College basketball rankings: Houston survives test vs. Auburn, hangs on to No. 2 in Top 25 And 1
The Cougars and Tigers went down to the wire Sunday
By
Gary Parrish
•
2 min read
Houston has registered a top-10 defense in each of the past five years. Last season, the Cougars ranked first in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to BartTorvik.com. So there's a lot of evidence to suggest that if you ever need multiple stops in the final seconds of a one-point game to secure a victory, having five dudes in Cougars jerseys is probably your best bet.
It certainly was Sunday.
Final score: Houston 73, Auburn 72.
Steven Pearl's Tigers actually had three different opportunities to take the lead in the final 15 seconds. The first two were shots, both from Tahaad Pettiford, both of which were blocked. The last opportunity was an inbounds pass that was broken up at the buzzer, allowing the Cougars to escape with a nice non-league victory away from home in their first contest this season against a top-100 team.
"I'm glad we won," said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson. "But I don't know if I'd feel any differently about where this team can be even if we had lost."
Translation: Sampson knows, once again, that he has a team capable of winning a third straight Big 12 title and first national championship. The culture at Houston is just so strong, and perhaps the best example of such came in those final 15 seconds against Auburn.
With starting bigs Chris Cenac Jr. and Joseph Tugler fouled-out, the Cougars, as previously noted, ended up needing three stops in the final 15 seconds to win.
They got them.
The first stop came courtesy of a block from Kingston Flemings. The second stop came courtesy of a block from Kalifa Sakho. Worth noting: Flemings is a freshman and Sakho is a transfer from Sam Houston State. Neither was on Houston's team that played in the title game of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. But, just four games into their Houston careers, they were out there on the court, on a big stage, against a ranked team from the SEC, making game-saving plays, one after another, as men in Houston uniforms tend to do since Sampson rebuilt this program into one of the sport's best.
Houston remains No. 2 in Monday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Purdue is No. 1 for the ninth consecutive day. Next up for the Cougars is Thursday's game against Rider. After that, they'll travel for the Players Era Men's Championship in Las Vegas, where they'll meet Syracuse next Monday and Tennessee next Tuesday.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Trey Kaufman-Renn finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds in Sunday's 97-79 win over Akron. The Boilermakers' next game is Thursday against Memphis. | -- | 4-0 |
| 2 |  | Kingston Flemings finished with 22 points and seven assists in Sunday's 73-72 win over Auburn. The Cougars' next game is Thursday against Rider. | -- | 4-0 |
| 3 |  | Tarris Reed Jr. finished with 21 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's 86-84 win over BYU. The Huskies' next game is Wednesday against Arizona. | -- | 4-0 |
| 4 |  | Mihailo Boskovic was 2-of-8 from the field in Saturday's 86-84 loss to UConn. The Cougars' next game is Friday against Wisconsin. | -- | 3-1 |
| 5 |  | Anthony Dell'Orso finished with 20 points and three assists in Friday's 69-65 win over UCLA. The Wildcats' next game is Wednesday at UConn. | -- | 4-0 |
| 6 |  | Alex Condon finished with 19 points and seven rebounds in Sunday's 82-68 win over Miami. The Gators' next game is Friday against Merrimack. | -- | 3-1 |
| 7 |  | Yaxel Lendeborg finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds in Friday's 67-63 in over TCU. The Wolverines' next game is Wednesday against Middle Tennessee. | -- | 3-0 |
| 8 |  | Cameron Boozer finished with 35 points and 12 rebounds in Friday's 100-62 win over Indiana State. The Blue Devils' next game is Tuesday against Kansas. | -- | 4-0 |
| 9 |  | Ryan Conwell finished with 22 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 106-81 win over Ohio. The Cardinals' next game is Friday against Cincinnati. | -- | 4-0 |
| 10 |  | Latrell Wrightsell was 2-of-9 from the field in Thursday's 87-80 loss to Purdue. The Crimson Tide's next game is Wednesday against Illinois. | -- | 2-1 |
| 11 |  | Bryce Hopkins finished with 15 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 93-60 win over William & Mary. The Red Storm's next game is Thursday against Bucknell. | -- | 2-1 |
| 12 |  | David Mirkovic finished with 27 points and 21 rebounds in Friday's 84-65 win over Colgate. The Illini's next game is Wednesday against Alabama. | -- | 4-0 |
| 13 |  | Tamin Lipsey finished with 25 points and six assists in Monday's 96-80 win over Mississippi State. The Cyclones' next game is Monday against Stonehill. | -- | 4-0 |
| 14 |  | Graham Ike finished with 20 points and nine rebounds in Friday's 77-65 win over Arizona State. The Zags' next game is Monday at Southern Utah. | -- | 5-0 |
| 15 |  | Christian Anderson finished with 18 points and seven assists in Friday's 80-63 win over Milwaukee. The Red Raiders' next game is Thursday against Wake Forest. | -- | 3-1 |
| 16 |  | Skyy Clark was 3 of 11 from the field on Friday's 69-65 loss to Arizona. The Bruins' next game is Tuesday against Sacramento State. | -- | 3-1 |
| 17 |  | Mouhamed Dioubate finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds in Friday's 99-53 win over Eastern Illinois. The Wildcats' next game is Tuesday against Michigan State. | -- | 3-1 |
| 18 |  | Carson Cooper finished with 17 points and four steals in Thursday's 79-60 win over San Jose State. The Spartans' next game is Tuesday against Kentucky. | -- | 3-0 |
| 19 |  | Jackson Shelstad finished with 22 points and eight assists in Wednesday's 83-69 win over South Dakota State. The Ducks' next game is Monday against Oregon State. | -- | 4-0 |
| 20 |  | Darius Acuff Jr. finished with 20 points and five assists in Friday's 79-75 in over Samford. The Razorbacks' next game is Tuesday against Winthrop. | -- | 3-1 |
| 21 |  | Caleb Wilson finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds in Friday's 97-53 win over North Carolina Central. The Tar Heels' next game is Tuesday against Navy. | -- | 4-0 |
| 22 |  | Flory Bidunga finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds in Friday's 76-57 win over Princeton. The Jayhawks' next game is Tuesday against Duke. | -- | 3-1 |
| 23 |  | Nate Ament finished with 19 points and nine rebounds in Wednesday's 99-66 win over North Florida. The Vols' next game is Monday against Rice. | -- | 4-0 |
| 24 |  | Keyshawn Hall missed 10 of the 16 shots he attempted in Sunday's 73-72 loss to Houston. The Tigers' next game is Wednesday against Jackson State. | -- | 3-1 |
| 25 |  | Nolan Winter finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's 86-55 win over Ball State. The Badgers' next game is Monday against SIUE. | -- | 4-0 |
| 26 |  | AJ Storr finished with 14 points and two steals in Friday's 82-60 win over Cal State Bakersfield. The Rebels' next game is Tuesday against Austin Peay. | -- | 4-0 |
