The color guy for the East Carolina game kept saying "this game is far from over" every time EC cut the lead below 20 pt. Seriously, the game was over from the tipoff.
Plus Kellin is ‘coach in waiting’ for when Kelvin retires so the Sampson coaching tree will stay at UH. Kelvin should already be in the hall of fame, what he has done with the program is nothing short of phenomenal.
On a night where ECU packed their house 95%, closest to sellout for them in years, we held them to just three FG's and 19 pts in the first half. Total dominance. We coasted to an easy 19 point win. Would have been more if not for the way the game was called in the 2nd half. Maybe the refs had some money on the game? We should be safe with our rental of #1 rank for another week. Never gets old seeing our beloved Cougar team ranked #1. Though with disrespect from sportswriters in other parts of the country looking down their noses at our talented well coached team. Numbers 2 and 3 barely scraped by with 2 point wins at home while numbers 5,6,7, and 8 all lost. I think we are safely on top for another week. We dodged a bullet with what looked like a rolled ankle with Sasser. Was happy to see him back in a few minutes later and finish with a strong game leading all scorers with 22 points. Player of the game Tramon Mark IMO. 20 pts, 9 rbs, and 3 assists. His shot looked good. With Shead in foul trouble due to BS calls, Mark did a great job stepping in and hit some key shots to swing the momentum back our way.
Mark Berman on Twitter: "Kelvin Sampson on significance of finishing the regular season #1 in the nation: “None,not for me..It’s our 3rd time being #1 & I said it right the 1st time. You’re renting it. We were gonna lose to somebody.The team that replaced us was gonna lose too. It’s all musical chairs…” https://t.co/dwsVDfGYw4" / Twitter
Roberts has really grown into a solid offensive contributor. He's looked the part defensively for a while. But recently he has been very steady. In the month of February he is 45 of 63 from the floor. 71%.
Senior night tomorrow. The last time sasser and Chaney will be playing a game at home. What a great run these two have been a part of. This last one will be the biggest one
Also not a senior obviously, but this will be Jarace's last game at home. This season really blew by. Can't wait for this last run of the conference tourney and national title run
Great games by Shead and Sasser. The slow starts concern me. Every team UH plays in the NCAA Tournament will be better than Wichita which always seems to give the Cougars fits. UH doesn't usually overpower teams, they grind them down. UH has the talent to win it all, but they will have to prove that they have the competitive temperament to match.
Easy W. Onto Memphis for the last game. Kendrick has this game as a must win for sure after missing the last one. They also need the W for their resume to solidly a spot in the tourney
Cougars just wear out their opponents. They are relentless, and just keep going at their opponents. Tenaciousness and defensive effort basketball is what I see when I see the Cougars play!
How does a team shoot 65% from the field, twice what an opponent normally hits against us, and still get blown out? This game was a head scratcher for me. Glad we won. Broke the 9 wins in a row curse. Now have our first 10 game winning streak of the year. Looking forward to stretching it to 11 against Mudcats on Sunday. One of the things that stood out for me in this game was us going 20-22 at the FT line. In testament to the strangeness of this game, wouldn't you know it, the two FT's that were missed were by our best FT shooter, Marcus Sasser. As much as I am somewhat concerned with our slow starts, I am more concerned with our performance on offense against zone defenses. We have had trouble all year when someone throws a zone at us. We need to figure it out. Also concerned about the times that teams go into attack the rim on every possession mode. It seems when that happens the refs call a foul on us on every possession. I wasn't at the game but on TV it appeared that most of the fouls they were calling against us were phantom calls. Proud of our coach for keeping his composure and not getting technical fouls and/or thrown out of the game.
This is a very insightful post. This team is hard to predict. Their demeanor is a bit odd. They never seem to get excited or hyped up which is strange for a basketball team. And you are right, they rarely get the calls. Maybe this is "high ranked syndrome."
