A.J. HOFFMAN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL REPORT
UH opens Fertitta Center with win, UT stumbles at home and Aggies bounce back
Dec 4, 2018, 8:28 am
Billy Kennedy's Aggies got a much needed win. Getty Images
TEXAS LONGHORNS (5-2)
Last week (0-1): L- Radford 62-59
This week: Wednesday vs. VCU, Sunday vs. Purdue
Texas only had one game this week, and if they overlooked the Radford Highlanders, be assured that it won’t happen again. Radford took a 62-59 victory over the Horns, giving them their first ever win against a ranked team. Three point shooting again hurt the Longhorns, as they only hit 5 of 27 from distance. Radford was even on the boards with Texas, and won the turnover battle 12-8. Jericho Sims was the only Texas player who shot better than 50% from the field, going 6 of 9 on his way to a team-high 16 points in the loss. Texas has VCU and Purdue this week.
TEXAS A&M AGGIES (3-4)
Last week (1-0): W- Northwestern State 80-59
This week: Saturday vs. Boston College
JUCO transfer Wendell Mitchell broke out for the Aggies, scoring a season-high 18 points in an 80-59 win over Northwestern State. Christian Mekowulu added 14 points in the win. The Aggies were mean on the defensive end too, compiling 12 blocked shots in the win. It wasn’t all good news for the Ags, who have been off to a slow start. Billy Kennedy announced that Isiah Jasey would be leaving the program. He has averaged 3.6 PPG in five games this season. The Aggies play Boston College on Saturday.
HOUSTON COUGARS (6-0)
Last week (2-0): W- UT- Rio Grande Valley 58-53, W- Oregon 65-61
This week: Tuesday vs. Lamar, Saturday @ Oklahoma State
Big week for the Cougars, as they closed out their time playing on the Texas Southern campus and opened their new Fertitta Center on Saturday. They started the week with a 58-53 win over UT-Rio Grande Valley, giving them 20 consecutive home wins at H&PE Arena. Corey Davis, Jr. led the charge with 23 points. Offense was inefficient for both teams, with the Cougars shooting 39% from the field and the Vaqueros only managing 34%. The new Fertitta Center opened with a bang, with the Cougars taking a 65-61 win over the Oregon Ducks. Armani Brooks had 22 points to go with his 9 rebounds to lead the charge in front of a raucous sellout crowd. The shooting woes continued for UH (33%), but they won the turnover battle to get a hard fought win over a tough Ducks team. Lamar at home and a trip to Oklahoma State are on the schedule this week for UH.
RICE OWLS (3-6)
Last week (0-2): L- @ Texas State 74-60, L- Lamar 75-68
This week: No Games Scheduled
You could say this was a rough week for Rice hoops, but that would be generous. Losing to Texas State in San Marcos wasn’t a huge surprise, but they were never competitive in that game, with a final of 74-60. The Owls shot the ball horribly, hitting just 36% from the field. Freshmen Chris Mullins and Quentin Millora-Brown combined to score 22 of the Owls’ 60 points in the loss. Things got no better against Lamar, as the Owls dropped a 75-68 decision to the Cardinals. Lamar led from tip to buzzer in the game, though the Owls were able to make it at least interesting in the final few minutes. Junior Robert Martin led the Owls with 21 points on 7 of 12 shooting. The Owls don’t have a game scheduled until Dec. 13.
BAYLOR BEARS (5-3)
Last week (1-1): W- South Dakota 63-57, L- @ Wichita State 71-63
This week: No Games Scheduled
The Bears avoided disaster against South Dakota early in the week, scoring the last 12 points in a 63-57 win over the Coyotes. King McClure led the Bears with 15 points to go with his six rebounds. The Bears gave South Dakota problems on the defensive end, holding the Coyotes to just 8 of 22 shooting from 3-point range. Baylor then hit the road for the first time this season, and it took them a while to adjust to life outside of Waco. Wichita jumped out to a 44-15 halftime lead. Baylor powered back to make it a game in the second half, but couldn’t overcome the early deficit. The 3-point shot was not friendly to Baylor, as they went just 4 of 22 from long range. Mario Kegler and Tristan Clark each had 12 points in the loss for Baylor. The Bears are off this week.
TCU HORNED FROGS (5-1)
Last week (1-0): W- Central Michigan 89-62
This week: Wednesday @ SMU, Friday vs. USC
After getting knocked out of the Top 25 last week, TCU came back strong with a dominant 89-62 win over Central Michigan. Desmond Bane was the highlight for the Frogs, putting up 24 points and nine rebounds in the win. Alex Robinson had a double-double, with 11 points and 12 assists. The Frogs put up a good defensive effort as well, with seven steals, eight blocks and holding the Chippewas to just 17% from deep. TCU shot 55% from the field on the day. The Horned Frogs get SMU and USC next week.
TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS (7-0)
Last week: W- Memphis 78-67
This week: Wednesday vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Texas Tech stiffened on the defensive end when they needed it most, and were able to mount a comeback win over a game Memphis Tigers squad, 78-67. Memphis led for most of the game, but collapsed late, missing 17 of their last 21 shot attempts. Tariq Owens was front and center on the effort for Tech, with an 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks in the victory. This was the second straight game for the Red Raiders where they trailed at halftime and won the second half by at least 20 points. The win pushes them to 13th in the rankings, but I would argue they are underrated, even at that number. Tech gets Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Wednesday.
