UH freshman guard Jamal Shead tries to dribble around Alcorn State forward Tyree Corbett on the court of Fertitta Center on Sunday afternoon. | Courtesy of UH athletics
With the game clock just under the 15-minute mark in the second half during Sunday’s game at Fertitta Center, the Alcorn State men’s basketball team trailed No. 6 Houston by only 10 points.
After leading by 17 points at the break, the Cougars, who were playing in their first game back since Dec. 5 due to COVID-19 issues, allowed the Braves to get within range with a sloppy start to the period.
Then, during one offensive set, freshman guard Jamal Shead took a screen set by freshman forward J’Wan Roberts, and instead of hitting him as he rolled, Shead hit junior guard Quentin Grimes who was at the wing and raised up for a 3-pointer, which pushed the Cougars’ lead to 13 points.
More importantly, it gave UH the momentum it needed to seal the win. The Cougars’ 13-point lead soon ballooned to 23 as they had ridden a 16-3 run following Grimes’ shot.
“It was a good game for Jamal to be more on the ball,” Grimes said. “Be more of the predominant point guard. I feel like he is going to learn from this (performance).”
While Grimes, who finished the game with 27 points and 10 rebounds, had the shot that was the catalyst for UH’s run, the architect behind it was Shead, who found the 6-foot-5-inch guard.
The Manor native, who made his first career start with the Cougars, was a facilitator for much of the game, and at times found success, especially on a few plays off the pick and roll to junior forward Reggie Chaney, who finished with a season-high 18 points in his first start with the Cougars.
Like most freshmen, however, Shead’s performance had weak spots. The main problem for him against the Braves was the turnovers.
Shead committed five of them in 23 minutes of the game, which is something that UH head coach Kelvin Sampson did not let go unnoticed during his postgame Zoom call with reporters.
“It’s unacceptable,” said Sampson on the giveaways. “We only had 10 as a team and he had five in half the game. He’s got to make better decisions. He’s got to get more comfortable. The one thing we cannot have our point guard doing is turning the ball over.”
Sampson also pointed out Shead’s shooting woes from behind the arc, as he shot 1-7 on 3-pointers. While he highlighted Shead’s mistakes, Sampson said all young players have to learn on the job.
The head coach said he is confident that Shead will be a good guard for the Cougars.
“All those guys just need experience,” Sampson said. “The more experience they get. The more better they’ll get.”
One person that can relate to the adjustment Shead has to make is Grimes, who transferred a season ago from Kansas.
While The Woodlands native was not a freshman when he joined UH, he too went through struggles and phases of highs and lows his first year with the Cougars.
Now entering his second year with UH, Grimes has found his groove on the team and is confident Shead can improve his game as well.
“He is going to watch film,” Grimes said. “We’re going to watch film and see what he did wrong, see what he did bad, correct some things. I feel like he did a good job for being a freshman. Going out there having to lead a team when we hadn’t played in 15 days.”
