Three days after Utah faced Kansas on the road at historic Allen Fieldhouse, the Runnin’ Utes were hosting No. 3 Houston at the Huntsman Center on Tuesday night.

Talk about a challenging back-to-back.

Utah had a couple nice little stretches, but ultimately, the Cougars showed exactly why they’re a top-five team.

Houston just doesn’t make too many mistakes, and they force their opponents into a lot, thanks to the tenacious defense the Cougars are known for.

“They do what they do, and they really expose your weakness as a team,” Utah coach Alex Jensen said. “But great crowd tonight, I thought. The student section, they stayed till the end, and I was happy with our guys at the end that kept playing.”

After Houston built a 15-point first-half lead, the Utes’ most impressive stretch of the night made it competitive going into the break.

Utah finished the first half on a 7-1 run to end the first half and was down 34-25 at the break.

Houston, though, put the defensive squeeze on to start the second half, and that carried them to the victory.

The Cougars forced turnovers on Utah’s first three possessions of the second half, and turned each of those takeaways into points.

That 6-0 spurt over the half’s first two minutes reset the tone for Houston (22-2, 10-1 Big 12), and from there, the Cougars never let the Utes (9-15, 1-10 Big 12) challenge them again.

It was the sixth straight loss for Utah.

Houston guard Emanuel Sharp had an outstanding night, from his defense to his 3-point shooting.

Sharp made 6 of 7 from long range over the game’s first 10 and a half minutes, and he hit two more 3-pointers back-to-back in the second half to push the Cougars’ lead to 48-39.

Sharp was the only sharpshooter from 3-point range in the game. Houston as a team was 9 of 26, including 1 of 13 outside of Sharp, while Utah went just 2 of 17.

“A game like tonight, we really focused on rebounding, because that’s where I think they really bury you — they get the ball up, and then they crash two or three guys and just smother you on the boards,” Jensen said.

“He had the six 3s (before halftime), that was the difference in the first half. There were two of them we showed at halftime that were mental errors on our part, not because it was him shooting it, but just we missed an assignment, or we rotated when we didn’t.”

Sharp ended up with 27 points and was the only Houston player to finish with double-digit scoring.

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson praised the senior for his toughness, his defensive work and “his heart and attitude” Tuesday night, which included helping shut down Utah’s leading scorer, Terrence Brown.

“His teams win 30 games every year (at Houston),” Sampson said of Sharp. “It’s not because of his 3s. It’s because of his toughness and his defense and the fact that he can not shoot (and be a contributor) is why we recruited him. His heart and his attitude, it brings that out,” Sampson said.

Brown ended up with 12 points, on 3 of 8 shooting, while also hitting 6 of 8 from the free-throw line.

Brown, who is averaging over 21 points per game, didn’t score his first field goal until two minutes remained in the second half, and seven of his points came in the final seven minutes after Utah had fallen behind by as many as 22 points.

“Terrence came up to me in the handshake line, and I tapped him on his chest. I told him to keep fighting, and that’s important for those kids to keep fighting,” Sampon said. “He said, ‘Man, y’all can guard.’ I said, ‘Y’all can, but the guy who guarded you really can.’”

Houston’s suffocating defense was a deterrent for fellow guard Don McHenry, who had just five points.

The Cougars forced Utah into 13 turnovers and converted those takeaways into 20 points.

“They had a great defensive team, you want to take care of the ball as much as possible. You want to limit your turnovers,” said Utah’s Seydou Traore, who had one of Utah’s best individual stat lines of the night with 12 points, four assists, two rebounds and a steal.

“Thirteen is kind of a lot playing a top 10 team like this, because they can execute off it every time. Gotta take care of the ball.”

The Cougars’ never-ending effort also led to a 12-5 edge in offensive rebounds, which turned into a 12-4 advantage in second-chance points.

“Our margin for error as a team is small, but especially against Houston offensively, it’s going to be that much smaller,” Jensen said, after his team didn’t surpass 10 points in the second half until a Traore 3-pointer with 7:54 to play.

Keanu Dawes had another solid night for the Utes in the loss, finishing with 15 points and eight rebounds. That included 9 early points to help keep Utah in the game through the first 10 minutes.

After facing a pair of back-to-back top 10 programs, the Utes will have a few days’ rest, with their next game coming Sunday at Cincinnati.

There are some things Utah can take away from these games against juggernauts Kansas and Houston, who along with Arizona, sit atop the Big 12 standings.

“That’s my message to the guys, not beating ourselves,” Jensen said. “… I keep saying it, our margin for error is small, but those little things that matter, and we’re getting better at it, but (focus) on the those little things that you can control. You can do it every possession — you might not make shots, but you can talk, which we’re getting better at.

“And we had a couple good defensive possessions, then one guy didn’t block out tonight, but something you can control and do every time. So I think we’re learning that.”

Dawes can see the positives in these matchups as well, as he experiences his second year of Big 12 play.

“This game probably got away from us faster than Kansas. I think it was about like the last eight minutes in Kansas,” Dawes said. “Things got away from us, but for the most part, we can really compete with any team. We just have to put it together for 40 minutes.”

That’s the objective Utah is chasing still, with seven games remaining in the regular season.

Utah was a heavy home underdog facing No. 3 Houston at the Huntsman Center on Tuesday night.

The visiting Cougars lived up to that billing, delivering the Runnin’ Utes a 66-52 loss on their home floor in a game where Houston led by as many as 22.

Here are three takeaways that moved Utah to 9-15 overall and 1-10 in Big 12 play on the year.

Houston’s on-ball defense is scary good

The Cougars went on a 13-2 run in the first half, holding Utah scoreless for five minutes at one point to go up 33-18.

