No. 21 Houston, who went into the game first in the American Athletic Conference, dropped its Saturday night road matchup at Cincinnati in an electric Fifth Third Arena.
The Cougars, who are now 17-5 overall and 7-2 in the AAC, fell to the Bearcats after a strong second half from Cincinnati blindsided Houston.
Cincinnati surged into an early 4-0 lead to start the game, a rematch of the 2019 AAC Championship Game that the Bearcats won 69-57.
But the Cougars had an answer by the name of Marcus Sasser.
The freshman guard, who finished the game with 17 points, sunk two 3-pointers before the under-16 timeout to tie the game at eight.