TEAM FIRST
Sophomore guard eager to improve upon his first season as team comes in ranked No. 17
Caleb Mills keeps focus on big picture for UH basketball.
He has been named the preseason player of the year in the American Athletic Conference.
He is on the watch lists for the Naismith Trophy for the national player of the year and Jerry West Award for the top shooting guard.
Caleb Mills shrugs his shoulders and heads back to the gym.
“What I’ve done so far, I don’t really think … last year wasn’t really that well in my own eyes,” said Mills, a sophomore guard for the University of Houston. “I don’t really look to much into preseason awards or that stuff.”
There are, after all, more pressing issues for Mills.
How to become a more vocal leader, a role he steps into after the offseason departure of guard Nate Hinton, who departed early for the NBA Draft, and loss of forward Fabian White Jr. to a season-ending ACL injury in May during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown.
How to be more consistent on both ends of the floor. How to improve his 38.5-percent shooting percentage.
“Just playing better basketball as a whole group,” Mills said.
Exactly what Kelvin Sampson expected to hear from Mills, a consummate “team-first guy,” the seventh-year coach said, whom the Cougars will turn to in the chase for a third straight AAC regular-season title, which begins Wednesday against Lamar at Fertitta Center.
If expectations are high for Mills, they are equally so for the Cougars, who begin the season ranked No. 17 in the Associated Press poll.
UH’s first preseason ranking since Phi Slama Jama in 1983-84 elicits a similar response from Mills.
“A distraction,” he said. “We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to prove that we are one of the best teams in the nation.”
At the time of Mills’ signing, Sampson called him “the best offensive player I’ve recruited since I’ve been (at UH).” The 6-foot-3 Mills offered an early preview averaging 13.2 points to join Rob Williams (16.3 points in 1979-80) as the only freshmen in school history to lead the team in scoring in a season.
Mostly off the bench, Mills set a school freshman single-season record with 371 field goal attempts, his scoring average ranked fourth and his 409 points tied for third all-time.
Forced to develop quicker, along with sophomore guard Marcus Sasser, after the early departure of Armoni Brooks before last season, Mills averaged nearly 25 minutes a game over the final three months. With the Cougars fighting to repeat as AAC champions, Mills had 27, 21 and 20point games during the final two weeks.
“It’s like being at Benihana,” senior center Brison Gresham said. “You’re waiting on your food. You’re sitting there watching the person doing all the tricks with the food. I just love watching him play.”
Within days of the postseason being canceled because of the pandemic, Mills was back home in Arden, N.C., where he remained through the entire summer while his teammates began to return to campus. Mills said he “took a step away from basketball” when his mother and grandmother tested positive for COVID-19.
In between, Mills said he was about to continue a daily routine of working out, adding weight and muscle during the offseason, while preparing for his additional responsibilities as a floor leader.
“I was kind of in the rearview, just letting Nate lead the group, letting Fabian. So that’s really the biggest adjustment me and Marcus specifically made this year,” said Mills, who was selected to the league’s second and all-freshman teams.
“I feel like leadership is important just to be a regular person,” Mills added. “That’s something you should try to better yourself every day. I feel like that’s one of the things I need to take my game to another level. Being a better leader.”
Even with the loss of Hinton, the Cougars should again be deep in the backcourt with Mills, Quentin Grimes (12.1 points), DeJon Jarreau (9.0) and Sasser (8.1). Sasser, Mills and Grimes combined for 149 of UH’s 216 3-pointers.
The Cougars also welcome Cameron Tyson, who sat out last season following a transfer from Idaho, and freshmen guards Tramon Mark and Jamal Shead.
Ask Mills, and he’s pulling for his teammates to have award-worthy seasons over himself.
“Caleb Mills has no ego,” Sampson said. “When I say no ego, if you were to look at his Twitter page, the only thing he ever retweets are when something good happens to his teammates. And that’s a reflection of that kid’s character and what a great teammate he is. Caleb is an unbelievable teammate. He’s a team-first guy.”