Roster grows deeper as league play begins

By this time of year, as conference play is set to begin, Kelvin Sampson usually has a good idea about his team.

But what happens when the offseason is thrown into chaos by a global pandemic? When games get canceled and a normally packed nonconference schedule is reduced to five games? When your entire roster, at some point since this summer, has been infected by COVID-19?

“I usually know what our team is going to look like by the time we get to Christmas,” the University of Houston coach said. “I have no idea. I did amonth ago. Or two or three weeks ago, I had a good idea. But now I don’t.”

Still not at full strength, the sixth-ranked Cougars open defense of back-to-back American Athletic Conference regular-season titles Tuesday against Temple at Fertitta Center.

After a15-day layoff due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the program, the Cougars had nine available players in Sunday’s 88-55 victory over Alcorn State.

Guards Caleb Mills, the AAC’s preseason player of the year, and Marcus Sasser, UH’s second-leading scorer, were cleared by the team’s medical staff and returned to practice Monday. So did walkon guard Ryan Elvin, giving the Cougars12 players to begin league play.

The only players not currently

with the team: guard Cameron Tyson, center Caleb Broodo and forward Fabian White Jr., who is out for the season with a knee injury.

“I’m looking forward to getting the band back together,” Sampson said.

Sampson plans to monitor Mills and Sasser — who have also dealt with ankle injuries — in small stretches. On Monday morning, both players cleared the final hurdle: a myocardial test that detects any potential heart irregularities.

“How much and how effective — that would be the million-dollar question,” Sampson said.

Monday’s practice marked the first time a majority of the UH team had been in the same room since Dec. 4, a few days before the Cougars paused all team-related activities due to what a school official called “a pretty significant number of positives.” During that same stretch, assistant coach Kellen Sampson tested positive for COVID-19, and Sampson was briefly quarantined. Both coaches missed the Dec. 5 game against South Carolina.

As players return, the next step is getting back into game condition.

“When you are in isolation, you can’t leave your room,” Kelvin Sampson said. “And then you don’t come out and pick up where you left off. It takes awhile.”

UH(5-0) begins AAC play with a tough stretch that includes three games in the next eight days against Temple and at UCF (Saturday) and Tulsa (Dec. 29). The Cougars also play Jan. 3 at SMU.

Sampson said it might not be until Tulsa — a week from Tuesday — that many of the players are back to pre-layoff shape.

“Our strength is always in our numbers. It’s not in one or two guys. Our strength has always been our depth,” Sampson said. “It’s going to be awhile until we get back to full strength with our depth.”

In the meantime, the Cougars are not alone in what Sampson describes as “unchartered waters.” He pays attention to “external variables” like adrenaline and emotion that “zaps” players. That was the case Sunday as forward/center Brison Gresham and forward J’Wan Roberts “were out of it” and had their minutes limited. With only one guard off the bench, Sampson played freshman Tramon Mark probably more than he wanted.

“This is a new experience,” Sampson said. “I have a responsibility for these kids. I’mnot going to put them in any jeopardy. If it comes down to winning or losing versus these kids, winning or losing takes a back seat. These kids’ health is more important.”