Tennessee vs. Houston: Box score, stats, game summary and more ft. LJ Cryer

Two of the top defensive teams in college basketball met Midwest Regional final. Top-seeded Houston took a big lead early and held on late to best No. 2 seed Tennessee in a 69-50 win. The Cougars now advance to the Final Four and will face fellow No. 1 seed Duke on Saturday.

Tennessee vs. Houston Box Score

Tennessee

Player	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF
F. Okpara	4	9	1	0	2	0	2
I. Milicic Jr.	2	5	1	0	0	2	0
Z. Zeigler	5	1	5	0	0	4	1
C. Lanier	17	7	1	0	0	1	2
J. Mashack	4	5	1	2	0	2	3
C. Phillips	0	3	0	0	0	0	1
C. Duncan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
G. Paull	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
B. Boswell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
J. Gainey	17	3	2	1	0	0	0
G. Hurst	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
D. Dubar	1	1	1	0	0	0	0

Houston

Player	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF
J. Tugler	6	9	2	0	0	0	1
J. Roberts	9	2	1	2	1	0	4
M. Uzan	6	3	3	1	0	1	2
E. Sharp	16	2	1	1	0	0	4
LJ Cryer	17	7	4	1	0	0	2
J. Francis	4	8	0	1	2	1	1
C. Lath	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
T. Arcenaux	8	2	0	0	0	0	0
K. Jefferson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
M. Miller	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
M. Wilson	3	7	4	1	1	1	2

Tennessee vs. Houston Game Summary

Tennessee was ice cold in the game's opening half. Houston scored the first four points and grabbed a quick 9-2 lead. The Cougars pushed their advantage to 17-4 on an Emmanuel Sharp jumper with 11:10 to play in the half.

As Tennessee continued to struggle, Houston poured on its advantage. The Cougars took a 22-6 lead on a Terrance Arcenaux 3-pointer with 8:25 left in the half.

Houston stretched the lead to 29-8 on an LJ Cryer jumper with 4:00 left in the first half before Tennessee finally reached double figures. The Vols trailed 34-15 at halftime.

While Tennessee's offense did warm up in the second half, Houston had built too much of a lead to overcome. The Vols trimmed the lead to 50-40 on a Darlinstone Dubar free throw with 5:42 to play. But after Dubar missed the second free throw, Emanuel Sharp answered with a 3-pointer and Houston never looked back.

The Cougars were led by 17 points and seven rebounds from LJ Cryer. Emanuel Sharp added 16 points, including 4-for-10 3-point shooting.

Tennessee was paced by Jordan Gainey, who had 17 points off the bench. Chaz Lanier also tallied 17 points, but shot just 4-for-18 for the game.

Houston made 9-for-25 3-point attempts (36%) while outrebounding UT 42-35. That enabled the Cougars to outlast UT despite shooting just four free throws. The Vols shot 29% overall, including 5-for-29 (17%) from 3-point range.

The Cougars have reached the seventh Final Four in program history. The Cougars made that level under Kelvin Sampson in 2021.