Freshman guard Caleb Mills led the Houston Cougars to a road victory over the Temple Owls on Tuesday.
Cougars take conference road victory in win over the Temple Owls
Jan 8, 2020, 6:00 am
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The Houston Cougars held off a second-half surge from the Temple Owls with a 78-74 victory, Tuesday night, inside The Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA. With a win over their American Athletic Conference counterparts, the Cougars extended their winning streak to six and improved to 2-0 in conference play.
After leaving the game early due to an allergic reaction during Friday's win over the UCF Knights, freshman guard, Caleb Mills, bounced back in an enormous way. He matched a career-best 23 points shooting 9-for-16 from the floor (56.2%), 3-for-5 (60.0) on 3-point field goal attempts.
Following a made three by Nate Hinton (10 points, 13 rebounds), the Cougars held a 15 point lead with a little over a minute left in the first half. Despite their hot start to the game, the Cougars dominance over the Owls did not carry over into the second half, as Temple took a 60-59 lead with 7:10 remaining in the game.
Guard Caleb Mills (@calebmills_3) led @UHCougarMBK with 23 points in the Cougars 78-74 win over Temple. https://t.co/bOw2qG146T— Mark Berman (@Mark Berman) 1578449451.0
At the worst possible time, Temple went cold from the field missing five consecutive shots, as Houston took advantage of the Owls' mishaps to go on an 11-2 run to reclaim the lead. In addition to a career performance from Mills, junior big man, Chris Harris, recorded a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds, to go along with four blocks and three assists for the Cougars.
In the loss, Quinton Rose tallied in a season-high 21 points while Nate Pierre-Louis added in 13 points and seven rebounds for the Owls.
Following the win, the Cougars will continue their two-game road trip against the 9-5, 1-0 Tulsa Golden Hurricane, Sunday night, inside the Reynolds Center in Tulsa, OK.
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Jose Altuve asked manager Joe Espada to move him out of the leadoff spot and into the second hole for the Houston Astros.
The reason? He wanted more time to get ready to hit in the bottom of the first inning after coming into the dugout from left field.
Altuve is playing left for the first time in his career after spending his first 14 major league seasons at second base.
“I just need like 10 more seconds,” he said.
The 34-year-old Altuve made the transition to the outfield this season after the trade of Kyle Tucker and the departure of Alex Bregman shook up Houston’s lineup.
Jeremy Peña was in the top spot Monday night against Detroit. Altuve had two hits, including a two-run homer, and three RBIs to help the Astros to an 8-5 win. It was the first time since 2023 he batted anywhere besides leadoff.
“I enjoy playing baseball,” Altuve said. “I love playing, especially with these guys. I like being in the lineup. In the end it doesn’t really matter if I play second or left, if I lead off or not. I just want to be in the lineup and help this team to win.”
Altuve didn’t suggest that Peña take his leadoff spot.
“I just told Joe that maybe he can hit me second some games at some point and he did it today,” Altuve said. “I just need like that little extra time to come from left field, and he decided to put Jeremy (there).”
Peña is hitting .265 with three homers and 11 RBIs. He batted first in Sunday’s 7-3 win over Kansas City — with Altuve getting a day off — and had two hits and three RBIs. He added two more hits and scored twice Monday.
Along with giving him a little extra time to get ready to bat, Altuve thinks the athletic Peña batting leadoff could give a boost to a lineup that has struggled at times this season.
“Jeremy is one of those guys that has been playing really good for our team,” Altuve said. “He’s taking really good at-bats. He’s very explosive and dynamic on the bases, so when he gets on base a lot of things can happen. Maybe I can bunt him over so Yordan (Alvarez) can drive him in.”
Altuve is a nine-time All-Star. The 2017 AL MVP is hitting .282 with four homers and 12 RBIs this season.
Espada said he and Altuve often share different ideas about the team and they had been talking about this possibility for a while before the manager made the move.
“He’s always looking for ways to get everyone involved and he’s playing left field, comes in, maybe give him a little bit more time to get ready between at-bats, just a lot of things that went into this decision," Espada said. "He’s been around, he knows himself better than anyone else here, so hopefully this could create some opportunities for everyone here and we can score some runs.”