Give credit to the Cougars for giving it their best shot. That’s all one could have asked for.
The Cougars were heavily outmatched heading into Wednesday night’s showdown at Associated Press No. 1 Memphis. They faced a highly talented team that had won 46 consecutive home games, the current longest home-court winning-streak in the nation, and the odds were that Memphis would roll to an easy win.
But UH hung tough and was never really out of the game. The Cougars played stingy defense, rebounded well and hit clutch baskets in the first half. They played like a team on the verge of pulling off an upset.
However, the turning points came after halftime. The Cougars’ shooters suddenly went ice cold, their ball handling became sloppy and Memphis took swift advantage, converting the miscues into easy buckets that fueled a 14-3 run that lasted four minutes and five seconds in the second half.
The Tigers took a 47-40 lead, and sustained it the rest of the way. UH never recovered.
Still, you can’t say the Cougars didn’t try.
"Our kids played with courage," UH head coach Tom Penders said. "They played real hard, fought for every lost ball and rebound, and that’s a good sign."
Wednesday’s loss also showed Penders something else.
"If we fight this hard every night, we’re going to be a tough out for anybody," he said.
He’s right. UH is going to be just that for all remaining opponents, including the NCAA Tournament selection committee, which will have the final say on whether the Cougars receive their first bid to the NCAA Tournament since the 1991-92 season.
Wednesday’s loss didn’t help the Cougars’ chances of reaching the NCAA Tournament, but it didn’t kill them, either. It just means UH will have no room for error in its quest to reach the Big Dance.
The Cougars, who entered Wednesday’s game with a Ratings Percentage Index of 52 (www.teamrankings.com/ncb/8powerratings.php3), have seven remaining regular-season games, and they’ll need to sweep that slate to keep their chances alive. A loss will give the selection committee an excuse to exclude them from the 65-team NCAA Tournament field.
The final stretch also includes road contests against Alabama-Birmingham (RPI of 74 as of Wednesday) and Texas-El Paso (RPI of 89). Those are the most important games on the Cougars’ slate because UAB and UTEP have the third- and fourth-best RPI, respectively, among Conference USA teams.
OK, so that’s not entirely correct. Every game is equally important because the Cougars can’t afford to lose any of them.
But if Wednesday’s performance was a sign of things to come, the Cougars have to like their chances of running the table.
UH is one of the few C-USA teams that has managed to hold its own against Memphis. Any team that can do that should be more than capable of dispatching the league’s other teams.
"This team is playing like an NCAA Tournament team, and that’s all I can ask for," Penders said.
That and seven consecutive wins to end the regular season.
