How about some news and numbers relative to this Houston Cougar team?
Six UH teams have won 30 games in a season. Guy V. Lewis’ Final Four teams in ’67-68 and ’82-83 won 31 games, and his ’83-84 team won 32 games, as did last year’s team. In 2018-19, the team won 33 games, and this year, the team is at 33 wins. Beat Miami, and it’s a new school record for wins.
A win over Miami will give UH the most wins in four years in school history (119).
After the NKU win, this team set the school record for wins in a two-year period.
In the last three years, UH has 93 wins, four more than second-best Gonzaga and ten more than third-best Kansas.
An appreciation for Cougar greats
Marcus Sasser is UH’s best player, but to step back and see how he stacks up historically is interesting.
Sasser needs 17 points on Friday to get to 50% of what Elvin Hayes scored in 1967-68. The Big E scored 1,214 points that year, and Marcus is at 590.
Marcus is exactly 500 points behind Otis Birdsong’s best year (76-77) when he scored 1090.
Sasser’s career-high is 31; Elvin’s career-high is 62. Marcus had 31 one time. Elvin scored 31, or better, 42 times.
Sasser is 16th all-time in scoring at UH but could move up to 14th with 22 points on Friday.
Obviously, Sasser plays in a much more balanced team offense and has never needed to be a 30+ ppg guy.
Still fun to relive how awesome Elvin was.
UH is 5-0 in white “Cougars” uniforms this year and 18-1 all-time in them. The Cougars wore them against Northern Kentucky and Auburn – expect to see them again on Friday.
The Cougars whites now have the best winning percentage among uniform combinations in the Kelvin Sampson era (94.7%). Previously, the grey uniforms (15-1, 93.4%) were the highest. However, the current team does not like the grey uniforms; they have not been worn this season and were only worn twice last year.
Jarace Walker is #2 all-time among UH freshmen in blocks with 42. Ja’Vier Francis is #3 with 39.
This will be Houston’s 14th trip to either Kansas or Missouri in the NCAA Tournament. It will be UH’s third trip to Kansas City – the Cougars have been to Wichita five times and Lawrence four.
| Year | Location | Record | Game 1 | Game 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Kansas City | |||
| 2019 | Kansas City | 0-1 | L - Kentucky | NA |
| 2018 | Wichita | 1-1 | W - SDSU | L - Michigan |
| 1984 | St. Louis | 2-0 | W - Memphis | W - Wake Forest |
| 1983 | Kansas City | 2-0 | W - Memphis | W - Villanova |
| 1982 | St. Louis | 2-0 | W - Missouri | W - Boston College |
| 1973 | Wichita | 0-1 | L - ULL | NA |
| 1971 | Wichita | 1-1 | L - Kansas | W - Notre Dame |
| 1970 | Lawrence | 0-2 | L - Drake | L - Kansas St |
| 1968 | Wichita | 2-0 | W - Louisville | W - TCU |
| 1967 | Lawrence | 2-0 | W - Kansas | W - SMU |
| 1966 | Wichita | 1-0 | W - Colorado St | NA |
| 1965 | Manhattan | 0-2 | L - Oklahoma St | L - SMU |
| 1961 | Lawrence | 0-2 | L - Kansas St | L - Texas Tech |
| 1956 | Lawrence | 0-2 | L - SMU | L - Kansas St |
Reggie Chaney’s 12th and Jamal Shead’s 10th NCAA Tournament game will be Friday. The school record is Michael Young at 16 games played. Shead, J’Wan Roberts (8 currently), and Tramon Mark (7) each have a chance to break Young’s record (Mark is listed as a sophomore and, conceivably, could play 15 more NCAA games after Friday).
Most blocked shots in a UH NCAA Tournament game:
6 – Jarace Walker (Auburn 2023)
5 – J’Wan Roberts (Auburn 2023)
4 – Reggie Chaney (Cleveland St 2021)
The top three in school history are on this current team (history going back to 1985 when blocked shots became an official stat).