“When you’re getting the belts you want to keep getting them,” Patterson said. “If I see someone with a belt I want to get one. It pushes you into a game to work harder to achieve and get that belt.” | Courtesy of UH Athletics
The Cougars have been building a new identity early in this season ahead of their Big 12 conference schedule. Sitting at a 5-1 record, the best start in UH women’s hoops since 2010, Houston has finally built a winning culture.
“Every single game matters equally,” said UH women’s basketball head coach Ronald Hughey. “The culture and camaraderie has been really good. We had a tough offseason. Watching this group fight together and get through was great for our group.”
In addition to their newfound success, the Cougars have also made new individual goals that include WWE-style belts along with other competitive individual awards to build chemistry and add a little extra motivation.
Coach Hughey said the WWE belts were an idea he drew from Ed Cooley, head men’s basketball coach at Georgetown University.
“They started handing out belts, and my assistant coach Vonn (Vonn Read) discovered it online and pitched the idea,” Hughey said. “I called up Coach Cooley, and he told me what it was and why they came up with it, and I was like let’s do it.”
The belts are given in the locker room after each game, going to the “queens” or leaders in steals, rebounds and assists. But the last and arguably the most significant out of all four awards is the “I’M HER” belt.
“The ‘I’M HER’ is the person who impacted the game the most,” Hughey said. “Whether on the bench or on the floor showing leadership. I’m really happy about the belts.”
Senior guard Laila Blair and graduate student Bria Patterson have been three key players who have been integral in the team’s success so far this season and have earned the belts themselves.
“When you’re getting the belts you want to keep getting them,” Patterson said. “If I see someone with a belt I want to get one. It pushes you into a game to work harder to achieve and get that belt.”
Blair, who is averaging a team-high 16 points in her senior season, felt a sense of familiarity from her childhood with the belts.
“I think it’s pretty cool to see a wrestling belt,” Blair said. “For me it’s nostalgic. I loved watching WWE with my brothers growing up.”
The success the Cougars have had this season is something they expected, putting in the time and work in an intense offseason to earn this newfound success.
“Us finding a common ground in hard work during the summer is starting to show through the wins,” Patterson said. “If we keep doing that, the wins will continue to come, always taking games one at a time.”
In fact, Patterson sees the fast start as a potential sign for things to come as the Big 12 schedule approaches.
“It’s showing us what we’re capable of,” Patterson said. “We have that in the back of our minds going into the Big 12.”
