The AAC Championship game should be played this afternoon followed almost immediately by the NCAA Selection Show. Instead, the team came home on Thursday and had the traditional end of season meeting that ended the 2019-2020 season.
Let’s have some fun with numbers from the 2019-2020 basketball season:
1
Nationally, in conference games only, UH was tops … first … numero uno in 3-point field goal defense. AAC teams shot 25.1% against UH from beyond the arc. No team in the nation was better.
44.2
Recall that in November, Rice made 13 three-pointers against this team and in the next game, Oregon made 10! The Owls and Ducks combined to shoot 23/52 (44.2%).
14.8
Fast forward two months and in games at ECU, at Wichita State, at Memphis, and vs. USF, the four teams made 12 three-pointers.
Combined.
Altogether, they shot 12/81 (14.8%) from deep. That’s great coaching, fantastic scouting, amazing buy-in, and a little luck.
8
The Coogs finished 8th nationally in 3PT FG defense for the full season at 28.6%.
200
Just how well did the Coogs defend the 3-pt show in conference? UH was 200th nationally in 3PT FG defense the day conference play began. They moved up 192 spots.
7
Teams shot just 38.3% (total field goals) against the Cougars all season – that was good enough for 7th-best in the NCAA.
12
UH finished 12th in Torvik’s T-Rank. The Coogs were at 20th in the NCAA NET, 14th in KenPom, and 15 in the ESPN BPI.
1975
With the Memphis game serving as the finale, UH ended a season with a win for the first time since 1974-75. The previous season was the last that ended with a win at home (a win over Rice in both years). 1974-75 was the last season before entering the SWC.
9.5
That was UH’s final average rebound margin. That was #1 in the country.
3
The Cougars finished 3rd in offensive rebounds per game nationally at 14.42 per game.
2012
Under the last three coaches (Tom Penders, James Dickey, Sampson), a season has ended before March 8th just once. It was in 2012 in a first-round OT loss in the C-USA Tournament.
3
Kelvin Sampson is now 3 wins short of Pat Foster for second all-time in UH history. Kelvin is at 139 while Foster sits at 142 wins.
2
Sampson is now #2 all-time at UH in conference wins. The win over Memphis was his 71st on Cullen, pushing past Pat Foster’s 70. Foster was 70-38 in 7 seasons while Sampson is 71-37 in six years.