Jarreau reminds me of Clyde the glide in the Phi Slamma Jamma days. Tremendous athletic ability. A little out of control at times. If he can work on his outside shot a little he will be hard to stop. Sampson is the perfect coach for him and will help take him up a notch to another level. I noticed he rolled his ankle towards the end. Hope he is okay.
Davis, Jarreau lead No. 22 Houston over NJIT 80-59 HOUSTON -- Houston finished off its best nonconference season in school history with a strong second half Saturday. Corey Davis Jr. scored 19 points, DeJon Jarreau had 13 and No. 22 Houston beat NJIT 80-59 to remain undefeated. Brison Gresham had 11 points and seven rebounds and Armoni Brookshad 10 points for Houston (13-0), which shot 50 percent overall and 63 percent in the second half. Houston has won a nation-best 26 straight home games and set a school record for best nonconference record. The Cougars have the second-best start since 1967-68 team started 31-0. "Being 13-0 is tremendous, but last time I checked, they don't hand out any medals for being undefeated in nonconference play," coach Kelvin Sampson said. "We never talk about it. ... We just talk about our next game." Zach Cooks scored 20 points and Shyquan Gibbs and Diandre Wilsoneach added 10 for the Highlanders (11-3), who shot 33 percent from the field, including 9 of 30 on 3-pointers. "I thought we played well for the first 15 minutes of the game, and then from that point on, all the credit in the world goes to the University of Houston and coach Sampson's team," NJIT coach Brian Kennedy said. "They wore us down defensively. They were able to use their size and their bench. ... Once the momentum started their way, we couldn't stop the ball rolling." The Cougars opened the second half with a 24-6 run to lead 51-29. That included five straight points by Davis, capped by a fast-break layup with 11:14 remaining. "I thought we took a step forward in the second half offensively," Sampson said. "Guys loosened up and made shots." Houston started slowly, falling behind 18-8 on a Cooks' 3-pointer with 12 minutes remaining in the first half. "I think we were playing well and a couple of those 3s went in because we were moving the ball better," Kennedy said. "We were getting to the basket a little bit. We were moving the ball inside and out, and we were moving better. I think some of the 3s we took were a little uncharacteristically quick and challenged by Houston." The Cougars finished the half outscoring NJIT 19-5 capped by a monstrous dunk from Jarreau with a minute left in the half. Jarreau had six points to lead the run. "I just think at the start of the game, we didn't have the right attitude," Sampson said. "I thought the score reflected that. Last 10 minutes of the first half, they scored five points. I thought our attitude reflected that, too. Once we got our attitudes adjusted a little bit and started getting after those guys, you could see us take off." BIG PICTURE NJIT: The Highlanders look like they will be a team to watch in the Atlantic Sun, competing with Houston for the first half. This was the first game NJIT has played outside the Northeast. NJIT started 4 of 6 on 3-pointers and followed that up with 13 straight misses. Houston: The Cougars fell behind early for the third time in four games, but they were able to recover by halftime. Houston shot 29 percent on 3-pointers, continuing struggles from behind the arc. Houston outrebounded NJIT 48-33. POLL IMPLICATIONS Houston should remain at least at No. 22 after winning its lone game of the week. UP NEXT NJIT: Visit Duquesne on Monday. Houston: Opens conference play at home against Tulsa on Wednesday.
It's been a slow climb up the polls but we are still making progress. Up 3 to #19 in AP and up 2 to #17 in the Coaches Poll. If we have impressive wins this week against Tulsa and Memphis we should have a nice jump upward come next Monday. Congrats to Coach Sampson and the players for completing the non conference part of their schedule 13-0. Now it is time for them to take care of business within the AAC. Lots of tough competition this year. I think we will be up to the challenge.
Where the hell is everybody tonight? Everyone should realize that this wonderful site created by Clutch would not exist without the University of Houston’s basketball program. As tinman would say, the Houston Cougars are the purest form of basketball in the city Y’all better recognize Go Coogs!
Not too interested in what they’re saying , but I love the nostalgia videos of Phi Slama Jama. This team is on the verge once again.
Ended up being a fairly easy win over Tulsa after we got past our customary slow start. Man if our guys work a little bit on our shooting. We miss a lot of easy shots. Definitely a lot of talent and potential on this team. If we stay healthy and continue to get better with our shooting watch out.
How far do they get before they stub their toe? At Temple I would think be a tough one to pull off. Maybe they are just going to get better each week like coach says. It's been a long wait for this program to return to the national spotlight. Ultimately I'd love to see them upset one of the giants in the March Madness and pull in a final four shot. That would really do wonders for some of the recruiting. Go Coogs!
Not even sure how Tulsa won 10 games. This appeared a mismatch. Cougars dominated. Nothing appeared critically wrong at tipoff, the offense was moving the ball and getting good looks, they had energy, they looked good, but we are consistently slow to start and that has to be a concern because it's a trend now. Yet we are clearly talented enough and so strong on defense we always bring it before the buzzer goes off.
It is hard to tell how long this unbeaten streak will last. We have dug ourselves some pretty big holes a couple of times this year but we always find a way to crawl back out and get the win. I think it is because the team is so deep at every position. So far the coach has been able to make adjustments and bring in the right group of players to get the rhythm and control back in the game. But we are playing with fire missing so many easy shots. When we get to the Cincinnati type teams on our schedule we are going to have to start shooting better. Another thing that concerns me is that we have played so many of our games at home. We are not really tested as much on the road as I wish we were. Next up Memphis. Not sure how good they are this year but year in and year out they always seem to have a good team. And then our first road conference game of the year against Temple. We are going to have to shoot better IMO to win these next 2 games.
