(Photo credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images)

Houston is coming off its first close game of the season and now looks to remain unbeaten when it hosts Rider on Thursday night.

The No. 2 Cougars (4-0) made some late defensive stops while squeezing out a 73-72 win over then-No. 22 Auburn in Birmingham, Ala., on Sunday.

Freshman point guard Kingston Flemings continued his strong start with 22 points, seven assists and five rebounds. The scoring output was his best in four college games.

Flemings is averaging 17.3 points and 5.3 assists while sinking 69.2% (27 of 39) of his field-goal attempts.

Asked about the recruitment of Flemings, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson didn't provide any deep insight.

'We knew we needed a point, so we were specifically looking for a point guard,' Sampson told reporters. 'And when we saw him, we liked him.'

Another sparkling freshman is big man Chris Cenac Jr., who had a season-best 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting against Auburn. He also grabbed nine rebounds to narrowly miss his third double-digit outing on the boards.

Cenac is averaging 10.8 points and a team-leading nine rebounds per game.

Flemings and Cenac are excelling for young players who were in high school 12 months ago, but Sampson aimed to shut down any chatter about the duo being ahead of schedule.

'We don't think where guys will be at any point of the season,' Sampson said. 'I coach our teams. I thought our team would be a little bit better defensively.

'Both those guys are still adjusting to college. I can tell by the line of questioning that you guys are setting them up (for future criticism).'

Senior guard Emanuel Sharp had 13 points against Auburn but made just 5 of 15 shots. He's second on the team with a 16.3 scoring average.

Another senior guard, Milos Uzan, is averaging 9.3 points but is shooting just 29.2% from the field.

Rider (1-3) was pounded 99-65 by Texas on Tuesday night in Austin in the first outing of the two-game trip.

Flash Burton scored 16 points for the Broncs, who struggled to match up with the athletic Longhorns. Texas held a 34-4 advantage in fast-break points and a 42-8 edge in points in the paint.

Burton averages a team-best 14 points but is just 4 of 18 from 3-point range. Zion Cruz is second in scoring at 10.5 per game and has made 4 of 16 from behind the arc. Overall, Rider is shooting 23.2% (16 of 69) from long distance.

Playing back-to-back at Texas and Houston is all about the money, according to 14th-year coach Kevin Baggett.

The two-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Coach of the Year stands behind the strategy at a New Jersey university that recently announced it was cutting employee pay by 14% and reducing faculty by 25%.

'For all those people who call for my head, in all honesty, since this pandemic, I've been asked to play some of these games and I've also gone and volunteered to play some of these games for us to be able to raise money,' Baggett told The Trentonian. 'It doesn't help our record by no means, but, at the end of the day, whatever I can do to help the university I'll do.

'But it doesn't feel good when you're sitting at those games. It's been a little bit tough and sometimes when you play those games it's hard to get your team back for a minute until you get guys' confidence back. Those are the things I worry about.'

--Field Level Media