HUSKIES ON PROWL
HBU men in Southland mix.
The Huskies are where they hoped to place themselves — in the hunt with the rest of the Southland pack.
Houston Baptist opened its fourth Southland season with a win over Sam Houston State, then put together its first winning streak last week, moving it into the middle of the 13-team conference.
Now they’re trying to track down a higher seed for the Southland tournament.
“We’ve got an opportunity going down the stretch here to improve our situation as far as seeding for the conference tournament, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” coach Ron Cottrell said.
Plenty of questions
The Huskies enjoyed their best season last year since returning to Division I play and joining the Southland, finishing 17-17 overall and 10-9 in conference with a first-round win over Southeastern Louisiana in the Southland tourney and a berth in the
College Basketball Invitational.
But then they graduated Anthony Odunsi, Jordan Stickler and Caleb Crayton, who aided the program’s transition, sending them into a brutal 2016-17 non-conference schedule with plenty of questions.
They ended up 4-6 in non-conference, but Cottrell said he liked the way they competed, especially considering the slate was at one point ranked as the toughest non-conference schedule in the nation.
“There were one or two more in there we could have gotten, possibly, but our guys really competed well,” he said. “Every night we stepped on the floor, we were going against really top-notch competition.
“When you’re playing at Marquette, at Indiana, at Texas Tech, at New Mexico and at Northwestern, who’s having a terrific year, you know you’re going to be challenged, and you’re going to have to dig within yourself to improve, and we improved throughout the non-conference schedule.”
Payoff in conference
They were rewarded in their Southland opener.
Houston Baptist outshot and outhustled preseason conference favorite Sam Houston en route to a 7965 win in Huntsville. “We competed well,” Cottrell said. “We didn’t play well the first half. We were down four at the half (30-26) and didn’t play extremely well, but we didn’t quit. We didn’t get frustrated that things weren’t going well and kept hanging together and getting stops, and were able to knock down some big shots toward the end of the game.”
The win showed the Huskies they’re capable of beating anybody in the conference, but it didn’t guarantee success.
When they forgot to defend, the wins stopped coming.
After a 3-1 start in conference, the Huskies dropped four straight to Central Arkansas, Incarnate Word, New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana, sending them to the bottom of the Southland standings.
“We went through a stretch there where we weren’t defending the way we need to defend,” Cottrell said.
Winning mojo found
The Huskies rediscovered the winning scent this month.
They outrebounded Incarnate Word 28-14 in the rematch, helping them win 84-70, then picked up wins over Northwestern State (86-69) and Lamar (94-87) to claw into a tie for sixth with Central Arkansas, a half-game behind Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Lamar, and 1½ back of third-place SFA.
“You’ve got to win in February, and what you do in February sets up your March, and if you’re successful in February, you’re going to put yourself in a better position once you get to postseason play,” Cottrell said.
“We’re defending better — and we’re still not where we can be and need to be once we get to postseason play – but our guys understand what it takes to win and what we have to do as a team.”
Finishing kick
Guard/forward Reveal Chukwujekwu, center Josh Ibarra and forward Colter Lasher are leading the charge.
Chukwujekwu, a gritty Strake Jesuit grad, is providing almost nine rebounds per game in conference (8.9), and 12 points and 7.9 rebounds on the season, the 6-11 Ibarra, from Angleton, is supplying 11.6 points and 7.3 boards, and Lasher, an Alaskan, is the leading scorer at 15.0 points a game.
They have Randall on Saturday at home in a non-conference hiatus, then finish Southland play with pivotal contests against McNeese State, Lamar, A&M-Corpus Christi and Abilene Christian.
“We want to finish strong and win as many of these last (four) conference games as we can, and go into the conference tournament on a roll,” Cottrell said.