No. 8 Houston pulls away late to hand No. 16 BYU fourth straight loss, 77-66

JOHN COONSun, February 8, 2026 at 6:09 AM UTC

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1 / 0Houston BYU BasketballHouston guard Kingston Flemings (4) looks for the play against BYU during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, in Provo, Utah. (AP Photo/Rob Gray) ()

PROVO, Utah (AP) — Kingston Flemings scored 11 of his 19 points in the second half to help No. 8 Houston beat No. 16 BYU 77-66 on Saturday night.

Chris Cenac, Jr. added 16 points and Emanuel Sharp had 14 for Houston (21-2, 9-1 Big 12), which has won four in a row to stay within a game of No. 1 Arizona in the Big 12 standings. The Cougars shot 50% from the field after halftime.

AJ Dybantsa scored 28 points and Rob Wright III added 17 for the Cougars (17-6, 5-5), who dropped their fourth straight game.

BYU got Houston into the bonus quickly in the second half, but shot just 16 of 28 from the free-throw line.

Flemings made four baskets to power a 14-5 run that put Houston up 68-59 with 3:06 left. The visiting Cougars scored three second-chance baskets during the run to gradually pull away from BYU.

Houston used efficient offense and stifling interior defense to build a double-digit lead before halftime.

After Richie Saunders and Wright made back-to-back 3s to help pull BYU within one, Houston countered with a 9-0 spurt to extend its lead to 28-18. Flemings bookended the run with a pair of baskets.

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Dybantsa bookended a run of four straight baskets and added four free throws to help BYU trim the deficit to single digits before halftime. His driving layup that sparked the run ended a scoring drought lasting 4:44 for the Cougars.

Back-to-back baskets from Wright capped a 14-4 run that put BYU up 51-48 early in the second half.

Up next

Houston: at Utah on Tuesday.

BYU: at Baylor on Tuesday.

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Source: “AOL Sports”