Hoops preview
Talent infusion gives Cougars variety of options
Kelvin Sampson eyes turnaround in 2nd season as UH basketball coach.
On more than a few occasions last season, Kelvin Sampson would turn to his left and see a mostly empty bench.
Even finding enough available bodies to run 5-on-5 in practice became a problem.
In Sampson’s first season, injuries and attrition forced the University of Houston to plug holes with the wrong parts. They had a 195-pound center and a point guard who had never played the position.
The Cougars lost 19 games, the most for the once-proud program in more than a decade. Sampson, however, saw a glimmer of hope with wins in four of the last five games.
“Sometimes you have to trick ’em,” Sampson said. “We were tricking them at the end.”
Help is on the way in Year
2.
The Cougars welcome six newcomers, an influx of depth and talent that will give Sampson options as the Cougars begin the season Nov. 18 against Prairie View A&M.
“Forget last year,” Sampson said. “We’re going to be good this year.”
For starters, the Cougars have more depth at guard. Ronnie Johnson, a two-year starter at Purdue who is eligible after sitting out last season, and true freshman Galen Robinson Jr., whose father played for the Cougars in the mid-1990s, offer two options at point guard.
Rob Gray Jr., who originally committed to Tennessee, is a bona fide scoring threat at shooting guard, while another transfer, guard Damyean Dotson, averaged double figures in two seasons at Oregon.
Forward Devonta Pollard is the team’s top returning starter. He averaged 11.4 points and 6.4 rebounds.
More help inside
Aside from point guard, the area that will benefit most from help is center, with 6-10 Kyle Meyer, who began at Iowa, and 6-8 Bertrand Nkali, the projected starter before a groin injury sidelined him all last season.
That leaves a deep bench that includes forwards Xavier Dupree and Danrad “Chicken” Knowles and guards LeRon Barnes, a graduate student who tied for the team lead with 6.4 rebounds per game, Eric Weary Jr. and Wes VanBeck.
A wild card is the return of point guard L.J. Rose, who has undergone multiple foot surgeries over the past three years. He’s not expected to return before the start of American Athletic Conference play in late December.
“That’s the strength of this team. We’ve got a lot of ways we can go,” Sampson said. “Bottom line is we have a really good bench. There are going to be some nights when you don’t really see much of a difference between them and who starts the game.”
Sampson said the Cougars benefited from a 10-day summer exhibition tour in China. While UH won three of the four games against teams from the Chinese Basketball Association, Sampson said more came from the trip.
“We built chemistry,” he said. “When we left, we had 12 guys wearing a uniform with ‘Houston’ across the middle. When we got back, we had a really good team.”
Major facility upgrade
Another step in the right direction: UH is set to open the $25 million Guy V. Lewis Basketball Center later this month.
“It’s a game-changer,” Sampson said.
An early schedule that includes eight of the first nine games at Hofheinz Pavilion allows the Cougars the opportunity to get off to a fast start.
“We’ve been through the hard times,” Knowles said. “We’re looking forward to getting off to a good start.”