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University of Houston Athletics
Cougars Travel To Tulane On January 8
1/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 7, 2002
Houston, Texas - The University of Houston men's basketball team will travel to New Orleans, La. and play their second straight Conference USA road game against the Tulane Green Wave on January 8. The Cougars will be looking to rebound from a 67-64 loss at Saint Louis and enters the Tulane game with a 6-6 overall record this season. Tulane is 9-3 this season after beating DePaul, 73-63, in Chicago last Saturday afternoon.
The Teams
Houston enters the Tulane game having lost three of its last four games by a combined total of eight points. The Cougars suffered a 73-69 loss at LSU on December 20, a 67-66 last second loss against North Carolina State on December 23 and a 67-64 loss at Saint Louis in their C-USA opener. Houston's lone victory was a 91-60 triumph over Tennessee State on December 30.
Meanwhile, Tulane is off to one of its best starts in school history as it have already equaled their win total for the entire season last year. The Green Wave will be looking for their second straight C-USA win and a 6-1 record in home games.
Tulane beat Loyola (87-47 on Nov. 16), Centenary (92-76 on Nov. 20), Northfolk State (89-67 on Nov. 24), New Orleans (74-63 on Dec. 5), Vanderbilt (87-77 on Dec. 12), Lipscomb (77-64 on Dec. 21) before suffering a 77-66 loss against Mississippi State on Dec. 29 in its previous home games.
Series History
Houston and Tulane will be meeting for the 13th time when the two team play each other on January 8 in New Orleans. The Cougars have a 6-6 series record against the Green Wave, including a 1-4 mark in Fogelman Arena.
Houston enters the game with a two game winning streak against Tulane after winning both games last season. The Cougars beat the Green Wave, 81-76, in Fogelman Arena and 80-67 in Houston.
The two teams protected their home court in each of the four previous seasons after the Houston began competing in Conference USA in 1996-97.
The series began on December 11, 1946 when Tulane won a 62-49 decision in New Orleans. The two teams did not play another non-conference game until December 11, 1970 when Houston won a 91-60 triumph in Houston.
Last Time Out
Chris Braun made a lay-up and Jason Edwin made two free throws in the final 15 seconds of the game to give Saint Louis a 67-64 victory over the University of Houston in both teams' Conference USA opening game.
The Cougars trailed by as many as 15 points, 35-20, with 3:56 left in the first half, went to a 2-3 zone and stymied the Billikens' offensive attack. Houston went on 8-1 run the rest of the period to close to within eight, 36-28, at halftime.
Houston continued its comeback in the second half and closed to within one, 43-42, with 10:04 left to play. The Cougars stayed close the rest of the way and took a 60-58 lead on Jeremee McGuire's two free throws with 3:20 left to play.
Saint Louis refused to fold, though, as Marque Perry made three of his four free throws on the Billikens' next two possessions as they took a 61-60 lead with 1:35 left to play. On Houston's next possession, Louis Truscott scored his only basket of the night on a lay-up to give the Cougars a 62-61 lead with 1:08 left to play.
Perry quickly drove coast to coast for an uncontested lay-up with 56 seconds left as Saint Louis retook a 63-62 lead.
Houston worked the ball inside to Patrick Okafor and was fouled by Drew Diener. Okafor made both of his free throws to give Houston a 64-63 lead with 27 seconds left to play. Perry brought the ball up the court and drove down the left side of the lane to force Okafor to come up and stop his drive. He quickly passed to Braun for a lay-up with 15 seconds left to play.
Kevin Gaines brought the ball up court and drove down the left side of the lane toward the basket. Gaines tried to shoot the ball over Braun, but his shot missed the basket and Edwin grabbed the rebound.
Gaines wasn't able to get a clean shot off as Braun closed his path and Edwin grabbed the rebound. Gaines quickly fouled Edwin, who made both free throws with 1.2 seconds left to seal the victory for Saint Louis.
Smith led the Cougars with 16 points and three steals, while Gaines added 14 points and game-high four assists. Okafor scored 12 points and McGuire added 10 points and had a career-high nine rebounds to lead both teams.
Houston On The Road
Houston enters the Tulane game looking to improve their record on the road to 2-2 this season after dropping their C-USA opener at Saint Louis January 5. The Cougars had a 1-1 road record in non-conference games following an 82-79 victory at Texas Southern on December 4 and a 73-69 loss at LSU on December 21.
Houston has already equaled their win total in road games last year with the victory at TSU. Houston's lone road victory in the 2000-01 campaign was an 81-76 decision at Tulane.
Houston In Hofheinz Pavilion
Houston will enter the Cincinnati game with a 4-1 record on the Guy V. Lewis Court at Hofheinz Pavilion after beating Tennessee State, 91-60, on December 30. The Cougars have also beaten Southwest Texas State, 89-62, Rice, 62-61, and North Texas, 75-69, in their first three home games this season. Their only loss was a 67-66 loss against North Carolina State on December 23.