The Utes missed six straight field goals in that run, and Houston bottled up Utah’s leading scorer, Terrence Brown, for most of the half — he ended up with 3 first-half points.

He was 1 of 3 in the half, scoring on a driving layup with 2:07 until the break.

To start the second half, Houston forced turnovers on Utah’s first three possessions, and each led to a Cougars bucket.

Alex Jensen called a timeout to stop the run, but the damage had been done as Houston went back up 40-25 after the Utes ended the first half with a solid stretch.

The Cougars ended up scoring 20 points on 13 Utah turnovers.

Sharp shooting from 3 — and not-so-sharp for Utah

Senior Emanuel Sharp was putting on a 3-point showcase in the Cougars’ win, as he made six first-half 3-pointers, including four straight.

In the second half, he hit back-to-back 3s to push the Houston lead to 48-29.

Sharp ended up making 8 of 13 from 3-point range and finished with a game-high 27 points. The rest of his teammates struggled, as Houston shot 9 of 26 from outside.

It was a tough night for Utah from 3-point range, as the Utes were 2 of 17.

Houston was simply too good outside a couple solid stretches from Utah

The Utes had their best few minutes of the game late in the first half, when the Utes used a 7-1 run to make it 34-25 at the half.

During that stretch, Houston was 0 of 7 from the field and Utah was able to dictate the pace of play on both ends.

The Utes also managed to make it more of an even game after the Cougars scored 19 of the first 25 points in the second half.

But those small stretches of competitiveness against a top-five team weren’t nearly enough for Utah.

Houston ended up shooting 43.3% for the game, and had 12 second-chance points.

The Utes, meanwhile, shot 44.4% as they fought to the end. Keanu Dawes led Utah with 15 points and eight rebounds.

The University of Utah could renovate the Jon M. Huntsman Center instead of building a new arena, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan told the university’s board of trustees in a meeting on Tuesday.

Back in March 2025, the board voted unanimously to allow campus leaders to explore alternative sites for a new sports arena. Now, however, the university could be leaning toward renovating the 56-year-old building instead.

“It’s incredibly historic,” Harlan said. “It’s our home. We have a lot of people that work there, we compete there, but the one thing as we were looking at this over the last year, it just became more and more apparent to me that where we are located is such a great spot, with all the residential halls for the students and our students who compete live right there.

“So really diving into it, if I was to give a tilt in my hat, I think renovation-plus is where my mindset is right now, with a lot more work to do.”

The “renovation-plus” plan for the Huntsman Center could include reducing the arena’s capacity to around 9,000 seats from the current 15,000 and creating a “state of the art arena in its current footprint,” according to a slide deck from Tuesday’s meeting.

A renovated Huntsman Center could include more premium seating, which could increase revenue brought in from each event. The slide deck also listed non-Utah Athletics events that could be held at the venue, such as concerts, comedy shows, expos, conventions and more.

“There’s a need for us to maybe downsize a little bit based on data that we found, create more premium (spaces), but an athletic director’s dream is to be in the middle of that student area where students can just come into games and flood into it,” Harlan said.

Otro Capital, Utah’s private equity partner, could factor into plans for the Huntsman Center, but the decisions will solely be made by the university.

“Decisions about university facilities rest solely with the University and its Board of Trustees. It would be reasonable to expect that Otro and leadership of Utah Brand Initiatives will be consulted and provide expertise on future facility planning,” University of Utah chief of staff to President Taylor Randall Troy D’Ambrosio told the Deseret News last week.

In its current location, the Huntsman Center sits in the middle of Utah’s “College Town Magic” concept — a plan to transform Utah’s current status as a commuter school into a university wherein a significant chunk of students live on campus.

The university has greatly increased the amount of housing available to students in recent years, including constructing residential buildings for students directly to the east of the Huntsman Center.

By next fall, Utah estimates that it will have capacity for 29% of its students to live on campus. That number could grow to 44% or more as the plan moves along.

“College Town Magic” will be around the area of the Huntsman Center, with dorms, retail and dining spaces, community spaces and recreation creating a central hub for the university.

While the hope is that “College Town Magic” will improve the experience for students at the university, the early stages have created some problems with parking for events at the Huntsman Center.

Harlan said that “probably the No. 1 issue” with the Huntsman Center is the parking situation.

The construction of the residential buildings knocked out already scarce parking for fans immediately by the arena. There are parking lots and a parking garage across the street from the Huntsman Center, plus another parking garage adjacent to the area, that are reserved for Crimson Club members with parking passes.

For the rest of the public, free parking is available at Rice-Eccles Stadium next to the TRAX line that takes fans to the Huntsman Center. Fans can also park in the Guardsman Way or Merrill Engineering Building lots and take the free “Runnin’ Utes Express” bus to the stadium.

Utah officials know that it is not an ideal situation, especially if the men’s basketball team improves and attendance grows in the coming years. The gymnastics team already draws large crowds, averaging 11,135 fans this season at home meets, according to roadtonationals.com.

“Mark mentioned that we do need to solve a challenge with getting to the Huntsman Center,” said university chief operating officer Jeff Labrum.

“If you attend events there, it’s difficult to get there, and so this is sort of the analysis that we’ve been working on as to what is the nature of those stalls and where might they be and where might they go?”

Labrum believes that the university can solve the issue “through a mix of parking, whether that be some surface, some structured and potentially even some underground parking.”

The slide deck used in the meeting projected the number of “implied parking stalls needed for College Town Magic” at approximately 2,600.

The board of trustees will vote on a plan for the Huntsman Center on March 10, with successive votes in April and May about other parts of the master plan.