Saturday. 9 PM. ESPN U. Yeah, baby! This is shaping up to be a great early battle on the conference slate. Hats off to the Coogs at 13-3 overall and 3-0 in the American. Cats not too shabby either at 12-2 overall and 2-0 in the AAC. The winner comes out undefeated in the conference and sitting at the top of the heap momentarily. Good luck Coog Nation! Should be a good one...
(01-06-2017 10:39 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote: Saturday. 9 PM. ESPN U. Yeah, baby! This is shaping up to be a great early battle on the conference slate. Hats off to the Coogs at 12-3 overall and 3-0 in the American. Cats not too shabby either at 12-2 overall and 2-0 in the AAC. The winner comes out undefeated in the conference and sitting at the top of the heap momentarily. Good luck Coog Nation! Should be a good one...
FWIW, current line has Houston +3.
FIFY unless that was your way of predicting a UH win tomorrow lol
Quote:Cincinnati not just another game for UH
By Joseph DuarteJanuary 6, 2017
Rob Gray, Houston's leading scorer, missed Wednesday's game against Tulsa with the flu and will be a game-time decision for Cincinnati today.
University of Houston coach Kelvin Sampson is mindful not to put too much emphasis on any game, but it is hard to ignore the importance of Saturday's clash with No. 22 Cincinnati.
"This is the first game we look and say this is a great opportunity game for us for a lot reasons," Sampson said Friday. "I'm not going to sit here and say this is just another game, because it's not.
"It's a great opportunity for us."
Off to a 3-0 start in the American Athletic Conference, the Cougars get their toughest test to date against the preseason favorite Bearcats (12-2, 2-0 AAC) at 8 p.m. Saturday at Hofheinz Pavilion.
As measuring sticks go, the game offers the Cougars a chance to strengthen their postseason résumé with more than two months until NCAA Selection Sunday. UH is seeking its first NCAA Tournament appearance in seven years and just the third since 1992.
A 12-3 start - which includes victories over Rhode Island and injury-ravaged Connecticut - already has started to move the NCAA Tournament needle.
'A must-win'
In his latest projections released Friday, CBS Sports.com bracketologist Jerry Palm has the Cougars among his "last four in" for the 68-team field and playing as a No. 11 seed in a First Four game against Michigan at Dayton, Ohio. Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com has Houston among the first four teams out of the field.
"We have to look at (the Cincinnati game) as a must-win," forward Danrad "Chicken" Knowles said. "You're trying to build so just use every game as a hurdle. Like the last game (a 64-61 win over Tulsa), we pulled it out somehow. We figured it out and stayed together. This is another hurdle. We have to be prepared and ready to fight."
To be on the safe side, the Cougars know they must take advantage of key games on the schedule, which also includes another game at Cincinnati (March 2), two games against SMU (Jan. 21 in Dallas and Feb. 18 in Houston) and one more against Connecticut (Feb. 22).
Cincinnati is in position for a seventh consecutive postseason appearance. SMU made the NCAA field in 2015 but was forced to sit out last season because of NCAA sanctions.
Based on current RPI, UH will need some work to stay in the NCAA Tournament discussion. The Cougars are No. 59 in ESPN's RPI projections, No. 60 in the NCAA's and No. 61 in Yahoo's. Cincinnati is comfortably between Nos. 26-27, and SMU is at Nos. 24-25.
"The two teams in our league that are playing the best are probably Cincinnati and SMU," Sampson said. "Those two teams are really, really good. Cincinnati is kind of our (league's) flagship school. Connecticut is when they are going, but they've had a lot of bad luck with injuries. Right now, Cincinnati is the school carrying the banner. We're fighting and scratching and clawing to get to that point."
Playing short-handed
Sampson said the Cougars have been "up and down" in non-conference play with double-digit losses to Arkansas and LSU and a poor-shooting game that cost them in a one-point loss to Harvard. UH's top RPI victory this season is against No. 36 Rhode Island.
UH opened AAC play with a pair of road wins - dominating Connecticut 62-46 and pulling out a 70-56 victory over South Florida. In their last game, the Cougars - without leading scorer Rob Gray and top inside presence Devin Davis - escaped Tulsa.
Gray, the AAC's leading scorer at 20.4 points per game, has shown improvement after being sent home Wednesday with the flu, but he remains questionable for Saturday's game, according to school spokesman Jeff Conrad. His availability will be a game-time decision.
Davis remains out with plantar fasciitis in his left foot that has sidelined him most of the past seven games.
UH split two games with Cincinnati last season, losing to the Bearcats 70-59 at Cincinnati and winning 69-56 in the regular-season finale at Hofheinz.
"This is definitely a game that is circled on the calendar because it's Cincinnati," guard Wes VanBeck said. "They are going to want some revenge for last year. We've got to come out and play hard and be physical with them because that's Cincinnati ball."
"Cincinnati is kind of our (league's) flagship school. Connecticut is when they are going, but they've had a lot of bad luck with injuries. Right now, Cincinnati is the school carrying the banner."
Good interview by the Cincy coach. I like how he acknowledged how difficult it was to win without Gray who averages 20 per. Not to mention Davis, another starter.
Apparently, Gray is still feeling effects of the flu and will be a game time decision. Translation: he'll play.
Quote: A tweet from Houston Chronicle beat writer Joseph Duarte on Friday night said that Gray has shown improvement from the illness but is questionable for the UC game, with Gray's playing status a game-time decision. UC expects to see Gray play Saturday night.
“The way Rob Gray is playing for them, to win without him (against Tulsa) was impressive,” UC coach Mick Cronin said.
Cincinnati hasn't had to play in such a loud environment like they will tonight, there is an electricity to the Houston basketball crowd you can't get anywhere
(01-07-2017 04:29 PM)owlfan2272 Wrote: Cincinnati hasn't had to play in such a loud environment like they will tonight, there is an electricity to the Houston basketball crowd you can't get anywhere
(01-07-2017 04:29 PM)owlfan2272 Wrote: Cincinnati hasn't had to play in such a loud environment like they will tonight, there is an electricity to the Houston basketball crowd you can't get anywhere
It's Saturday Night, with a 8PM Tip, in a city of 2M people, Texans game will be concluded, and the Rockets are not in town. If a 13-3 UH Basketball team can't fill a 8K seat building tonight, they ought to go ahead shut the program down....
(This post was last modified: 01-07-2017 04:58 PM by JUSTGOPLAY.)
I was at the bagel shop this morning and there were four people said they were going to the game tonight, so that's 4 in the stands, oh yes thay are cougar fans
Interesting note:
When football started this season people said houstons population was 6 1/2 million , now we're talking bb and now our population is 2 1/2 or 2 million
There are UofH bb fans outside of the inner city, it just takes 30 years to drive into town
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