Sixth-ranked Houston led from start to finish against Notre Dame, as the Cougars rebounded from a Tuesday loss to No. 9 Alabama to get a 65-54 win over the Fighting Irish late Wednesday at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.
Emanuel Sharp’s 17 points led the Cougars (4-2), who got 13 points from Terrance Arceneaux plus 10 points and nine assists from Milos Uzan.
Tae Davis finished with 22 points and eight rebounds for the Fighting Irish (4-3). Braeden Shrewsberry added 16 points.
Notre Dame is 0-2 in Las Vegas this week and will play Creighton, which has also lost twice in the Players Era event, for seventh place of eight teams on Saturday morning. Houston is 1-1 and will play San Diego State for third place.
Houston went ahead by 10 early in the second half, but Notre Dame closed the deficit to 45-44 thanks to a hot start to the half for Shrewsberry, who hit three 3-pointers and another basket. Davis made a layup with 13:41 to play to cut Houston’s lead to one.
The Cougars later went almost four minutes without scoring a point, but Notre Dame couldn’t take advantage. The drought ended on a shot from L.J. Cryer, which gave Houston a 52-45 lead at the 7:14 mark.
J’Wan Roberts drove to the basket for a layup, giving the Cougars a 56-47 lead with 3:52 left. The clinching basket came from Sharp, who banked in a 3-pointer from well beyond the arc as the shot clock ticked down for a 59-49 Houston lead with 1:43 to go.
The Irish got only as close as seven points behind after that.
Notre Dame did get some good news before the Wednesday game. Leading scorer Markus Burton, who sustained a knee injury early in the Irish’ overtime loss to Rutgers on Tuesday, is expected to return this season.
Burton is due for an MRI when the Irish get back to Indiana from Las Vegas. He watched from the bench wearing a leg brace on Wednesday.
Arceneaux made all six of his first-half shot attempts, including back-to-back jumpers to give the Cougars a 27-18 lead. He made another jump shot with eight seconds to play in the half to give Houston a 39-31 lead at the break.
–Field Level Media
