Cougars will feel right at home
Move to new arena comes with program poised to secure another NCAA bid
Galen Robinson Jr. can see the progress every day he rides his bicycle past the Fertitta Center, the University of Houston’s $60 million on-campus basketball arena.
Robinson has yet to step inside the building, formerly the site of Hofheinz Pavilion, instead relying on videos and pictures as the excitement builds for the Dec. 1 grand opening against Oregon.
On the court, the Cougars will have some changes, too, with a
roster that must replace the top scorer for the second year in a row and the addition of several players who will play significant minutes.
Expectations have not been this high in years, if not decades, as the Cougars took a major step last season with the school’s first NCAA Tournament bid in eight years. A year later, it’s no longer a matter of whether UH will make the 64-team postseason field, but can the Cougars make a run at the American Athletic Conference title?
“The perception of us has changed, but everything we do is still the same,” said Robinson, UH’s senior point guard. “We used to be the hunter last year. Now we’re kind of the hunted because of the year we had. It makes everything more fun.”
Since going 13-19 in their debut season under Sampson, the Cougars have won 22, 21 and 27 games and made three straight postseason appearances, which includes two trips to the NIT. Most preseason projections have the Cougars making back-to-back NCAA appearances for the first time since the Phi Slama Jama days of the early 1980s.
UH is also among the contenders in the AAC, picked to finish third in a tight race behind Central Florida and defending champion Cincinnati.
“I’m excited about what we accomplished,” Sampson, last season’s AAC Coach of the Year, said during the offseason. “But that’s over with.”
The cupboard is far from empty with the return of several key contributors from last season’s team, which came within a buzzerbeater by Michigan of advancing to the Sweet 16. At the top is a backcourt that includes Corey Davis, who averaged 13.1 points and hit a league-high 103 3-pointers; Armoni Brooks, who had 83 3s mostly off the bench as the AAC’s Sixth Man of the Year and will assume a more prominent role; and the defensive-minded Robinson, who serves as the floor general for the Cougars’ push-thetempo offense.
Four newcomers are expected to play significant roles: guard DeJon Jarreau and forward/center Brison Gresham, transfers from Massachusetts who sat out last season; forward Cedrick Alley Jr., who had his freshman season wiped out by injuries; and incoming freshman Nate Hinton, a shooting guard who was tabbed the AAC’s Freshman of the Year in the preseason and is regarded as UH’s top signee since Sampson’s arrival. Jarreau, Gresham and Alley have not played in a regular-season game in 20 months due to transfer rules or injuries.
“We have so many unknowns,” said Sampson, who was a candidate for the Orlando Magic job in the offseason. “I think it’s going to take time for this team to establish an identity, We’ve got a lot of question marks with our team, but the exciting thing is answering them.”
UH is likely to again play in waves in the frontcourt, especially at center with 6-8, 260-pound Breaon Brady, who started all but four games last season, and 6-10, 245pound Chris Harris.
The 6-5 Alley is versatile enough to play multiple positions, and Gresham, with a 7-4 wingspan, offers a shot blocker who is also athletic enough to run in Sampson’s fastpaced tempo.
Fabian White Jr., a 6-7 sophomore, did not practice for most of the preseason while recovering from offseason foot surgery.
Unlike in previous seasons when the Cougars had a go-to scorer — Damyean Dotson (now a star with the New York Knicks) in 2015-16 and Rob Gray Jr. (now with the Indiana Pacers’ G-League affiliate) last season — Sampson will likely rely on a group effort to begin the season. Davis showed he is a capable candidate, scoring 27 points on nine 3pointers in an exhibition win over Dallas Baptist.
“It does not matter who scores as long as we score,” Robinson said.
UH begins the season with a 15-game home winning streak that is the third-longest active streak in the nation. Four games will be played at Texas Southern’s Health & Physical Education Arena, beginning with Saturday’s opener against Alabama A&M, before the move to the 7,000-seat Fertitta Center.
Robinson said he’s eager to build off last year’s success.
“I’m starving,” he said. “The success tasted great. I want more of it. I want the newcomers to have a taste of it as well.”