Hinton’s big night lifts Cougars over UCF
The first time University of Houston coach Kelvin Sampson saw Nate Hinton was at the end of his junior season in high school in a gymnasium somewhere in rural Georgia.
He did not know much about Hinton. Did not need to.
Or Hinton’s recruiting ranking. Did not matter.
In a generation that Sampson says is about “the shiniest penny,” only one thing mattered.
“I just liked him,” he said. Hinton had 20 points and 16 rebounds as the Cougars pulled away in the second half for a 78-63 victory over Central Florida at Fertitta Center.
UH (11-3) won its fifth in a row and ninth in the last 10 games to begin defense of its American Athletic Conference regular-season crown.
On the way to a 16-2 regular-season league record last season, the Cougars rarely were challenged with only a handful of games decided by seven points or less. The Cougars again are regarded as title contenders, and the AAC opener offered the first challenge.
Down 11 points in the first half, UCF pulled within 50-46 with less than 11 minutes remaining in the game. From there, however, UH went on a 9-0 run and capitalized on 1-of-11 shooting and a nearly five-minute stretch without a field goal by the Knights.
UCF had one field goal during the final 8 minutes, 43 seconds of the game, a combination of poor shooting and a UH defense that was suffocating at times. The Knights shot 26.7 percent in the second half.
“In the month of November, we played defense like I thought we would. Not very good,” Sampson said. “It didn’t bother me. I just knew we had to keep working at it. You have to work at it. It’s not a guarantee that just because you work at something, you’re going to be good. But I do believe if you don’t work at it, you’re guaranteed to not be good.”
It’s no secret the Cougars feed off defense, and it was a driving force on a night neither team shot the ball particularly well. UH finished 38.2 percent for the game, while the Knights shot 33.8 percent. The game became a free throw festival with a combined 47 fouls and 57 free throw attempts. UH made 30 free throws in a game for the first time since 2014.
By the end of the game the Cougars’ shooting woes hardly mattered. In the final minute, Hinton chased a long rebound near midcourt, tipped it to himself over UCF guard Dazon Ingram, and finished with a left-handed dunk.
Hinton was everywhere for the Cougars, chasing a loose ball in the final seconds for his 16th rebound, a career high. He has six double-doubles this season and is averaging a team-high 9.7 rebounds, more than double last year’s total. He added five steals and three assists.
“He’s a great representative of our program,” Sampson said. “If I could pick someone to be the face of University of Houston Cougar basketball, I would want it to be Nate Hinton.”
Fabian White Jr. added 13 points and four rebounds in 20 minutes. White, the AAC player of the week, is averaging 14.3 points and shooting 55 percent from the floor during the last four games.
DeJon Jarreau added 12 points, all from the free-throw line.
UH switched things up defensively, sitting White and Justin Gorham for longer spurts and inserting Cedrick Alley Jr. with UCF employing four guards and big man Collin Smith. Smith picked up his second and third fouls 57 seconds apart just before halftime and was limited to 10 minutes in the second half. He finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.