UH falls short in NIT; Rice stays alive
After a 78-75 loss to Akron in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament, University of Houston players and coaches gathered in a circle in an emotional locker room.
“A lot of tears back there,” UH coach Kelvin Sampson said. “For different reasons: Some because we lost, some because there is no tomorrow.”
With a chance to force overtime, Damyean Dotson’s high-arching shot hit the front of the rim at the buzzer, sending the No. 2 seed Cougars to a quick exit from the NIT for the second year in a row.
Akron (27-8), the No. 7 seed in the bracket, advances to play the winner of Wednesday night’s late game between BYU and UT-Arlington.
Long before Dotson’s final shot, the Cougars had plenty of opportunities
to pull away in a tightly contested game at Texas Southern’s H&PE Arena. The Cougars missed three layups, a wide-open jumper and two free throws in the second half.
There were 15 lead changes and 12 ties in the second half. UH (21-11) matched its biggest lead of the game, 65-59, on backto-back 3s by Dotson and a dunk by Bert Nkali with 6:30 remaining. .
“Shows how close this stuff is and how easy it can slip away sometime,” Sampson said.
Akron’s Noah Robotham hit a pair of free throws, part of five consecutive points that pulled the Zips back in the game. During the stretch, the Cougars missed all three field-goal attempts and went nearly three minutes without scoring.
Dotson, one of five seniors on the UH roster, finished with 19 points on 6 of 13 shooting and added six rebounds in his final game. He became the 47th player in school history to reach 1,000 points in his UH career.
“He was a godsend for this program,” Sampson said. “He came about at the right time.”
Rob Gray added a gamehigh 24 points on 9 of 16 shooting for the Cougars. On one critical possession with 24 seconds left and the Cougars down 7473, Gray drove inside and passed underneath, where the ball was deflected for a turnover.
Gray followed with a quick layup, and again the Cougars had to foul to stop the clock.
Akron made 7 of 8 free throws in the final 1½ minutes, and 23 of 30 for the game.
Johnson, Akron’s 6-10, 290-pound center, had 21 points while being doubleteamed by a rotation that included Nkali, Kyle Meyer and Devin Davis. Davis, who missed seven weeks with a foot injury, finished with 10 points and seven rebounds in 31 minutes before fouling out with 1:22 left.
After Robotham’s free throws gave Akron a 78-75 lead, UH dribbled into the half court and called timeout.
On the in-bounds, Robinson took the ball before passing to Dotson, who put up a high-arching NBA-range 3-pointer just over the 6-10 Johnson’s outstretched arms.
“At the end of the game, you’re not going to get a wide-open shot,” Sampson said. “You just have to get the ball to your guy that has the best chance to get a makeable 3. Even though that was a hard shot, that’s a makeable 3 for him.” It missed. And just like that, the Cougars head into an offseason once again looking to get over the hump and end an NCAA Tournament drought now at seven years.
The signs of progress continue with back-toback 20-win seasons and NIT appearances. But af- ter coming up short, the emotions consumed the locker room minutes after the game.
“That’s the hardest part,” Davis said. “It really hits you when you hear your seniors say good bye after a loss.”