The Cougars made a statement in their 95-53 win over Grambling State on Saturday at Hoffheinz Pavilion.
It had nothing to do with them beating down an overmatched South Western Athletic Conference team, or that they did it with former Conference USA First Team selections Lanny Smith and Robert Fluff McKiver on the bench for more than half of the game.
Houston established itself in the paint early and showed it had the personnel to do it from virtually every angle and whenever it wanted to.
Following the lead of freshman guard Brockeith Pane, who scored a career-high 26 points by slashing to the rim and drawing contact in the process, Houston knocked down 29 of 59 shots from inside the arc.
That’s right. The Cougars took 59 shots that were either inside the paint or somewhere relatively close to the basket.
Head coach Tom Penders said his team will make it a priority to replicate that style of play in future games. This year’s team has the framework to do so.
"My philosophy isn’t just to jack up threes," Penders said. "It’s to win games and get the most out of what we do and what we do best. So we don’t have to take as many threes this year if we have guards who can get to the paint."
Though Pane, Smith, McKiver, freshman Zamal Nixon and sophomore Kelvin Lewis, who got his first start and finished with nine points and six rebounds, provided plenty of offensive fire power for the Cougars, they didn’t end up finishing with a 42-point lead solely on a basis of their shooting.
Senior guard/forward Dion Dowell led the defensive charge and picked up four bocks in the process before getting into foul trouble early in the second half. Houston held Grambling to a 29.3 percent shooting.
The 5-1 Cougars will face Coastal Carolina 7 p.m. tonight at Hoffheinz.
