No. 5 Houston made a quick Big 12 impact last season, winning the conference tournament in its second year in the league.

Now, the second seed begins its run at a repeat Thursday against 10th-seeded BYU in a battle of the Cougars in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals in Kansas City, Mo.

The victor will face the winner of the quarterfinal between third-seeded Kansas and TCU, the sixth seed, in the second semifinal Friday night.

Houston (26-5) appears to have gotten some of its mojo back entering the postseason. After a three-game losing streak against top-15 opponents, Houston won its final three games to close out the regular season.

That included a closer-than-expected 82-75 win at Oklahoma State on Saturday. Houston led the Cowboys, who finished 14th in the Big 12, 74-73 with 1:50 left before finishing on an 8-2 run.

BYU (23-10) faded down the stretch of the regular season, falling out of the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time this season in early March as it lost four of five games before upsetting No. 10 Texas Tech 82-76 in its regular-season finale on Saturday.

That seems to have carried over into this week, where BYU handily won its first two tournament games, beating seventh-seeded West Virginia 68-48 on Wednesday night after an opening-round defeat of Kansas State.

Chase McCarty delivered a dagger three down the stretch in Houston’s win over Oklahoma State, capping off a breakout performance in which he racked up a career-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 6-of-9 from long distance.

McCarty had not scored more than 10 points in any prior Big 12 game and had scored a combined 21 points in the prior five games. He averages 3.9 points per game.

“Like most freshmen, he was just OK early. He hadn’t found a niche, hadn’t found his role,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “But what’s typical with our kids is they just hang in there. If you keep showing up every day with the right attitude, giving the right effort, you’ll usually get better. Chase has probably been our most improved player at both ends.”

McCarty’s emergence would be significant for the Cougars entering the postseason. They rely on Kingston Flemings (16.5 points per game), Emanuel Sharp (15.8) and Milos Uzan (11.5) for 56.3% of their 77.6 points per game.

BYU took an efficiency hit after losing Richie Saunders (18.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.7 steals per game) to a torn right ACL on Feb. 14. But after losing four of the first five games after his injury, BYU has won its past three.

Big 12 Freshman of the Year AJ Dybantsa has played a large role in that. The projected top-three pick in the upcoming NBA draft is averaging 33.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals in two Big 12 tournament games. He leads the nation in scoring at 25.2 points per game.

But the team defense also rose to the occasion against West Virginia. After Kansas State shot 50.8% from the floor and made 13 of 23 3-pointers (56.5%), BYU held the Mountaineers to 48 points — the fewest points an opponent has scored this season — on 38.1% shooting with 22 turnovers.

“We’ve just challenged our guys to do things stronger, longer, harder, faster, more,” BYU coach Kevin Young said. “That’s really it. That’s what we saw tonight.”

Houston won the regular-season matchup between these teams, coming away with a 77-66 road win on Feb. 7.

–Field Level Media

Having been trampled by Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat, the Washington Wizards now will turn their attention to another high-scoring offensive force, Paolo Banchero, when they visit the Orlando Magic on Thursday night.

The game pairs an Orlando team that’s used five straight wins to move into fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings against a Washington club that’s dropped nine in a row to remain in contention for the worst record in the league.

The Wizards added to their misery Tuesday night when they earned national headlines for allowing Adebayo to record the second-most points ever in an NBA game. Washington sent the Miami big man to the free throw line 43 times en route to watching him score 83 points in the 150-29 home win by the Heat.

An overabundance of fouls often has been a problem with the Wizards this season. They rank third in the NBA in foul shots allowed, giving up an average of 26.9 per game, narrowly trailing the Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz.

But for one night anyway, Wizards coach Brian Keefe didn’t think his team’s defense necessarily deserved the preponderance of whistles.

“There’s a lot of fouls called — 16 free throws (for Adebayo) in the fourth quarter,” he noted at his postgame press conference. “We tried to take the ball out of his hands. He got some free throws 40 feet from the rim. I can’t explain some of those calls.”

The Wizards gave Trae Young the night off in Miami after his return from a lengthy absence with 19- and 18-minute stints in losses to Utah and New Orleans, respectively. His first two games for Washington resulted in a total of 29 points and 14 assists in those 37 minutes.

Young had not played since Dec. 27 due to knee and quad injuries. He is expected to play against the Magic.

This won’t be the first time the Magic have seen Young the season. Playing then for the Atlanta Hawks, the four-time All-Star had 25 points in a 111-107 win at Orlando in October.

The Magic have won two of three games against the Wizards this season. The clubs met March 3 in Orlando, with the Magic using 32 free throw points in 37 attempts as the foundation for a 126-109 win.

Banchero had 37 points in the win. It was his first of two 30-point games this month. He scored 33 points on Sunday in a 130-91 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Desmond Bane has shared in the offensive highlights during Orlando’s winning streak, topping 25 points three times, including a game-high 35 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in a 128-122 win on Wednesday night.

Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said his team had a secret weapon Wednesday night — the Kia Center home crowd.

“There’s going to be different ways to win games and we keep finding those ways,” Mosley told the media postgame. “Games are going to look different. But it’s taking it one game at a time.

“The goal (Wednesday) was take care of this game, take care of home. Our fans were absolutely fantastic. It’s people on their feet, cheering with the defense, getting our guys going. The energy of this building is just incredible. That’s a big piece of what this game means to us.”

– Field Level Media

Two-time major champion Collin Morikawa withdrew from The Players Championship on Thursday after playing one hole.

The PGA Tour cited a back injury as the reason for the withdrawal of the world’s fourth-ranked golfer.

Morikawa began the opening round at TPC Sawgrass on Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., on the 10th hole and made a par. In taking some practice swings on the 11th hole, he appeared to be in discomfort. After talking with the trainer, Morikawa withdrew.

His playing partners, Ludvig Aberg and Si Woo Kim, will finish the round and play together Friday as a twosome.

In five events so far this season, Morikawa has a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and two top-10 finishes — a tie for seventh at The Genesis Invitational and fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Also on Thursday, Ryan Fox withdrew prior to the start of the tournament due to illness. David Ford will replace Fox in the field.

–Field Level Media