Home cooking hits the spot
Cougars to enjoy 5 of their next 6 at Fertitta Center after road swing
Upon returning to campus early Monday morning, the University of Houston men’s basketball team had another quick turnaround for the next game against Wichita State.
But rather than go through a practice, pack up and hit the road again, the Cougars got to spend Monday and Tuesday inside the Guy V. Lewis Development Facility.
“At least we are home,” coach Kelvin Sampson said Tuesday during a Zoom call with reporters.
UH (8-1, 3-1 AAC) plays five of its next sixgames athome, beginning Wednesday night against Wichita State (6-2, 2-0) at Fertitta Center.
Since their last home game against Temple on Dec. 22, the Cougars have played three straight conference road games against Central Florida, Tulsa and SMU. Apair of free throws by Tulsa with one-tenth of a second remaining is the only thing that kept UH from sweeping all three games.
“Three straight road games are tough for anybody in any league,” Sampson said. “It doesn’t matter what league.”
That was not the original plan when the schedule was released. When a COVID-19 outbreak forced the Cougars to pauseworkouts, Sampson was forced to reschedule a Dec. 15 home game against UCF to Dec. 26 in Orlando, Fla. Rather than have aweek between playingTempleand Tulsa (Dec. 29), the Cougars suddenly had three straight road games.
“Had I knownwewere going to have six kids test positive, I probably wouldn’t have put (the game) there,” Sampson said. “I probably would have waited until March. One of these days I’m going to get better at predicting the future.”
UH went on pause Dec. 7 and had to cancel three games against Sam Houston State, Rice and Alabama. During a 10-day quarantine, the Cougars were not allowed to practice or enter the practice facility. Players were slowly cleared bymedical personnel to return in groups. Only nine players were available for the first game back (Dec. 20 against Alcorn State), which Sampson and his son, assistant coach Kellen Sampson, missed due to COVID-19 protocols.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Kelvin Sampson said. “I was a mess.”
Through it all, Sampson said the most important day might have been Dec. 30, the day after returning from Tulsa. UH took the day off, its first in more than a week.
“That was important,” Sampson said. “I can’t tell you the importance of recovery this timeofyear, allowing your guys to recovermentally.”
Before Sunday’s SMU game, UH had four straight days of practice — its longest stretch since before the COVID outbreak. (“We needed a lot of work on us,” Sampson said.) After a slow start, the Cougars pulled away in the second half for one of their most impressive wins of the season, 74-60.
With the transfer of Caleb Mills, the scoring load will mostly fall on a deep guard position that includes Quentin Grimes, Marcus Sasser and DeJon Jarreau.
Sampson said that among the players affected by COVID, the two who will be counted on mostmoving forward are freshman guard Tramon Mark and redshirt freshman forward J’Wan Roberts. Mark, who has 22and 18-point games this season, will provide depth at guard, while Roberts can provide a breather for Justin Gorham, who is averaging 8.8 rebounds while averaging 28 minutes.
“We spent considerable amount of time in practice (this week) on those two guys,” Roberts said. “Time sometimes is your best friendwhen it comes to that. You just don’t flip the switch.”
UH, which dropped toNo. 11 in both national polls this week, plays Tulane on Saturday and visits USF on Jan. 14. Three consecutive home games will follow against UCF ( Jan. 17), Tulsa ( Jan. 20) and Cincinnati ( Jan. 23).
Just how much does a home-court advantagemean to the Cougars? They’vewon 53 of their last 56 games at home during the last threeplus seasons.
“It’s good to be home,” Sampson said.