Houston's Ja'Vier Francis (5) grabs a rebound as Colorado's Trevor Baskin, left, defendsduring the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Conference tournament, Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Emanuel Sharpe scored 19 points before fouling out, and No. 2 Houston overcame an injury to veteran forward J'Wan Roberts in the second half to beat Colorado 77-68 on Thursday and advance to the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
LJ Cryer and Milos Uzan added 14 points apiece for the top-seeded Cougars (28-4), who will play No. 17 BYU — the No. 4 seed in the tournament — on Friday night for a spot in their second consecutive championship game.
Houston's postseason run a year ago was derailed by injuries, so it made sense that the bench tensed up when Roberts went down right in front of it with about 18 minutes to go. The Cougars' leading rebounder was helped to the locker room, where he was diagnosed with a right ankle sprain, and Roberts spent the rest of the game watching from the bench.
Andrej Jakimovski had 25 points for the Buffaloes (14-20), who won twice in the Big 12 tourney as its first No. 16 seed to finish a trying season on a high note. Leading scorer Julian Hammond III managed just nine points on 2-for-13 shooting.
The Cougars, who lost in the Big 12 title game to Iowa State last year, have won 11 consecutive games since losing in overtime to Texas Tech on Feb. 1. That streak includes another win over the Buffaloes in early February.
Takeaways
Colorado lost forward Sebastian Rancik to an injury in the first half. And without another body off the bench, the grind of playing three games in three days was evident as Houston wore the Buffaloes down in the second half.
Houston advanced to its seventh straight conference tournament semifinal. It won the American title in 2021 and '22.
Key moment
Colorado closed within 66-58 with 5 1/3 minutes left when Uzan hit a pair of 3-pointers to give the Cougars a cushion.
Key stats
Houston trailed for only 29 seconds in the game.
Up next
The Cougars play BYU in the semifinals. They won their regular-season matchup 86-55 in early January.
Colorado's Julian Hammond III (3) passes as Houston's J'Wan Roberts (13) watches during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Conference tournament, Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Colorado's Javon Ruffin, right, drives around Houston's Mercy Miller (25) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Conference tournament, Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Colorado's Julian Hammond III (3) shoots over Houston's Milos Uzan (7) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Conference tournament, Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Colorado's Julian Hammond III (3) dribbles past Houston's Mylik Wilson (8) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Conference tournament, Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Colorado's Julian Hammond III (3) shoots over Houston's Joseph Tugler (11) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Conference tournament, Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Colorado's Bangot Dak (8) shoots during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Houston in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Conference tournament, Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Colorado's Julian Hammond III, left, heads to the basket as Houston's Emanuel Sharp (21) defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Conference tournament, Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By using our site, you consent to our policies
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
