The Cougars bounced-back after the heartbreaking loss in Cincinnati with a strong 75-62 win against the Tulane Green Wave Thursday night.
Following the game, head coach Kelvin Sampson and sophomore guard Nate Hinton reflected on how the team doesn’t pine over the outcome of games.
“We just go to practice the next day. We know what we did wrong, and everyone is held accountable,” said Hinton, who finished with his eighth double-double of the season. “We just don’t want to lose two in a row … We just have to keep moving forward.”
Sampson expanded on Hinton’s statement by emphasizing the team’s even-keel approach to all games, regardless of whether it is in a win or a loss.
“We just play,” Sampson said. “We don’t get overly excited when we win, and while everyone is sticking their head in the sand when they lose a game or looking for something to be cynical about, (Houston doesn’t) … we are not wired that way …
“Our job is to watch film and figure it out.”
Even though Houston has won six of its last seven games and is 18-5 on the season, 8-2 in the conference, Sampson acknowledged that the team has weaknesses.
“This team has got holes, but everyone’s got holes,” the Sampson said. “I look around the landscape of college basketball, and I haven’t seen a team that I would say is great … but even though you may not be as aesthetically pleasing as you’d like, very rarely am I disappointed in their effort.”
As he has done all season long, Sampson attributes the weaknesses of the team to youth.
“We’re not a dominant team,” he said. “I know what a dominant team looks like, they are usually full of juniors and seniors… when you start back over, you (have to) build up to that.”