By Kenneth Cross
The No. 1 Houston Cougars had their sites set on the AAC regular season title as they pounced into the 2022-23 season and making a statement inside the league has been an enamoring activity with their record currently at 25-2 and 13-1 in the league.
Sunday’s challenge in Fertitta Center against Memphis proved once again the discipline and mental toughness that coach Kelvin Sampson’s team has developed over his tenure in Houston. The Cougars staved off a number of Tigers’ second-half runs to punch out a 72-64. Memphis laced up its sneakers without leading scorer Kendric Davis, who averages 21.3 ppg. to lead the league in scoring.
“The makeup of this team is winners and they know how to win,” explained Sampson. “Since his freshman year, Jamal (Shead) backed up DeJon (Jarreau) on the Final Four team and he was the starting point guard on the Elite Eight team. That’s what these guys do every night.”
Marcus Sasser and J’Wan Roberts scored 20 points apiece to lead the Cougars ‘ offense. Sasser scored seven of his points in a 17-3 Houston run that gave the Cougars a 30-16 lead with just 3:53 remaining in the first half.
“I think our offense and our defense was contrasting patterns,” Sampson explained. “If you look at the shots that we were getting, I would say ‘you guys are running great offense.’ That proves a simple point – the scoreboard only turns if the ball goes in and we had a lot of great looks.”
After the Cougars shot 50 percent from the floor and were 23-of-26 at the free throw line, their overall game allowed them to extinguish several second half runs by the Tigers. Elijah McCadden scored six points in a 13-6 Tigers run out of halftime. He and Damaria Franklin hit back-to-back threes to cut the Houston lead to 38-34 with 15:55 remaining.
Sampson discussed going zone when Memphis started to drive the ball at the Cougs, but he noted that it will be key for Houston to be in the correct spots on defense when a team drives it as Memphis changed it’s game plan in the second half.
“The McCadden kid was good at that,” said Sampson of his driving to the basket. “Memphis is a good team. Penny has done a nice job there over the years. I don’t know that this was our best game, but I don’t know that it was theirs either. Two tough teams.”
Houston was good at answering the Memphis challanges and the Cougars pushed a 9-2 run after the Tigers cut it to 38-34.
“Basketball is a game of runs and we had to keep our composure,” noted Sasser. “There was adversity during the game and I thought we did a good job keeping our composure. I feel like we did a good job handling their runs and coming back and getting our run.”
Sampson noticed the same attack from Memphis that Alabama used when the Crimson Tide came from behind and shaded the Cougars in their 71-65 loss on Dec. 10.
“We missed an open three and they went down there and drive it and get to the free throw line,” explained Sampson. “It’s what Alabama did to us. We guarded them for about 30 minutes and then the last 10, they just spread it and drove it on us.”
Forward J’Wan Roberts was a major key for the Cougs as he scored 20 points and grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds and was 6-of-10 from the floor.
“Two things, one, sometimes to get J’Wan going, I call his number a lot,” noted Sampson. “He’ s a very good basketball player. It’s a long season and we play so many games (contests) with all these kids.”
Near the end of Sunday’s outing, Memphis forward DeAngelo Williams finished an 8-2 Tigers run to cut the Houston lead to 63-58 with 2:24 to play, Sasser hit four of the Cougars’ nine free throws to preserve the 72-64 win.
“I don’t want our kids to think playing good equates to how many points I score, how many shots I get, am I hot tonight?” said Sampson. “Good teams, defend, rebound, and play unselfish. Most of the night we were single digits in turnovers and we wound up with 11.”
Sampson knows the caliber of the toughness of the players he has in Houston as he usually can figure how these kids will play according to certain situations.
“If they play great, they are probably not going to in the next one,” Sampson explained. “If they play poorly, they are not going to play poorly the next one. There can’t be ups and downs with effort. How hard you play how hard you compete. That’s something we try to hang our hat one.