Close Encounters
Eight of Houston's 12 games this season have been decided by seven points or less. The Cougars are 4-4 in those eight contests following a 67-64 loss at Saint Louis. Houston's four wins were versus Chaminade, 76-73, in the Maui Invitational, Rice, 62-61, in their home opener, North Texas, 75-69, and Texas Southern, 82-79.
In addition to the loss at Saint Louis, the Cougars' other three losses were a 67-66 loss against North Carolina State, a 73-69 setback at LSU and a 75-69 loss against Texas Tech in the Compaq Center.
Sizzling From The Field
Houston set a new school and Conference USA single game record for the highest field goal percentage with .700 (35-50) against Tennessee State.
It also marks the fourth time in the last eight games that the Cougars have shot 60 percent from the field after not having a .600 field goal percentage for three years. Houston's old school record was .681 (64-94) that was set against Texas Lutheran on December 8, 1981.
This season, Houston made 62.2 percent (28-45) of its field goal attempts against North Texas on December 2, 60.4 percent (29-48) at Texas Southern on December 4 and 64.6 percent (31-48) against Southwest Texas State on December 16.
The Cougars also held the previous Conference USA record which was the last time UH had shot better than 60 percent from the field. That was .673 (35-62) against McNeese State on December 6, 1997.
C-USA's Top Shooting Teams Square Off
When Houston travels to Tulane on Tuesday night, it will be Conference USA's top two field goal percentage leaders squaring off against each other. The Cougars lead C-USA in field goal percentage with .497 (316-636) and Tulane is second with a .492 (355-722) percentage.
Houston's field goal shooting this season is a dramatic improvement. The Cougars finished last season ranked 11th in the league with a .416 percentage. Houston made 644 of their 1548 shots from the field in 2000-01.
Houston Picks Up Pace Behind The Three-Point Line
The Cougars are also ranked among the top five C-USA teams in three point percentage with a .371 percentage (46-124).
After opening the season making just 5 of 31 three-point attempts for a .161 percentage in its first two games against fourth-ranked UCLA and third-ranked Kansas, Houston has an amazing .441 (41-93) percentage beyond the three-point arc in their last 10 contests.
The Cougars hit a season-high 75 percent (3-4) of their three point attempts against North Texas. UH also shot 50 percent (4-8) from beyond the three-point line against Southwest Texas State.
Houston made a season-high six treys against Tennessee State, Texas Tech and Rice. In addition, the Cougars made five treys against Chaminade and Texas Southern. The Cougars opened Conference USA play by making two of their six three-point shots at Saint Louis.
Houston at the Charity Stripe
Despite making just 22 of its 36 free throws at Saint Louis, Houston is one of the top two free throw shooting teams in Conference USA with a .707 percentage.
Houston enters the Tulane game having made 198 of their 280 free throw attempts this season. It is another area that UH has improved over last season as the Cougars were fourth among league leaders with a .691 percentage (504-729) in 2000-01.
UH opened C-USA play with just a .611 percentage at Saint Louis when the Cougars made just 22 of their season-high 36 attempts.
Houston On The Boards
Not only is Houston one of the best shooting teams in C-USA, the Cougars enter the Tulane contest ranked among the league's top five teams in rebounding margin with +4.2 after being out-rebounded 41-32 at Saint Louis. It marked the first time in the last eight games that Houston has not had more rebounds than their opponents.
Houston held a 36-21 advantage over Tennessee State. The Cougars also out-rebounded North Carolina State (47-34), LSU (34-28), Southwest Texas State (33-22), Texas Tech (44-43), Texas Southern (32-31) and North Texas (36-28). In addition to those seven games, the Cougars opened the season with a 42-35 margin over third-ranked Kansas and a 37-26 advantage over Chaminade, 37-26.
In addition to Saint Louis, the only other teams to win the rebounding battle against Houston this season were fourth-ranked UCLA and Rice.
Truscott On the Boards
Junior forward Louis Truscott enters the Tulane game ranked seventh among Conference USA rebounding leaders with 8.4 rebounds per game in Houston's first 11 games.
Truscott is averaging 3.92 offensive rebounds per game and that ranks third among C-USA leaders.
Williams Ranks Second In Blocked Shots
George Williams enters the Tulane game averaging 1.92 blocked shots per game and is ranked second among Conference USA leaders in that category. Williams has blocked 23 shots in Houston's first 12 games this season after recording a season-high four blocked shots against North Carolina State and three blocked shots at Saint Louis.
Smith At The Charity Stripe
Dominic Smith enters the Tulane game as Houston's second best free throw shooter in school history with an .852 (185-217) career percentage. Smith has netted 43 of his 57 free throws for a .754 percentage this season after making just eight of his 14 free throws at Saint Louis.
His six misses are the first time he has missed more than four free throws in a game during his UH career.
Last year, Smith ranked second among the league's free throw shooting leaders after setting a UH single season record by making 142 of his 160 free throws for an .888 percentage in 2000-01.
Up Next
Following the Tulane contest, Houston returns home to play two straight C-USA home games versus Cincinnati and TCU. The Cougars play the Bearcats on January 12 at 3:00 p.m. (CST). Houston and TCU will meet on January 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Following the TCU game, Houston travels to Prairie View on January 17 and UAB on January 19.
