Men's Basketball Sports

Commentary: Hard work, effort are paying off for Cougars

WEB-Justin-Tijerina-IMG_1230

Head coach Kelvin Sampson has coached his team into a 16-7 record this season, with a chance to eclipse 10 conference wins for the first time in five years. | Justin Tijerina/The Cougar

The Cougars are having a rebirth this season, with a chance to have one of their best seasons in a long time and a very real chance to break the 20-win mark for the first time since the 2012-2013 season.

Last season, in the first year under head coach Kelvin Sampson, the Cougars totaled 13 wins, with just four of those coming against conference teams.

This season, UH is 16-7 overall and 6-5 in the American Athletic Conference, benefiting from a schedule front-loaded with easy teams that allowed them to build confidence.

This year’s team has showed a resilience that wasn’t present in the previous squad. They’ve been able to hang around in tight games, make a comeback when down and hold a lead when they’re ahead.

While a 6-5 mark is far from stellar, they’re on pace for their best conference record in the last five years, with the previous best an 8-10 record in the 2013-2014 season.

For much of the conference season, UH has shown they can hang with the toughest teams in the AAC, playing conference-leading Southern Methodist University tight on the road and taking a big win from them at Hofheinz, while taking an early win over second-place Temple University earlier in the season.

The biggest improvement the team made is season is in their ability to refocus after a losing streak. Sampson and the Cougars refocused and rattled off three-straight wins after dropping four in a row through a tough stretch of games against SMU, UConn, the University of Cincinnati and the University of South Florida.

This year, Sampson has shown command of his squad, with the team running faster, pushing harder and diving for loose balls. Since he’s arrived at UH, Sampson has preached the doctrine of hard work and effort, pushing a message that they can be the hardest playing team in the conference, if not the nation.

He may not have the skillful players of UConn or SMU, but Sampson has his players buying in to work hard every possession this season, proving you don’t have to have the best talent to play hard.

In the second year of a rebuilding project, the team looks better, but has shown some flashes of less than brilliance. And Sampson shouldn’t expect to get any four or five-star prospects soon; Houston just isn’t a destination school for basketball, not anymore. There’s a history here at UH, but it’s just that, a history.

Long gone are the years of the Phi Slama Jama and yearly NCAA Tournament Appearances.

Hofheinz Pavilion itself stands as a testament to a once-great program that had fallen into a bit of decay.

But Sampson is working to turn that around, and he’s changing the culture of this team, which is showing on the court.

With seven games left on their schedule, the Cougars have a chance to build some good momentum heading into the conference tournament. Sampson has shown that he doesn’t need the best prospects to make his system work, and each year he has to build on that will only see the team improve.

[email protected]

Leave a Comment