Hinton helps Cougars reach 15-0
Freshman guard stays in coach’s good graces by scoring career-high 19 points off the bench
After an early turnover, Nate Hinton turned to see coach Kelvin Sampson stomp his feet on the court and begin to yell in his direction.
A few months into his college career, Hinton is used to it.
“He demands a lot from me,” Hinton said.
Hinton had a career-high 19 points and nine rebounds as No. 19 University of Houston pulled away in the second half to beat Memphis 90-77 on Sunday night before a sellout crowd of 7,039 at Fertitta Center.
UH (15-0) remained one of three unbeaten teams — along with Michigan and Virginia — in Division I while extending the nation’s longest home winning streak to 28 games.
Armoni Brooks had 22 points, going 6-of-11 from 3-point range, as the Cougars wrapped up the first week of American Athletic Conference play tied for first place with Central Florida and SMU at 2-0.
Hinton, a 6-5 guard from Gastonia, N.C., considered the top signee of last year’s recruiting class, is averaging 16 points and 8.5 re-
bounds in two conference games. Like Galen Robinson Jr., Fabian White Jr. and Brooks before him, Hinton has become Sampson’s favorite target during practices.
“There is not a day where I can be, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m good,’” Hinton said. “I come into practice every day with the expectation coach is going to get on me hard. (Those guys) tell me all the time how they experienced it. It makes it a little easier, but still going through it is a different beast.”
Memphis closed within 62-55 with about 12 minutes remaining. UH put the game away with a 20-5 run, sparked by seven points from Hinton that included a 3-pointer and a dunk. On one late possession, Hinton sprinted toward the basket, picked up the rebound off a miss and passed outside to restart the shot clock. He clapped his hands louder than any time he scored.
“Our guys hustle,” Sampson said. “We don’t discuss or negotiate effort. We demand effort and hold kids accountable.”
UH led by as many as 22 on a 3-pointer by Brooks with 6:40 left.
Early in the second half, Brooks helped extinguish a threat after Memphis (9-6, 1-1) closed the gap with a 10-0 run, fueled by eight points from Kyvon Davenport. Brooks scored 10 of UH’s next 12 points to push the lead from 50-46 to 6251.
Corey Davis Jr., who spent most of the first half on the bench in foul trouble, and Robinson had 11 points, and DeJon Jarreau added 10 as the Cougars finished with five players in double figures.
“A team like this that is well-coached and plays hard, you can’t give them any kind of cushion at home and stay on top of them and not let them get any runs,” Memphis coach Penny Hardaway said. “Our whole focus was on Armoni and Corey not getting out and getting transition 3s, and we still failed at that. Everything we tried to throw at them tonight we weren’t able to get the job done.”
Hinton had something to do with that, picking up the scoring slack with Davis on the bench.
It’s the type of performance that will get a slight nod of approval — if that — from Sampson.
Then it’s back to work in practice. If Hinton has learned anything in his first season, it’s time to move on to the next game.
Sampson will make sure of that.
“I can’t be complacent, ‘Oh, you had a good game here and there,’ ” he said. I’m just trying to be consistent and try and get better.”