So many storylines in UH’s 76-43 blowout win over Wichita State. Perhaps the most important is that the Cougars are now in first place alone in the American Athletic Conference.
UH came out with great intensity Sunday afternoon and got the crowd into it early. Fourteen months into the Fertitta Center’s existence and it’s still weird thinking this but, once again, a fired-up UH basketball crowd played a part in a win.
The Cougars dominated in points off turnovers (18-5) and in bench points (30-12). UH is, by far, the deepest team in the conference. Only twice has a team outscored UH in bench points: Texas State (31 more minutes off the bench) and USF (by a point, 25-24).
Since December 15, UH has lost two road games by two points each (Tulsa, Cincinnati). Without the ice-cold second-half against the Bearcats, UH would have to be considered one of the hottest teams in the country.
In the first half, Wichita State made only 6 buckets. None further than 4 feet out.
They managed to make 8 shots in the second half.
Caleb Mills has made 40 three-pointers this season – 4th most for a freshman in school history.
Mills has scored 312 points this season – the 11th most in school history for a freshman. With 10 points at USF Wednesday, he’ll move into 9th all-time.
His 13.38 ppg would rank 4th all-time behind Rob Williams, George Williams, and Otis Birdsong.
Dang.
You have to feel great for DeJon Jarreau. After serving his one-game suspension, he came back on a mission. With his friend, New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara, in attendance to support him, Jarreau was methodical: 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists on 6/10 shooting. He played much more in control and with more intent than in his recent games.
Could the suspension have helped focus him on what’s important on the court?
Jarreau is now 11 assists away from back-to-back 100-assist seasons.
The Cougars are 15-0 when they win the opening tip this season.
Nerd Alert: I went through 23 years of box scores to find this one.
Today, Wichita State had four assists. One, two, three, four. Four different players had one assist each.
It was the lowest number of assists in a game for WSU since January 11, 1998, when they had three assists on a Sunday afternoon against Bradley. Three different players had one assist each that day.
Wichita State has had 4 assists twice since 1998:
4 vs. LSU (12/18/10)
4 vs. Delaware (11/16/2001)
Sunday, Quentin Grimes had 5 assists and DeJon Jarreau had four.
Quentin Grimes is now 23 of 43 (.535) shooting in his last six games and has scored 63 points in that span.
Deeper: Grimes averaged 2.57 assists through last weekend’s Cincinnati game but he’s had 5 in each game this week. Previously, he had 5 assists or more four times this season – never back-to-back, though.
Shooting it lights-out. And now, distributing it. Grimes is experiencing the Kelvin Effect: players just get better.
Pardon This Rant
Earlier this year, when Phi Slama Jama member Dave Rose visited Fertitta Center for the BYU game, and just two weeks after a heart attack, he was not introduced to the crowd by UH’s Marketing & Event Presentation staff. When former coach, 74-year old Tom Penders, came to the SMU game – no one bothered announcing him to the crowd, either.
But a guy that played one season for the Rockets (Marcus Camby) shows up and UH introduces him in the first half?
Pay attention to our history. Acknowledge our history. Celebrate our history.
That’s more important than a guy that didn’t even play here and that admitted to taking money, clothes, and jewelry from an agent – causing UMass to lose their Final Four banner.
To UH’s credit, they recognized Greg Ward, Tyus Bowser, and Demarcus Ayers today.
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— GoCoogs.com (@gocoogs1) February 9, 2020
Unfortunately, it’s likely that the people in charge of gameday operations don’t know who Rose and Penders are.
Taylor Eldridge of the Wichita Eagle says the game was WSU’s worst loss since February 1, 2003. Oof.
Worst loss for Wichita State since losing by 35, 94-59, to Southern Illinois at the Kansas Coliseum on Feb. 1, 2003.
— Taylor Eldridge (@tayloreldridge) February 9, 2020
43 points are pretty bad but Wichita State once scored 5 points, in a game against Ottawa in 1917.
WSU scored 41 last season at USF in a 13-point loss. Still, this game among the 10 games with the fewest points scored in the shot clock era for a proud program.
It was the 12th-largest halftime deficit for WSU since 1975.
Wichita State was 2/24 from three-point range. It was the worst shooting percentage and fewest made shots since November of 2014 when the Shockers went 0/11 in the season-opener vs. NMSU.
Only one WSU player made more than two shots.
When Wichita State first came into the league, they thumped the Cougars, 81-63 in Wichita.
Since then: UH is 5-0 with four of the wins coming by double-digits.
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