UH escapes ‘a mess’ before tackling more
Trip to Wichita takes place as prelude to uncertain remainder of season
The University of Houston managed to escape town Wednesday afternoon, but less certainty remains about the final three weeks of a college basketball regular season that has dealt with the coronavirus pandemic and now, this week, a rare winter storm in Texas.
After waiting a few extra hours for a backup plane to arrive from Pittsburgh, the sixthranked Cougars departed for Wichita, Kan., where they will play Wichita State on Thursday night in a battle of the top two teams in the American Athletic Conference.
UH (17-2, 11-2) holds a
1½-game lead over the Shockers (12-4, 8-2). “This is just a mess,” coach Kelvin Sampson said of the power and water outages that have caused havoc throughout the region.
Beyond Thursday’s game, Sampson is uncertain how the final 18 days will play out, with UH still waiting for three makeup dates to be announced.
More postponements could be on the way, begin
ning with Sunday’s game against Cincinnati at Fertitta Center. With no water in the arena and major power outages in the area, Sampson said a decision “needs to be resolved by Saturday” to allow Cincinnati time to travel.
“This is literally a day-byday situation,” Sampson said.
At this point, Sampson is resigned that many teams in the AAC will be unable to complete the 20-game round-robin schedule, which called for the league’s schools to play each other twice. The situation is further complicated with SMU, Memphis and East Carolina all on pause due to COVID-19 protocols.
“As time dwindles, I think that boat has sailed,”
Sampson said. “I don’t think we’re worried about getting in 20 (league) games. I don’t think that’s going to happen. How many can you get in? Can we get in 16? Can we get in 17?”
Three UH games from earlier this season — at home against Memphis and East Carolina and at Cincinnati — remain up in the air, and there is increasing likelihood that a few, if not all, might be scrapped with few options left before the AAC tournament begins March 11 in Fort Worth.
With a week between Sunday’s game against Cincinnati and a Feb. 28 meeting with South Florida, Sampson said the Cougars could explore playing a midweek game, either a league game that fits or a nonconference game.
“There’s a little bit of a Rubik’s Cube thing going on here,” Sampson said. “I
don’t know how you are going to solve that issue.”
After this week’s winter storm brought the city to a standstill, Sampson said the Cougars were forced to make adjustments, moving film session and practices from their Guy V. Lewis Development Facility, which did not have water pressure, to the Fertitta Center.
Mindful of what’s going on beyond the basketball court, Sampson said this week’s winter storm is just another chapter in a year that has come with challenges.
“The way this year has gone, you just have to put an exclamation mark on it with what’s going on here in Texas,” he said. “It diminishes the importance of playing basketball games right now.”