Entering tonight’s game against East Carolina, the UH men’s basketball team faces a steep, uphill climb toward its first NCAA Tournament berth since the 1991-92 season.
The Cougars are 11-4 and 2-1 in Conference USA midway through the regular season. That’s not bad, but it’s not great when one considers that the Cougars’ Rating Percentage Index is only 97, according to NCAA.com.
The Cougars are in the ‘we need to win our conference tournament to get to the Big Dance’ territory. But they still need to ward off all of their C-USA rivals to gain a favorable seed in the tournament.
Thankfully, the Cougars will have UH junior guard Kelvin Lewis leading the charge.
Mr. Consistent
When it comes to consistency, few have matched Lewis. He leads the Cougars in scoring at 20 points per game, having scored in double figures in each game. Over the last four games Lewis has averaged 24.5 points on 44.8 percent shooting. The Cougars are 3-1 in that span.
The best outing of Lewis’ career came in Saturday’s 83-76 loss at Southern Miss. He scored a career-high 30 points (21 in the second half),.Plus, Lewis is not a one-trick pony. He can do more than hold his own on defense.
Watch a film of Lewis shutting down Alabama-Birmingham’s Robert Vaden, who hit only four of 13 shots in the Cougars’ 75-56 win on Jan. 10, and you’ll see just how talented he is.
‘Kelvin is a great defensive player, and hopefully he’ll start getting some respect for that part of his game,’ UH head coach Tom Penders said after that game.
Lewis is putting together a great season in his second season with the Cougars after transferring from Auburn. But you rarely hear him talk about that. He’s humble and prefers to let his coaches and teammates hand over all of the praises. That’s the kind of attitude that the Cougars are going to need during the second half of the regular season, which includes a rematch with Texas-El Paso, a huge game at Arizona and two big meetings against C-USA frontrunner Memphis.
Revenge factor
But before the Cougars get around to those games, they have some unfinished business to settle with ECU (9-7, 1-2 C-USA).
Last season, the Cougars were upset 84-83 by the Pirates in Greenville, N.C. The Cougars were 21-6 heading into the game and on track to land an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, but were derailed after losing to a 9-17 ECU squad.
Three members of this year’s team (Lewis, senior guard DaShaun Williams and senior center Marcus Cousin) played in that game. Each has eyes set on revenge against ECU. Lewis and junior guard Aubrey Coleman (18.1 points per game) are playing better than anyone else on the team, but Lewis has been more consistent.
And that bodes well for the Cougars as they head into the second half of the season.
