GETTING INSIDE
In case there were any doubt remaining that these aren't the same Cougars who made the NCAA Tournament a year ago under coach Tom Penders, consider two stats in particular from the Jan. 5 loss to Southern Miss.
After the Cougars forced a league-high 585 turnovers a year ago (16.7 per game), Houston forced just eight in the 85-73 road loss to the Golden Eagles.
The Cougars fired up an average of 65.2 shots per game in 2009-10, but they managed just 46 field-goal attempts in the Southern Miss game.
The tempo under new head coach James Dickey, or just about any other coach in the country for that matter, will never be what it was under Penders, but the Cougars are going to continue to struggle in C-USA play if they can't pick up the intensity and tempo at least a little on both ends of the court.
Houston doesn't exactly get a breather, though, as it hosts nationally ranked UCF on Jan. 8. The Cougars will have to do a better job of dictating their own tempo than they did in Hattiesburg.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE: Maurice McNeil sure picked an inopportune time to have his worst rebounding game of the season. Coming off a double-double in which he grabbed 13 boards in a Dec. 30 blowout over Rogers State, McNeill grabbed a season-low four rebounds in a Jan. 5 loss at Southern Miss. Considering teammate Kendrick Washington (6.4 rebounds per game) was sitting out with an elbow infection for the second consecutive game, Houston could have used McNeill to show up a little more on the boards. If Washington is out awhile (he's expected to be sidelined at least two more weeks) and McNeill can't pick up the slack, Houston is in for a long conference season.
NOTES, QUOTES
--Houston, a team that is supposed to be improved on defense after the offseason coaching transition from Tom Penders to James Dickey, allowed a pair of Southern Miss players -- Gary Flowers (27) and Maurice Bolden (23 off the bench) -- to score more than 20 points Wednesday. That helped the Golden Eagles hand visiting Houston a 85-73 loss in the Conference USA opener for both schools. Since the Cougars aren't running and gunning on offense as they did a season ago, they must do a better job slowing down opposing players to be competitive in league play.
--There's nothing wrong with one last confidence boost before league play tips off. That was what the Houston Cougars set out for in scheduling NAIA Rogers State on Dec. 30 for the team's final non-conference game before C-USA tips off. The result was exactly what Houston coach James Dickey wanted: an extremely one-sided blowout for his guys.
Houston's 85-48 win over Rogers State was the most lopsided win for Dickey since his Texas Tech coaching days, when the Red Raiders beat UT-San Antonio 99-51 on Dec. 17, 1996.
"I was proud we played like we should in a game like this," Dickey said. "I wanted to build some confidence heading into conference play."
--Through its first 13 games, Houston was shooting a league-worst 62.1 percent from the free-throw line. A season ago, the Cougars ranked second in C-USA in free-throw shooting, hitting 71.0 percent.
--When the Cougars held visiting Rogers State from Oklahoma without a 3-point field goal in a Dec. 30 win, it snapped a 388-game streak in which opponents had hit at least one shot from long range. The last game a Houston opponent hadn't hit a 3-pointer was in a 54-51 Houston win over California on Dec. 9, 1999.
BY THE NUMBERS: 5.9 -- The Cougars entered the new year averaging 5.9 3-pointers made per game, ninth most in C-USA. In the 2009-10 NCAA Tournament season under coach Tom Penders, the Cougars averaged 8.3 treys per game, which was second best in the league.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We have to get better; we have to pick it up. We have come together at the perfect time 'cause conference is tough." -- Houston PF Maurice McNeil.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
NEXT GAME:
--vs. UCF, Jan. 8
KEY MATCHUPS: The way UCF has been playing defense this season, the Cougars will have their work cut out for them. The Knights ended the 2010 portion of their schedule allowing a league-low 56.7 points per game, while Houston was scoring just 71.1 points per game, good for just ninth best in the league. Senior G Adam Brown (team-leading 14.2 points per game) will be tested against a stingy Knights perimeter defense.
FUTURES MARKET: Freshman F Alandise Harris got his first start of the season in a Dec. 30 blowout victory over NAIA opponent Rogers State. The 6-foot-6 forward may have only got the start as head coach James Dickey was sending a message to usual starter Maurice McNeil, but that didn't stop Harris from making the most of it. In 29 minutes, he registered a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds and probably earned his way into a larger role in the rotation moving forward.
PLAYER NOTES
--Sophomore F Kendrick Washington was released from the hospital Jan. 3 and is expected to miss at least two more weeks with a staph infection in his left elbow. He missed both the Dec. 30 non-conference finale against Rogers State and the Jan. 5 C-USA opener at Southern Miss. He was in the hospital for five days, according to the Houston Chronicle, for treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA).
Obviously health in concern No. 1 for the Cougars, but from a purely basketball standpoint, the Cougars sure missed Washington's 11.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game in the Southern Miss loss on Jan. 5.
--Senior G Adam Brown had four turnovers, and senior G Zamal Nixon gave the ball away five times against Southern Miss on Jan. 5. Their turnover total was one more than the entire Southern Miss team had on the night.
--Junior G Darian Thibodeaux had one of his best all-around games on Dec. 30 against Rogers State, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the first 2:49 of the game and then focusing on getting the rest of the team involved. He finished with 13 points, five assists and two steals.
"I was just trying to work on something else," Thibideaux said. "I was trying to get everyone else involved. It's not a one-man show."