And like that, Houston’s dream season is over. We’re back, recording from Kansas City to reflect on the loss to Kentucky that ended the Cougars’ season, but also to look back on the phenomenal year we just witnessed, and to appreciate the incredible Cougar careers of this year’s senior class. We also took a peek forward to next year, in terms of the on-court talent returning, as well as Kelvin Sampson’s future with the program.
Why did the Houston Cougars lose to Kentucky in the Sweet 16? Scott and Holman Pawdcast Hosts Sam Razz and Dustin Rensink join Host Robert Land to look at:
1) Shaky Refs
2) Does UH needs more size?
3) Will Coach Sampson stay in Houston?
4) Replacing Corey Davis
5) Saying goodbye to Galen Robinson
In terms of next year I looked at our returning players who saw game time and here, as a percentage of production, is what we have returning.
| NAME | GP | MIN | MPG | PTS | PTS | OR | DR | REB | REB | AST | AST | STL | STL | BLK | BLK | TO | TO | FGM | FGA | FG% | FTM | FTA | FT% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armoni Brooks G | 37 | 1136 | 31 | 494 | 13.4 | 40 | 194 | 234 | 6.3 | 32 | 0.9 | 28 | 0.8 | 11 | 0.3 | 32 | 0.865 | 172 | 425 | 40.5% | 29 | 46 | 63.0% | 121 | 310 | 39.0% |
| Dejon Jarreau G | 30 | 539 | 18 | 260 | 8.7 | 10 | 103 | 113 | 3.8 | 100 | 3.3 | 17 | 0.6 | 14 | 0.5 | 63 | 2.1 | 90 | 191 | 47.1% | 68 | 98 | 69.4% | 12 | 33 | 36.4% |
| Nate Hinton G | 37 | 713 | 19 | 268 | 7.2 | 40 | 122 | 162 | 4.4 | 43 | 1.2 | 38 | 1.0 | 3 | 0.1 | 34 | 0.919 | 90 | 218 | 41.3% | 60 | 70 | 85.7% | 28 | 83 | 33.7% |
| Cedrick Alley Jr. F | 37 | 664 | 18 | 172 | 4.6 | 36 | 73 | 109 | 2.9 | 26 | 0.7 | 17 | 0.5 | 9 | 0.2 | 26 | 0.703 | 56 | 161 | 34.8% | 29 | 38 | 76.3% | 31 | 116 | 26.7% |
| Chris Harris Jr. C | 26 | 291 | 11 | 66 | 2.5 | 42 | 45 | 87 | 3.3 | 2 | 0.1 | 7 | 0.3 | 27 | 1.0 | 8 | 0.308 | 30 | 41 | 73.2% | 6 | 29 | 20.7% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Brison Gresham F | 37 | 504 | 14 | 128 | 3.5 | 62 | 66 | 128 | 3.5 | 14 | 0.4 | 11 | 0.3 | 48 | 1.3 | 36 | 0.973 | 55 | 78 | 70.5% | 18 | 35 | 51.4% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Caleb Broodo C | 8 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 0.3 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 0.9 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0.125 | 1 | 2 | 50.0% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Fabian White Jr. F | 32 | 587 | 18 | 203 | 6.3 | 62 | 66 | 128 | 4.0 | 22 | 0.7 | 14 | 0.4 | 19 | 0.6 | 33 | 1.031 | 79 | 173 | 45.7% | 45 | 67 | 67.2% | 0 | 1 | 0.0% |
| Justin Gorham F | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Neil Van Beck G | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Caleb Mills G | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| J’Wan Roberts F | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Marcus Sasser G | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 37 | 4446 | 15.02 | 1593 | 43.1 | 968 | 26.2 | 239 | 6.5 | 132 | 3.6 | 131 | 3.5 | 233 | 6.3 | 573 | 1289 | 44.5% | 255 | 383 | 66.6% | 192 | 543 | 35.4% | ||
| Returning Production % | 60.1% | 57.2% | 71.1% | 43.6% | 55.0% | 81.4% | 59.4% | 58.4% | 58.5% | 52.0% | 54.9% | 57.7% | 57.8% |
Good news, even though we lose 60% of our starting 5 as of year end, we return 60% of the minutes played, 57% of points, 71% of rebounds, 58% of 3-pointers, and 81% of blocks.
Bad news, foul shooting for the returning group is 67%, Turnovers 59%.
Turnovers don’t concern me too much because Dejon had a lot early on but got better toward the end and overall more experienced next year.
We only return 43% of assists. Galen was a beast in that area and defense. I think we will be OK in assists if we make shots. In addition to returning 58% of 3-point production, our returning shooters averaged 35.4% this year and that includes Alley’s 26.7%.
One stat I couldn’t find was an individual players defensive scoring stats. As a team we held opponents to 36-ish % made field goals but I was looking for that % on a player by player basis. Maybe some you data miners can find it.
My analysis of the stats is not very complete since I don’t know hoops all that well and many of you can do better with these stats. Have a party and I look forward to reading your take on next year’s potential.
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Good stats to see. Next season is a giant question mark for me. I think we will see some dropoff defensively as we lose our elite backcourt defense with Davis and Robinson graduating. But there have also been times when Jarreau and Hinton have shown the ability to play good defense–if they can become more consistent on that end, maybe we don’t miss a beat.
Backup PG is also a question mark. Maybe Mills or Sasser can fill that role–both have shown the ability to make plays for others at the high school level, but we don’t know about how they’ll do at this level of play.
This offseason will be critical for Hinton’s development, and I think a lot of our potential to be a great team will depend on how much Hinton improves in the offseason. He played like a really talented freshman this year (which is what we expected). There were times when he looked like the best player on the floor (UConn AAC tournament game), and then there were times when he was making lots of mistakes and had to be benched. His 3pt shooting showed signs of improvement in the second half of the season, and him getting more consistent with it will be important for the team. We need additional shooters outside of Brooks. I would also be nice to see Hinton start to take it to the basket more. This may already be a part of his skillset, but he didn’t get many opportunities this season with the personnel he was often on the floor with.
I don’t see players like Jarreau, Brooks, or White making large strides this offseason. We have somewhat unknown commodities in Gorham, Mills, and Sasser. And there’s potential for improvement with Hinton and Alley. I think this is a team capable of making the tournament, but I expect the team to be worse than this year’s team.
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I suspect the team will have more losses, be a bit more frustrating for the fans, but also have the potential to meet or exceed the accomplishments – conference title, Sweet Sixteen – of this year’s team.
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