensive physicality that flattened the Lancers into submission.

“I thought we were broke,” Aldrich said. “We couldn’t get an easy look on the offensive end, then we’re turning it over. And then you dip with your defensive intensity, and then you’re a little sloppy on a switch, you’re late on a closeout. And bang, 10 (points) goes to 20 (points) pretty quickly.”

That is what Houston men’s basketball has become under Sampson, a team that defends relentlessly and bullies opponents, and is now on its way to a fifth straight Sweet 16 appearance after a dramatic second-round win over Texas A&M. The program might not get the same national shine as the traditional blue bloods, but by any relevant metric or statistic, it has emerged as one of the best in all of college hoops. Houston’s 125 wins over the past four seasons is the most of any Division I school, a level of consistency that has now carried over from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12, where the Cougars won the regular season title their first year in the league .

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