Well, that was certainly very interesting. Who of us had Houston jumping out to a 17 point, Oregon State coming all the way back to tie the game with 4 minutes left, just to watch Houston win in the final 4 minutes.

You have to give the Beavers an amazing amount of credit for coming back from down 17 points. But on the next possession after Gianni Hunt’s three-pointer tied the game at 55, Quentin Grimes drilled a three-pointer to answer and give the Cougars back the lead. That was the last time Houston would score from the field. But they would get 9 more points from the line to seal the game.

Part of the reason for that is the Cougars amazing ability to get offensive rebounds. After Oregon State’s Ethan Thompson hit a free throw to make it a two point game, Houston’s Grimes missed a three-pointer but Fabian White got the offensive rebound. Then, DeJon Jarreau missed a three-pointer, only for Grimes to chase the ball down in the corner and get fouled. He would hit both free throws to increase the lead to 4.

After their strong defense caused the Beavers to miss a three-pointer, they had a similar sequence where Grimes missed a jumper just for Justin Gorham to get the offensive rebound. Then, Gorham missed his shot just for Fabian White Jr to get the offensive rebound and get fouled. He missed the free throw, but it wouldn’t matter.

Once again, Houston’s strong defense forced a missed three-pointer, they would get the ball to Gorham near the basket where he would get fouled. This time, he would only hit one of the free throws to make it a 5 point game.

With under a minute to play, Oregon State desperately needed a basket, but unfortunately, Ethan Thompson would trip and get tied up by the Houston defense. And at this point, it turned into the classic foul to extend the game. Houston hit their free throws, and won 67-61.

I was really impressed in the Syracuse game about their defense – holding the Orange to 46 points. But their offensive rebounding ability is equally impressive. The Cougars got 19 offensive rebounds in this game – and many of those offensive rebounds led to Houston eventually scoring.

Congratulations to the Houston Cougars! They were the champions of the American Athletic Conference Tournament, and now they are the first team to be playing in the Final Four!