No. 3 Houston will not have to wait long for a chance to move away from its first loss of the season when the Cougars face Notre Dame in a consolation game of the Players Era men’s championship on Wednesday afternoon at Las Vegas.Houston (6-1) fell short in a marquee matchup against Tennessee on Tuesday, dropping a 76-73 decision. Kingston Flemings made a 3-pointer to pull the Cougars within one point with seven seconds remaining, but Tennessee’s Ja’Kobi Gillespie sank six free throws in the final 35 seconds — including two with five seconds left — to seal the win.Flemings, a freshman, finished with a season-high 25 points to give him three games of at least 20 points this season.Milos Uzan, a Las Vegas native, scored 17 points and Chris Cenac Jr. added 11 rebounds as the Cougars lost after leading by five points with 15:46 remaining in the game. Tennessee shot 47.1% from the floor, the highest of any Houston opponent this season.And yet the biggest difference was that Tennessee went 23 of 29 from the free-throw line, while Houston went 8 of 11. The Cougars were called for 21 fouls, with Cenac fouling out, while the Volunteers were whistled for 15.”The difference in the game was the free throws,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said after Gillespie went 9 of 9 from the line, while Flemings went 2 of 2.”I’m not saying we weren’t fouling, but they were, too. Both teams were aggressive. Tough defense. Boom, boom, boom. But it shouldn’t be 29-11 (on free-throw attempts).”The Cougars did not allow an opponent to shoot better than 38.8% until getting to Las Vegas. In a 78-74 overtime victory over Syracuse on Monday, the Orange shot 42.9% and made eight 3-pointers.Houston was unable to match the success it had against Tennessee in the Elite Eight last season, when it advanced to the Final Four with a 69-50 victory. The Cougars ended up losing in the title game to Florida.