Guard alternatives abound with Mills gone
On Jan. 3, Caleb Mills announced he was stepping away from the Houston basketball program for personal reasons. Later that day, Quentin Grimes, Marcus Sasser and DeJon Jarreau, the three most productive guards on the roster this season, combined for 43 points in a win at SMU.
Three days later, Mills entered the transfer portal, a quick, yet not all that surprising end to his UH career.
Grimes poured in 22 points in a come-from-behind win against Wichita State.
Sasser capped off the week with a career-high 28 points, including eight 3-pointers, in a rout of Tulane.
Few teams could lose the preseason player of the year in the American Athletic Conference and not feel some type of impact.
At Houston? “We just change channels,” coach Kelvin Sampson said.
Therein lies the strength of this UH roster, which consists of one of the deepest and most talented backcourts in the nation. Sure, there will be games when Mills’ ability to take over a game from beyond the 3-point line, deliver a floater in the lane or make a step-back jumper will be missed. But replacing a key player is old hat for Sampson.
“It’s next man up,” he said. That’s been a familiar mantra in Sampson’s seven seasons at UH.
Three years ago, the Cougars lost four critical pieces of the team’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament in nearly a decade: Rob Gray Jr., Devin Davis, Nura Zanna and Wes VanBeck.
The 2018-19 season saw the loss of four starters from a team that went 33-4 and came within 60 seconds of a trip to the Elite Eight: Galen Robinson Jr., Corey Davis Jr., Armoni Brooks and Breaon Brady.
Now, another four starters are gone from last year’s team that had the season cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic: Chris Harris Jr. graduated; Nate Hinton left school early and is in the NBA G League; Fabian White Jr. is recovering from an ACL injury; and, finally, Mills, who said Tuesday he will sign with Florida State.
“The last three years we’ve lost four starters every year,” Sampson said on a Zoom call this week before the No. 11 Cougars game at South Florida on Thursday was postponed by COVID-19 issues at USF. “I think that’s the sign of a great program. You just move on. Every time we lose someone, I never talk to anybody about your role changing. We just change channels. We may not play the same way, but we still play Cougar basketball.
“We’re going to score points. It’s not like Caleb was averaging 20 points a game. He was averaging nine (points). I think we can find somebody to score nine points.”
Against Tulane, Cameron Tyson, a little-used Idaho transfer, was that guy with three 3pointers off the bench. Sampson had hoped to get Tyson some playing time in early games against Sam Houston State and Rice, but those were canceled due to COVID-19. Tyson, an accomplished shooter who set an Idaho freshman record with 106 3s, played 14 minutes in just his fourth game of the season.
“(Tyson) has an opportunity here,” Sampson said of the fifth guard spot shared by Tyson and freshman Jamal Shead. “When we had Caleb, obviously, he was our sixth guard. It’s not hard to figure out why certain guys don’t play. It’s because guys are ahead of him. This isn’t Little League where everybody gets to play, and you get a participation trophy. I don’t care about that stuff. We have three starting guards. It’s not always easy to play five guards. But I don’t play six — and won’t play six. Somebody left and somebody is going to move into that spot. Simple as that.”
At the time of his departure, Mills had played sparingly as he eased back into the lineup following ankle injuries and COVID-19 pause. Grimes, meanwhile, is having an AAC player of the year worthy season with 17.7 points and 6.8 rebounds for a team that has won 10 of 11 games and has been ranked in the top five. Sasser is averaging 20 points in the last two games and was named the AAC’s player of the week. Jarreau is a steady veteran influence averaging 9.1 points and 6.2 rebounds. Although a forward, Justin Gorham is having an allconference season with 9.1 rebounds.
Sampson said the player the Cougars need to continue to “improve and evolve” is Tramon Mark, a 6-5 freshman guard from Dickinson. Mark, one of the highest-rated recruits in the modern recruiting era, has shown flashes this season. But he’s also been slow to come back from the COVID-19 layoff and is just 3-of-17 shooting in the last five games.
In an effort to get Mark’s confidence back, Sampson played him 23 minutes in the lopsided win over Tulane.
“He’s getting closer,” Sampson said.
Even with Mills’ departure, UH is still a heavy favorite for a third straight AAC regular-season title. The Cougars are currently projected as a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Tulane coach Ron Hunter called the Cougars a “Final Four team.”
Moving forward, UH’s depth will be tested, but that was already the case long before Mills left.
“Coaching a team is a lot like landing a plane,” Sampson said. “Obviously, you’ve got turbulence. You’ve got birds flying into your propeller, all kind of stuff. It’s never easy. There’s always bumps in the road.”