UH falls on Haws’ shot at buzzer
An uphill climb the entire game for the University of Houston came down to the final second Friday night.
And one bounce.
TJ Haws’ 17-foot jumper hit off the front of the rim and fell in at the buzzer, sending BYU to a stunning 72-71 win over UH before a sellout crowd of 7,035 at Fertitta Center.
“One millimeter, one way or another, and we sneak out of here with a game we win that we probably didn’t deserve to,” UH coach Kelvin Sampson said.
It was that type of edge-of-your-seat finish for UH, which wiped out a 14-point deficit and went ahead 71-70 on a pair of free throws by Caleb Mills with 85 seconds left.
UH (1-1) appeared to lock up the game when Nate Hinton stole an in-bound pass and took off for a breakaway dunk. Officials, however, called a carry on the play, and BYU had one last chance with 5.1 seconds.
“I was hoping he would just dribble it out,” Sampson said.
“We didn’t need a basket. We just needed to dribble it out. They were going to have to foul.
“If I was going down a dark alley on this team the one guy I would take with me is Nate Hinton. I would go to war with that kid any day. I love that kid. He plays his heart out. Can he make better decisions? Of course he can. He’ll get better at that.”
On the final play, Haws took the in-bounds pass, drove nearly the length of the floor and — defended by Quentin Grimes — sank the game-winner from the right wing to send UH to just the second loss in 19 games since Fertitta Center opened last December.
Playing in just his second collegiate game, Mills provided a lift off the bench with a game-high 17 points, nine coming in the final six minutes.
“That he can score. He’s dependable,” Sampson said of the decision to stick with Mills down the stretch.
Fabian White Jr. added 14 points and five rebounds, and DeJon Jarreau and Quentin Grimes finished with 10 points apiece.
Alex Barcello led BYU (3-1) with 16 points. Kolby
Lee and Jake Toolson each had 14 points. Toolson was 4-of-4 from beyond the 3point arc.
UH began its comeback late in the second half, closing within 67-65 on a pair of 3-pointers by Mills and Cedrick Alley Jr. with less than three minutes left. Grimes tied the game with a jumper, only for Toolson to push the lead back to 70-67.
“Every time we made any kind of little mistake, he made us pay for it,” Sampson said of Toolson.
Mills, a redshirt freshman, made a short-range jumper and pair of free throws to give UH its first lead since the opening minutes.
Cold shooting early doomed UH, which missed several point-blank layups and went 2-of-11 on 3s in the first half.
UH went without a field goal for the final 3 minutes, 41 seconds of the first half. BYU was equally inept, going scoreless for the final 4:05 to lead 35-28.
“Early in the game, we had so many wide-open looks. So many wide-open looks,” Sampson said. “When you aren’t great shooters, you need a couple of those balls to go in. You need to see it go in to give you a little confidence.
“Every time we climbed a hill and get right there, we make another mistake. So many mistakes.”
Before the start of the season, Sampson warned his youthful roster was full of potential but would experience growing pains as UH replaced four starters from a veteran group that won 33 games and reached the Sweet 16 last season.
While UH features only one senior on the roster, BYU rolled out a lineup that included four senior starters.
“You could tell at times tonight that it looked like men against boys,” Sampson said. “Not in terms of anything physically, but just experience with how old they are and how young we are.”