Gray earns first-team all-conference honors
The University of Houston picked up two honors Monday, with guard Rob Gray named to the American Athletic Conference first team and forward Fabian White Jr. selected to the all-rookie team.
Gray, a first-team selection for the second straight year, was third in the league in scoring (18.1) and fourth in assists (4.7) in what coach Kelvin Sampson called a “borderline player of the year season.”
Gray had nine 20-point games and four 30-point games. He became the AAC’s all-time leading scorer this season with 1,581 points.
White, a freshman from Atascocita, averaged 5.9 points, 4.0 rebounds and had a team-high 30 blocks while playing in all 30 games. He became the seventh freshman in school history to post multiple double-doubles in a season.
“Fabian has shown flashes of how good he’s going to be,” Sampson said.
The top three teams in the league swept the first-team honors ,with Cincinnati (Gary Clark and Jacob Evans III) and Wichita State (Landry Shamet and Shaquille Morris) accounting for the other four spots.
VanBeck in doubt after hurting hand
Houston reserve guard Wes VanBeck’s status for the remainder of the season is in doubt after re-injuring his left hand early in Sunday’s 81-71 win over Connecticut.
VanBeck missed two games in late February with a broken bone above his knuckle and middle finger on his shooting hand. He was in the starting lineup for Sunday’s senior day but played only two minutes after hitting the hand on another player’s hip, coach Kelvin Sampson said Monday. “It is painful,” Sampson said. VanBeck will undergo treatment this week and be re-evaluated before Friday’s quarterfinal game at the AAC tournament in Orlando, Fla.
“I’m not sure,” Sampson said when asked if VanBeck might play the rest of the season. “We’ll see.”
VanBeck is averaging 6.4 points and 2.9 rebounds off the bench.
Cougars move up to No. 21 in polls
UH (24-6) moved up four spots to No. 21 in the Associated Press poll released Monday.
The Cougars are No. 21 in the USA Today coaches poll after falling out the previous week.