#5/5 Men’s Basketball Opens Big 12 Tournament with Win Over BYU

Thursday, March 12

T-Mobile Center – Kansas City, Mo.

6 p.m.

University of Houston

27-5,14-4Big 12

BYU

23-11,9-9Big 12

BYU

Houston

Milos Uzan drives the basketball while being guarded

Photo by: USA Today Sports Images

#5/5 Men’s Basketball Opens Big 12 Tournament with Win Over BYU

3/12/2026 11:38:00 AM | Men's Basketball

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Four players score in doubles figures as Houston bests BYU, 73-66 in Big 12 Quarterfinals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The #5 University of Houston Men's Basketball team punched its ticket to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Semifinals with a 73-66 win over 10^th seeded BYU inside T-Mobile Center on Thursday evening.

The two teams traded runs over the course of the first half with Houston (27-5) building a 9-point lead at the 8:53 mark. BYU (23-11) chipped away before pushing ahead with 2:14 remaining and eventually stretched its lead to seven after an 8-0 run powered by a pair of 3-pointers from Aleksej Kostic

Graduate center Kalifa Sakho grabbed a rebound and converted the and-one with :03 seconds remaining as Houston went into the locker room trailing 41-37.

The second half saw a similar trend as neither team held more than a 4-point advantage until redshirt freshman guard Chase McCarty found himself wide open and drained a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to six.

BYU's Kostic drained a 3-pointer to cut the deficit in half, but a trey from freshman guard Kingston Flemings and four free throws from senior guard Emanuel Sharp pushed the lead to double figures and sealed the Quarterfinal victory for Houston.

With the win, the Cougars advanced to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament for the third straight season and the eighth consecutive year in any conference.

Flemings finished the night with 17 points followed by 13 points from Sharp, who went 10-for-10 from the charity stripe. Tugler tallied 12 points and eight rebounds while freshman center Chris Cenac registered 10 points and seven rebounds.

AJ Dybantsa led BYU with 26 points and added five rebounds and a pair of assists while guard Robert Wright III finished with 15 points and a game-high five assists.

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UP NEXT
• #5/5 (2) Houston will face the winner from #16/14 (3) Kansas-rv/– (6) TCU in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament Semifinals. That game will tip off at 8:30 p.m., Friday, and air on ESPN or ESPN2.
• #16/14 (3) Kansas-rv/– (6) TCU tipped off at 8:30 p.m., Thursday, in the final Quarterfinal matchup of the day.
• All Houston Men's Basketball games can be heard on 950 AM KPRC, the Varsity Network app and Sirius XM Radio.

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