Well, the Big 12 conference really needed that win. And congratulations to the Houston Cougars

heading to the final four for the first time in four years. And for the Big 12, first time the

conference finds itself in the final four since 2022. Welcome in. I'm Pete Mundo. We are Heartland College Sports. We cover the Big 12.

So obviously an exciting week for us with a final four to celebrate. We have not had that for

the last couple of seasons despite some high expectations. And the Big 12 desperately needed this as a conference hit that like and

thumbs up button on the video same thing on the podcast drop us that five star rating and

review we appreciate you guys being here as always as a part of the show so Houston takes

down Tennessee on Sunday in the Elite 8.

And I'll tell you what, I was nervous going into the game,

especially based off of how Houston played against Purdue.

But to their credit, they were lights out.

They were up 29 to 8 with four minutes to go in the first half. Tennessee scored 15 points.

That is the fewest points in an NCAA tournament game in the first half for any number one or number two seed in any round.

It was a historically bad first half for Tennessee, but you got a credit.

Houston had a very good game plan, especially defensively, and they locked it down from deep.

Tennessee only shot 5 of 29, 17% from 3-point range, and that was really what did Tennessee and in this game and led Houston to a very impressive

victory.

And the Big 12, getting this win over an SEC team to prevent three SEC teams from being

in the final four, that is enormous.

Absolutely enormous. I cannot overstate that enough how big of a deal

this is. If Tennessee had won this game and we had three SEC teams in the final four,

first off, we'd all want to blow our brains out. ESPN would forget about the

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