After taking down the best team in the country, they'll head to face Villanova

The Houston Cougars have earned a spot in the Elite 8 after pulling off an upset many thought wouldn't happen. However, their defense and rebounding led them to a win over the Arizona Wildcats.

Head Coach for Arizona, Tommy Lloyd, mentioned the Cougars' effort and energy on defense was "almost unmatched." The Cougars never fell behind through the entire game and came away with a 72-60 win. 

Lloyd went on to say, "You're better served if you play them a couple times. They do the things they're good at [sic] such a high level. It's hard to get comfortable the first time around. You can try to tell your guys what's coming, but they actually have a lot better feel for it actually having experienced it."

Leading the Cougars in scoring was Jamal Shead with 21 points and six assists. Kyler Edwards hit five three-pointers and amassed 19 points for the game. The Arizona players had a much tougher go, Azuolas Tubelis went 0-for-8 from the field and Christian Koloko went 2-for-6. 

Head Coach, Kelvin Sampson said: "Victories don't come with asterisks. It's not a beauty contest," Sampson said. "I watched Arizona play. I watched them play UCLA. I watched them play Colorado."

He continued: "I watched the way those teams guarded them, and I knew we weren't going to guard them like those teams did. Those teams just switched them. They let them be comfortable. We were going to make them uncomfortable. It's what we do."

After this victory, Houston is one game away from going to the Final Four for the second straight year. They'll play Villanova on Saturday afternoon with tip-off set for 3:09 pm.