Let’s go inside the box score of UH’s 67-65 win over SDSU in the First Round.
Rob Gray had an amazing night but most impressively, he scored 21 of UH’s final 22 points. Nura Zanna hit a free throw with 3:36 remaining – he was the only other Coog to score in the last 15:59 of the game.
Gray was able to dominate the last 16 minutes even though SDSU knew he would be the only option. When you have to stop 1 guy and you can’t do it, that’s a problem.
Intense Rob is the best Rob.
The Coogs only had 5 assists all game (SDSU had 11). At first glance, it’s alarming that Rob Gray didn’t have any assists in 36 minutes. But when you are the team’s only real scoring threat, it’s reasonable that you wouldn’t have many assists.
Can we safely say this was a HUGE win for the Coogs? As big a win as we’ve had in 34 years, right? And you’d think UH Communications would be all-over making sure that they get everything perfect. But when you go to UHCougars.com, don’t click Notes. Or Quotes. Or Photos. None of the links work. Getting a link right is the least difficult thing they do. Get it together, people.
UH gets win #27 which is tied for 4th-most in school history. The four other teams that got to 27 or more went to the Final Four.
SDSU shot 35 free throws but missed 14 of them. That’s the entire ball game. Gray went to the line 12 times in the 2nd half. The rest of the UH team had just 9 FT attempts.
Galen Robinson had one of his quietest games of the season. Limited to just 24 minutes of action due to early foul trouble, he took only 3 shots and delivered just 2 assists.
UH made only 8 shots in the 2nd half and Gray scored 23 of the team’s 28 points. Devin Davis hit 2 early jumpers, Zanna made a free throw, and the rest of the half was Gray. While #32 deserves praise, the fact is that the Coogs need more from other players. Especially in crunch time. And especially tomorrow vs. a very good Michigan team.
Gray took 14 of UH’s 28 second-half shots. That means besides #32, we hit 2 of 14 shots (14%). The Coogs went 1/11 from the field from 10:31 to go until Gray’s 3-pointers with 40 seconds left. Overall, UH shot just 28.6% in the 2nd half. The slow-it-down strategy and the execution were lacking. Against the Wolverines, if we try to slow it down, we lose. You can’t out-Big10 a Big10 team.
