Kansas withstood a strong opening to the second half from Houston and looked to be on its way to a big win after a strong second half stretch from Flory Bidunga.The Jayhawks collapsed in the final minute of the second half, allowing six straight points and sending the game to overtime.

The Jayhawks collapsed again, leading by six points with under 30 seconds to play in overtime. Emanuel Sharp and Mylik Wilson hit consecutive threes as Kansas blew it again, sending the game to double-overtime.

Bidunga fouled out at the start of triple overtime, and the Jayhawks couldn’t rebound from a pair of meltdowns that extended the game. Houston held on and eventually knocked off Kansas 92-86 in double overtime at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday.

Rylan Griffen had a strong stretch in overtime, finishing with 17 points on 5/6 from three. Bidunga powered Kansas through a majority of the game, scoring a career-high 19. Hunter Dickinson added 17 points, but it wasn’t enough.

J’Wan Roberts willed Houston to victory in overtime, scoring nine points in the extra period and finishing with a game high 24.

First half

Baskets were hard to come by in the early going, with both teams attempting to establish a defensive mindset. Emanuel Sharp went to the bench early after tweaking his ankle, and the Jayhawks took a 7-5 lead heading into the under-16 timeout after two buckets from Hunter Dickinson.

Kansas built a lead after a pair of momentum-shifting plays by Zeke Mayo. He drew his defender in the air with a nice shot fake for a bucket then hit a corner three as part of a quick 7-0 run to give the Jayhawks a 14-7 lead.

However, Houston responded immediately as its bigs started to get going. JoJo Tugler threw down a pair of dunks and J’Wan Roberts hit two floaters to put the Cougars on top. Kansas had a stretch of rushed shots, resulting in an 0/4 stretch from the floor.

Shakeel Moore hit a fastbreak three to break the drought, followed by a layup from Dickinson. Kansas led 19-15 after the 5-0 spurt, and Kelvin Sampson was forced to call a timeout.

Dajuan Harris extended the Jayhawks’ lead to 22-15 while both teams struggled to score at times. Houston went on an extended drought, missing nine straight shots and being held scoreless for over four minutes.

Kansas had a possession where it emulated Houston’s identity perfectly. The Jayhawks pulled down two offensive rebounds which resulted in a Rylan Griffen three. Harris added another three, and Kansas led 28-20.

However, the Cougars started to heat up on the offensive end to inch back into the game. Mylik Wilson knocked down a pair of shots, and Milos Uzan hit a tough three as part of a 12-5 run to cut the Jayhawks’ lead to 30-27 at the under-four timeout.

Wilson continued to propel Houston’s offense, knocking down a pair of tough twos to cut it to a one-point game. Harris responded with an intuitive steal and layup to put the Jayhawks up five with a minute left. Flory Bidunga had a putback layup at the buzzer to give Kansas a 38-31 lead going into halftime.

Second half

Bidunga opened the second half by being in the right place to dunk a loose ball, but the Jayhawks couldn’t get any offense going after that. Houston went on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 40-40 after a four-minute Kansas scoring drought where it missed seven straight shots.

Mayo snapped a 13-0 run with a tough two, but Houston continued to dominate the early stretches of the second half. The Jayhawks looked like they were unraveling as the Cougars led 48-42 with 11:44 to play.

The Jayhawks showed their resilience through a big stretch from freshman Flory Bidunga. He scored six points on an 8-0 run to put Kansas back on top. The Jayhawks hounded the defensive end, and Houston missed opportunities from the free throw line as part of a three minute scoreless stretch.

Bidunga lit the crowd on fire again, throwing down a lob from Dickinson on a nice set play. Houston went on a stretch of eight straight missed free throws as the Jayhawks led 52-48 at the under-8 timeout.

Shots from Tugler and Roberts cut Kansas’ lead to just two, but the Jayhawks had an instant response. Bidunga found Dickinson in a two-man game down low, resulting in an and-one opportunity and putting Kansas ahead 60-56 at the under-four timeout.

Roberts delivered another clutch basket, converting a tough and-one over Dickinson to make it a one-point game. Griffen instantly responded with a three from the corner to give Kansas a 64-60 lead with just over two minutes to play. Kansas got a stop, and Bidunga gave the Jayhawks cushion with a rim rattling dunk.

Houston responded with four straight points from Milos Uzan, cutting the score to 66-64 with 16.6 to play. Kansas utterly collapsed, committing a five second violation then fouling Roberts. The Cougars had struggled from the line, but Roberts made both to even the score at 66-66. Kansas turned it over and the two teams would play five more minutes.

Overtime

Houston took an early advantage in overtime after a Roberts hook shot. Kansas took the lead back after another clutch shot from Griffen. Roberts immediately evened the game at 71-71 halfway through overtime with another post bucket.

The Cougars went to Roberts again, who got the better of Dickinson down low for yet another clutch shot inside to put Houston ahead 73-72 with 1:45 to play.

Griffen made another big play, this time as a distributor. He drove and dished to Bidunga for a dunk to put the Jayhawks ahead. Griffen came up huge again, nailing a three to give Kansas a 77-73 lead with 51.5 seconds to play.

However, the Jayhawks collapsed again after late turnovers. Emanuel Sharp and Mylik Wilson hit consecutive threes with seven seconds to play to send the game to double overtime.

Double overtime

Bidunga fouled out early in double overtime, which spelled trouble for Kansas. Sharp hit another clutch three to give Houston a 83-79 lead with 3:47 to play. Uzan followed with a three of his own to make it 86-81.

When the game looked lost, Mayo converted an and-one to make it a two-point game with 1:17 to play. Roberts answered, giving the Cougars an 88-84 lead with under a minute left.

Kansas couldn’t catch up to a litany of end-of-game meltdowns as Houston iced a victory in Allen Fieldhouse.