The No. 1 Houston Cougars are one of the top stories in college basketball over Coach Kelvin Sampson’s career, starting 3-0 after a 78-45 win over Oakland on Wednesday evening
The Cougars are once again college basketball’s standard for defense as they held the Golden Grizzlies to 31.1 percent from the floor in building a 21-8 lead over the game’s first eight minutes.
“But the three made threes wasn’t the big deal,” said Sampson. “It was the attempts. We held them to five attempts in the first half. I thought we did a good job of multitasking. We got up and took the three away, and then we got back to the hand we wanted to guard.”
Oakland has started with losses to Michigan, Purdue, and Houston as they will be a tough out in the Horizon Conference as coach Greg Kampe
enters his 42nd season.
“There are certain coaches that are really good for the game and I think he is one of them,” Sampson said. “I’ve been a big admirer of his over the years. When Tom Izzo and I were at Michigan State, we worked basketball camps together. But I noticed that Tom and Greg have a really good relationship.”
Senior guard Emanuel Sharp and freshman guard Kingston Flemings scored 19 points each, and the Cougars assisted 20 of 32 made shots while scoring 17 points off of the fast break and netting 16 points off of 18 offensive rebounds.
That’s what makes us such a great team, said Sharp. “We don’t have any selfish players. We’re all trying to get each other a shot. Nobody’s worried about their own points, and we needed that; it helped especially tonight against their zone.”
Sharp made three triples in those first eight minutes while Flemings scored nine of his points in the first 15 minutes as his three-pointer with 4:57 remaining gave the Coogs a 33-12 lead.
“We just keep getting better and better as we go,” Sampson acknowledged. “Doesn’t mean we’re not going to lose some games. We will. Just like everybody else in America. We’re going to lose games. Everybody’s going to lose games.
Cougars Top Towson – Flemings was 8-of-10 from the floor with 20 points in 36 minutes, while Joseph Tugler scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Flemings scored 11 of his points in the second half as Houston broke the game open with an 11-2 run that saw him and Milos Uzan combine for nine points in the run. Flemings scored with 11:43 remaining to give Houston a 49-37 lead.
“We had a lot of guys do some good things.,” noted Sampson. “We’re missing so many shots, it’s hard to get separation. We had a great offensive possession with our spacing when the ball got swung. We made the and-one pass, but Milos made a corner 3-pointer.”
Uzan scored 11 points and dished six assists in 39 minutes.
After Jack Doumbia, Jr., cut the Houston lead to 51-46 with 8:56 remaining, Uzan nailed a three that started a 14-0 run that saw the Coogs hold Towson to 1-of-9 from the field to record the 65-48 ledger.
Sampson praised Chris Cernac and Tugler for their play on the inside.
“I can see some of the mistakes he’s making,” Sampson said of Tugler. “But I also can see he’s going to get a lot better. I know he’s going to get a lot better because I know his work ethic, what he’s made of, a winner, tough kid.”
Cernac is a 6-11 freshman who led Houston with 13 rebounds.
Home Opening Win over Lehigh – Coach Kelvin Sampson picked up the 800th win of his career as Emanuel Sharp scored 24 points en route to a 75-57 victory over the Lehigh Mountain Hawks in Fertitta Center on Nov. 3.
Chris Cernac, Jr., scored seven of his 12 points in a 12-0 run. He hit a three with 14:57 remaining in the first half as the Cougars stretched their early lead to 15-2.
Point guard Milos Uzan netted 12 points with five rebounds and five assists in 39 minutes. Joseph Tugler was the fourth player in double figures with 11 points.
Houston outscored Lehigh, 12-2, to end the first half with a 44-23 lead. The Coogs held Lehigh to 1-of-5 from the field with a pair of turnovers in that 3:31
The Cougars scored 19 points off of 15 Mountain Hawks turnovers and 14 points off of 15 offensive rebounds.