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University of Houston Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES:Houston 81, McNeese 53
11/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
McNEESE COWBOYS (0-1) at HOUSTON COUGARS (1-0)
Friday, Nov. 10, 2017 • Health & PE Arena • Houston
HOUSTON HEAD COACH Kelvin Sampson
Opening Statement
"I saw some good things and some things we need to work on. There's going to be 100 other coaches saying the same thing I'm saying tonight. We are going to be a lot better a month or two from now, but it's a good start. Our defense was really good, in the second half we held them to 19 points. I'd like our pace to be faster, the reason our defense was better against Angelo State was because we rebounded better. We weren't getting in transition because of balls bouncing off of shoulders, but we like to play fast and we win the game by 28 points without our best player. We knew he wasn't going to play since April and we've known that for six months. He played against Baylor and against Angelo State. This week I had him on the white team exclusively and he's just going to miss the one game. We have some guys who can shoot the basketball. Corey is a very good shooter, should have been three for three from the three-point line tonight. Armoni is a very good shooter and I think our big's can play better, you may not see the strength of our inside guys until we play a team that has good inside guys. Fabian looked like a freshman at times tonight but I think he will be outstanding. We need to keep getting better and I like where we are headed with this group."
On Rob Gray's suspension
"There's an NCAA rule and this happened in March or April, Rob's friends were playing at Second Baptist church in a basketball game. One of his friends paid a $5 fee for the team. He played in the game and that was the violation, nothing more nothing less."
On if the game that Rob was in had officials or not
"Student officials. It was a church league game and there was a $5 entry fee. Someone paid it for him and that signaled the violation. When we got the ruling from the NCAA, it said he had to pay the $5 and had to sit out a game."
On Armoni's play throughout the game
"He's been playing really good in practice. I like our depth, Corey and Galen had 10 assists and two turnovers. Look at our statistics in groupings. Pretty good first night with Galen, we didn't see him start practicing until October. I think this team has a lot of potential. I think we are going to get better based on practice. They are playing against each other in practice and it makes them better. Armoni plays against Rob 2 hours every day. It took us awhile to develop depth. I didn't know what to expect tonight because I've only been around these teams during practices and not many games. It didn't feel like we won by 28 but we did a lot of good things. As good as our guards were shooting the ball tonight, we are better with Rob.
On mixing around power forwards and centers
"In a game like this you can expect to switch a little more freely. We do have depth and Breaon only played 23 minutes tonight, but had 10 rebounds. Nura can get 10 rebounds too and so can Chris. They all play the same position, so they are always going to be on the floor with either Fabian, Cedrick, or Devin. Tonight Fabian looked like he was somewhere over the rainbow. We've got some versatility in our lineups and we have depth in the backcourt and up front."
On Breaon getting the ball a lot in the post
"A little bit of both, he's a pretty good scorer. The post move that Chris had there in the end, he's showing signs that he's developing. Our best low-post scorer is Breaon or Fabian. Fabian will have games where he has 12 or 14 this year. Our best passer is Rob, that's what he does best, he had 11 assists against Baylor. We'll put different kinds of lineups out there this year that will cause problems. The one area that jumps out to me that we have to get better on is taking care of the ball."
HOUSTON SOPHOMORE GUARD Armoni Brooks
On getting open shots
"We were playing as a team and were able to get ball movement. My teammates were finding me in open shot situations and if it's open, I have the utmost confidence to take the shots and my teammates have that same confidence in me as well."
On having the same scoring mentality transitioning from high school to college
"I hit a few of my shots at the beginning tonight, but it was my teammates having that confidence in me along with their willingness to feed me the ball. If they have that amount of confidence in me, I have the same amount of confidence in myself."
On seeing more playing time in the absence of Rob Gray
"Having Rob out is a big loss because he is such a great scorer. Someone had to step up tonight though. It could've been Wes or Gabe or anyone else, but I embraced the opportunity."
On practicing against Damyean Dotson and Rob Gray
"It helps me figure out what I have to do to be as good as them one day. Guarding Dotson everyday was the toughest thing I've ever had to do in my life. Rob and Wes are also two hard guys to guard because they can both drive to the basket and shoot. It helps my game develop overall."
HOUSTON SENIOR GUARD Wes VanBeck
On three point production
"We are looking to move the ball and let the ball find the shooter. It's not necessarily guys looking for me or Armoni. We move the ball around a few times, and eventually someone is going to be open. Coach always preaches about moving the ball, so that what we try to do."
On playing through an injury
"I was having some minor cramps. It wasn't anything too serious. I drank some water and Powerade and I was good to go."
On changes in gameplay because of different player personnel in the post
"Yes, the attention that the guys in the low-post get from the defense opens up the floor more. Breaon and Nura are both tough and strong guys down there. The defense gets sucked in when either of those guys has the ball in the post. It also helps with our ball movement. Breaon is great at making that extra pass and finding the shooter."