SMU MUSTANGS (6-3)
Last week (3-0): W- Lamar 79-65, W- McNeese 91-59, W- Oral Roberts 79-67
This week: Wednesday vs. TCU
SMU righted the ship this week after a rough 3-3 start. SMU jumped out to an early lead over Lamar, and never looked back, taking a 79-65 win to start the week. Jahmal McMurray led the Mustangs with 18 points and nine assists. Five Ponies were in double digit scoring. SMU had a 32-20 rebounding edge in the win. The Mustangs continued rolling, blowing out McNeese 91-59. Jimmy Whitt, Jr. filled up the stat line with 12 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and three steals. McMurray again led the Ponies in scoring with 19 points. SMU won the turnover battle 15-6 in the game. SMU wrapped up the week with a 79-67 win over Oral Roberts. Ethan Chargois led SMU with 17 and McMurray added 16 in the win. The Ponies jumped to a big first half lead and never looked back. SMU shot 47% from distance and were plus-10 in rebounding margin. They play just one game this week, Wednesday vs. TCU.
LSU TIGERS (6-2)
Last week (1-0): W- Grambling 78-57
This week: Sunday vs. Incarnate Word
LSU made easy work against Grambling, rolling to a 78-57 win. Tremont Waters had it going on the offensive end, leading the Tigers with 15 points. Darius Days also came in with a season high 13 points and 9 rebounds in the win. Naz Reid, who has been inefficient, came off the bench for the first time this year and had 8 points to go with 7 rebounds. The inefficiency continued though, as he shot just 2-of-10 from the field. LSU was plus-21 in the rebounding department. The Tigers don’t play until Sunday against Incarnate Word.
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Through 20 games, the Houston Astros have managed just six wins and are in last place in the AL West.
Their pitching staff trails only Colorado with a 5.24 ERA and big-money new closer Josh Hader has given up the same number of earned runs in 10 games as he did in 61 last year.
Despite this, these veteran Astros, who have reached the AL Championship Series seven consecutive times, have no doubt they’ll turn things around.
“If there’s a team that can do it, it’s this team,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said.
First-year manager Joe Espada, who was hired in January to replace the retired Dusty Baker, discussed his team’s early struggles.
“It’s not ideal,” he said. “It’s not what we expected, to come out of the shoot playing this type of baseball. But you know what, this is where we’re at and we’ve got to pick it up and play better. That’s just the bottom line.”
Many of Houston’s problems have stemmed from a poor performance by a rotation that has been decimated by injuries. Ace Justin Verlander and fellow starter José Urquidy haven’t pitched this season because of injuries and lefty Framber Valdez made just two starts before landing on the injured list with a sore elbow.
Ronel Blanco, who threw a no-hitter in his season debut April 1, has pitched well and is 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA in three starts this season. Cristian Javier is also off to a good start, going 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA in four starts, but the team has won just two games not started by those two pitchers.
However, Espada wouldn’t blame the rotation for Houston’s current position.
“It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster how we've played overall,” he said. “One day we get good starting pitching, some days we don’t. The middle relief has been better and sometimes it hasn’t been. So, we’ve just got to put it all together and then play more as a team. And once we start doing that, we’ll be in good shape.”
The good news for the Astros is that Verlander will make his season debut Friday night when they open a series at Washington and Valdez should return soon after him.
“Framber and Justin have been a great part of our success in the last few years,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “So, it’s always good to have those two guys back helping the team. We trust them and I think it’s going to be good.”
Hader signed a five-year, $95 million contract this offseason to give the Astros a shutdown 7-8-9 combination at the back end of their bullpen with Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly. But the five-time All-Star is off to a bumpy start.
He allowed four runs in the ninth inning of a 6-1 loss to the Braves on Monday night and has yielded eight earned runs this season after giving up the same number in 56 1/3 innings for San Diego last year.
He was much better Wednesday when he struck out the side in the ninth before the Astros fell to Atlanta in 10 innings for their third straight loss.
Houston’s offense, led by Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, ranks third in the majors with a .268 batting average and is tied for third with 24 homers this season. But the Astros have struggled with runners in scoring position and often failed to get a big hit in close games.
While many of Houston’s hitters have thrived this season, one notable exception is first baseman José Abreu. The 37-year-old, who is in the second year of a three-year, $58.5 million contract, is hitting 0.78 with just one extra-base hit in 16 games, raising questions about why he remains in the lineup every day.
To make matters worse, his error on a routine ground ball in the eighth inning Wednesday helped the Braves tie the game before they won in extra innings.
Espada brushed off criticism of Abreu and said he knows the 2020 AL MVP can break out of his early slump.
“Because (of) history,” Espada said. “The back of his baseball card. He can do it.”
Though things haven’t gone well for the Astros so far, everyone insists there’s no panic in this team which won its second World Series in 2022.
Altuve added that he doesn’t have to say anything to his teammates during this tough time.
“I think they’ve played enough baseball to know how to control themselves and how to come back to the plan we have, which is winning games,” he said.
The clubhouse was quiet and somber Wednesday after the Astros suffered their third series sweep of the season and second at home. While not panicking about the slow start, this team, which has won at least 90 games in each of the last three seasons, is certainly not happy with its record.
“We need to do everything better,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “I feel like we’re in a lot of games, but we just haven’t found a way to win them. And good teams find a way to win games. So we need to find a way to win games.”