Great defense down the stretch. We beat a really good team and clamped down on their best player when it was needed most. On to the top 10.
I hope all of those that normally post during the UH games got a chance to watch. It was an interesting game. Game ball has to go to Jarreau. He seemed like the only one on our team that wanted the ball. In that way it was kind of a coming out party for him. It is amazing how many talented players we have. We can win so many ways. They only turned the ball over 4 times to our 13. They called twice as many fouls against us until the intentional fouls at the end of the game. With 10 minutes left in the game Robertson, Davis, and Jarreau all had 4 fouls. But we won in the end by getting stops on defense.
The depth is great. Robinson, Davis, Brooks, Hinton, or Jarreau can get hot and take over scoring/playmaking. Then you have Harris, Brady, and White in the post. What a team Sampson has put together. Edit: Forgot about Alley, great defense and can hit threes.
Man they bring it defensively every game. They rotate extremely well. The damn Rockets should take note! That Cumberland kid for UC is freaking good!!!
Glad to see you get to stick around. Have to admit there was a time midway through the 2nd half when the game was still in the balance, when Cumberland was scoring at will, when the refs were not letting us play defense, that I thought there was a chance we might lose this one.
When is the last time you could say our size made the difference in an athletic game like this. The two things that stood out were that we beat a top tier talent who was scoring at will on us. And I think secondly, we needed to win with our athletic team. And we did. Just another sign that we are deep and that we adapt. Size on defense and on offense (Jarreau) made the difference. It was disappointing that our shooters were basically taken out of the game due to the athleticism of the defense (Brady, Brooks, and White), but I think that was ok. We had similar problems last year. The difference this year was we countered with more athletic players. Jarreau and Harris were great. Thought Harris stayed with his doubles way too long, but Cincinnati didn't seem to take advantage. We were also getting stuck on picks way too long early. Overall, we found another way to win. I was very happy to see Davis playing great D against a super scorer, and at the same time still filling it up when he too was overmatched in size. When Alley bricked his first three I was like here we go again, but kudos for stepping up and hitting a few key bombs.
Such a great win!! Jarreau was the difference. I was never when Galen went to the bench at that spot...but Deeky was just awesome!
We are up one spot to #8 in the new power rankings. Other polls not out yet but you would think we would be ranked #10 or better.
Yesterday was the first UH basketball game I've been to since the Phi Slamma Jamma days. Fertitta center is pretty awesome, and was nice to see the place rocking for Cougar basketball.
Today will no longer be known as the day Buster Douglas KO'd Tyson, it is the day Jarreau has himself some bearcat and biscuit. .
I'm really interested to see Hinton's development in the offseason and what he comes back with next year. He already has a fully developed body. He shows flashes of solid handles, but is sometimes a little bit out of control. His jumpshot mechanics are solid, and he already has a great mid-range game. The last few games, he's been hitting 3s at a better rate, but there's still room for improvement there. He did well guarding a top-tier talent in Cumberland yesterday. Hinton has all the potential to be the best player in the conference in a year or two.
Most players make a big jump from their Freshman to Sophomore years. Armoni Brooks made a huge improvement in his game after his freshman year.
if both hinton and jarreau can both mature as well as davis/robinson did, their ceiling is going to be even higher as a starting backcourt next year. With Brooks returning and talented 4 star recruit caleb mills in the mix, just more to look forward to in the future. Sampson and co. have done a great job of building a foundation to not only be able to compete now, but still setting themselves up to continue to be competitive down the road.