Men's Basketball Sports

‘Will to win’: DeJon Jarreau’s refusal to lose lifts UH into Sweet 16

The UH Cougars celebrate defeating the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament held at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 21, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. | Photo by Justin Tafoya/NCAA Photos via Getty Images

The UH Cougars celebrate defeating the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament held at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 21, 2021, in Indianapolis, Indiana. | Photo by Justin Tafoya/NCAA Photos via Getty Images

After sophomore guard Paul Mulcahy converted on a layup that put Rutgers up by nine, two-seeded Houston was scrambling to keep its season alive. The Cougars were on life support.

With just over six minutes left on Sunday’s game, senior guard DeJon Jarreau re-entered the contest after a short rest. Despite dealing with pain coming from his hip, the New Orleans native wanted to be on the floor regardless of the outcome of the final minutes in the matchup.

“I can’t even tell you how bad I wanted it,” Jarreau told reporters postgame. “It’s just a will to win, will not to go home. I’ve been through so much, with myself and with this team, with this crazy year we been through with COVID, not having fans, with all the pauses. Man, just everything.

“My hip hurt so bad. I just ain’t want to go home. I told Coach Sampson to put me back in. I just did what I had to do to try to help my team get this win.”

For the next two minutes, the score seemed to be at a standstill. Both teams exchanged baskets, and the Scarlet Knights still found themselves up nine. 

Freshman guard Tramon Mark split a pair of free throws to cut UH’s deficit to eight when the madness began in Indianapolis.

Rutgers took the ball to its side of the court and junior center Myles Johnson seemed poised to throw down an open alley-oop that would have been the exclamation point on the Scarlet Knights’ night. Instead, the ball bounced off the rim high off the dunk attempt and into the hands of UH sophomore guard Marcus Sasser. 

The Cougars immediately pushed it to the other side of the court. UH swung the ball around until it found the hands of Jarreau, who took a 3-pointer.

Swish.

As the nerve-filled seconds continued to tick away, UH slowly clawed its way back into the game. Jarreau’s presence was enough to add a spark to his teammates, but his plays on the court were crucial in turning the needle.

Once the game entered its final minute, the Cougars trailed by only two points. For the Scarlet Knights, the final ticks couldn’t wind down fast enough. They slowed their possessions down and looked for the Cougars to switch.

It was clear to everyone watching the game, Scarlet Knights included, that Jarreau’s hip, which he injured in the opening minute of UH’s first-round matchup against Cleveland State, was bothering him. Rutgers was hoping that it could take advantage of it just once to seal the deal.

“They kept going at me,” Jarreau said. “Marcus kept asking me, ‘Do you want to switch?’ (And) I’m like, ‘Bro, we have to switch.’ Something bad will happen when you don’t communicate. When you don’t trust in yourself. I just believed in myself, tried not to think about my hip, just tried to play the game. Whatever happens, happens.”

For the Cougars, they managed to lock down a stop off a bad-pass from Rutgers’ Jacob Young, and UH quickly galloped to try and tie the game.

With the ball once again in his hand, Jarreau ran through the Rutgers defense and took a jumper to try and make things even, but missed. While the ball bounced off the rim, Mark skied up for the rebound and shot it back up for the tying basket and was also fouled.

“That was a culture play,” Jarreau said. “Culture play, toughness play. Happy he was the one to do it. It paid off for him. He’s been through so much this season. Just to see him just come in and fly and get the offensive rebound, that’s just stuff we work on. I’m happy the stuff we work on is coming out in the games.”

Suddenly, UH found itself up one, and one more stop could punch its ticket to the Sweet Sixteen.

With 24 seconds remaining, UH was still in the middle of the battle. One thing it had going in its favor was a foul to give, which sophomore guard Marcus Sasser took early into the possession. 

A few seconds later, Sasser came up big again and got a steal that forced Rutgers to foul him. 

Despite a 1-of-9 shooting performance on the night, he calmly drained both free throws and left the Scarlet Knights with only the option for overtime. Once Rutgers missed its final shot, the Cougars celebrated. Somehow, they had found a way to survive.

“Leadership doesn’t have to be loud. It doesn’t have to be words,” UH head coach Kelvin Sampson said. “DeJon’s leadership was huge tonight just by his actions, refusal to lose. Sometimes you don’t play good enough to win, so sometimes you just have to refuse to lose. I would put that in the refuse-to-lose category, and DeJon was the captain of that ship.”

Even when the Cougars found themselves down nine at the four-minute mark, they never felt like the game was out of reach.

For Jarreau, he made sure his teammates knew that he did not want this to be his final game with the program.

“I told them I wasn’t coming out the game,” Jarreau said. “I told them this wasn’t my last game, that’s all I kept saying in the huddle. Even when I came out, (I kept saying) this not our last game … I’m a warrior. I wasn’t going to go out like that.”

For more on The Cougar’s coverage of UH’s run in the NCAA Tournament, click here.

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