Houston Part II

[Queens_NYC]

Saturday, January 28th, 2023
2:15 PM
Fertitta Center
CBS

The Bearcats (13-7 [5-3 AAC], KenPom #68, NET #80) hit the road again this weekend to take on Houston (19-2, [7-1 AAC], KenPom #1, NET #1) in an effort to snap their current 5-game losing streak against the Cougars.

Since our 72-59 defeat in Clifton on January 8th, the Cougars beat USF at home (83-77) and Tulane on the road (80-60) before losing to Temple at home (56-55) last weekend. They bounced back Wednesday evening with a win at UCF (82-71).

In their loss to Temple, Houston shot 33.9% from the field and 52.4% from the free throw line - both of which marked their second-lowest totals of the season. Despite only making 6 2-point shots all game and shooting a worse % from inside and outside of the arc, Temple drew 19 fouls and shot an exceptional 20 for 22 from the charity stripe.

In his postgame presser, head coach Kelvin Sampson reported that star guard Marcus Sasser hurt his knee during Wednesday's UCF game. Sasser only played 25 minutes due to foul trouble but did finish the game, playing until the final horn.

Houston flexed their depth against UCF as 6'3 redshirt freshman guard Emanuel Sharp led the Cougars in scoring with 18 points. Sharp went scoreless in 4 minutes of action against UC several weeks ago.

 

[sedziobs]

We had a -10 turnover margin in the home matchup. That obviously can't happen again if we want to keep it close. The defensive gameplan wasn't too bad - I'd be happy if we force them into 27 midrange shots again with only 16 three attempts and 4 free throws. They had 8 dunks though.

Davenport was 0-7 from three, but Nolley and MAW were 7-8 combined. I'll take almost 50% from those guys again. DDJ got shut down, as he often does against good defenses. Our work on the boards was great. Can we repeat that and cut down turnovers?

 

[sirthought]

I predict they are going to go inside early and often to try to get Vic in foul trouble. Oguama needs to step up and add more productivity. I'm happier with him starting than Davenport, but still. Houston will be out to prove the loss was just a blip. But still that game, which was exciting, had good strategy.

 

[Queens_NYC]

14.5-point dogs.

Vegas does not like our chances.

 

[sedziobs]

14.5-point dogs.

Vegas does not like our chances.

+15 on Torvik

 

[sedziobs]

We should try to shoot 40 threes.

 

[Queens_NYC]

What a critical 6-point momentum shift at the end of the half between their 3 pt miss and MAW's halfcourter.

Houston shot an insane 12-16 (75%) from 2 that half.

Potential season-defining 2nd half coming up.

 

[sedziobs]

Nolley and MAW are now 12-13 (92%) from three against Houston this year.

And another half we outrebounded Houston. Beating them at their own game. Can we keep it up?

 

[Lawrugby]

However this comes out, probably loose, the Bearcats have played way over their heads. Great effort and game plan.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

Another big game opportunity. Lost.

It's old.

 

[sedziobs]

I thought we played pretty well in the second half despite losing it by double digits. Walker was simply unguardable. He was hitting a ton of NBA style contested iso midrange jumpers. We had quite a few wide open threes that didn't go, especially from Davenport. And we only turned it over twice in the second half and gave up just 7 offensive rebounds in the entire game. Major improvement over the last few years against Houston.

I think this officially ends our NCAA chances, even if we win out from here.

 

[sedziobs]

Adjusted for opponent, that was our best offensive performance of the season. Scoring 1.1 points per possession at Houston is no small feat. We took much better care of the ball this time and hit a good percentage from three. DDJ was looking to distribute in this game, and he ended with 9 assists. He can be a pretty good PG when he focuses on passing rather than scoring. MAW got shut down - his only points were the half time heave. Nolley and Lakhin had great games. Ody had 3 turnovers in only 16 minutes as his offensive woes continue. Davenport struggled on defense, but it seemed like he easily could have gone 5-7 from three instead of 2-7. Several of his misses were halfway down. It was basically a six man rotation, as no one else played more than 5 minutes.

Again I thought the defensive scheme was pretty good. We forced them into a lot of midrange shots but unfortunately they hit 14 of 20 from there. Walker was 6 for 7. There's not much you can do when that happens. Scheming to take away the midrange is a dangerous game to play.

Overall I was happy with our showing today. We have improved as the year has gone on, and Lakhin is developing into a complete player. We're in the top 50 on Torvik for the first time. I'm hoping we can finish the year strong and maybe get an NIT bid. We'll probably need to finish top 4 in the conference to make that happen.