Houston will take the court on Wednesday night at Fertitta Center against a UT-Arlington team whose game plan has “no rhyme or reason.” | Trevor Nolley/The Cougar
Houston returns home after their 76-56 win against South Carolina as they host UT-Arlington on Wednesday night at Fertitta Center.
The Cougars enter the game winners of three straight and four of their last five, and a big reason for their success has been their improvement on defense.
Houston has held each of their last three opponents to under 73 points. They did that only once in the first four games of the season.
Head coach Kelvin Sampson attributes the improvement on defense to experience.
“Galen (Robinson) started over 130 games here,” Sampson said. “Marcus, when he started had zero, but he was out there playing defense at the same position Galen was playing, think about how many mistakes he’s gonna make the first game and the second game and the third game and the fourth game and fifth game.”
For Sampson, however, the improvement is not unusual.
“That’s what I call November basketball,” Sampson said. “December’s different; it’s December basketball. January will be different. Our team won’t look anything in January that we look like in November. Last year it was no different year before that was no different 25 years ago was no different either.”
Despite the improvement, the Mavericks’ offensive scheme will provide a unique challenge for the Cougars.
“Any team that runs motion, (makes you) susceptible to breakdowns,” Sampson said. “There’s no rhyme or reason to anything they do, but they do it well. You know, this team beat Tulsa, at home. They play people tough.”
A big reason for the Mavericks’ competitiveness in most of their games has to do with their leaders.
“They’ve got three guys that can hurt you offensively,” Sampson said. “The point guard (Brian) Warren. (Jabari) Narcis their four and their leading scorer, (David) Azore, who’s a Houston kid.”
Five of the Mavericks’ six losses have been by single digits, including a six-point defeat to No. 8 Gonzaga.
“Chris (Ogden) is a good coach,” Sampson said. “You know, watching them on film, they’ve got a good plan. They got good players, so every game you play is always going to be a challenge.”
