Players' Only Meeting helps Cougars Stop Miners
HOUSTON, TX (Hofheinz Pavilion) -- The Houston Cougars picked up a much-needed victory Wednesday night over the UTEP Miners 75-65 in front of an announced crowd of 2,862 fans.
Houston (9-7 overall, 2-1 C-USA) held the Miners without a single field goal for 11 plus minutes. The Miners scored just four points (all made free throws) the final 10:05 of the first half before big man Arnett Moultrie made a jump shot at the 18:38 mark of the second half.
Houston's "junk" defense gave the UTEP (10-5, 1-1) fits throughout the first half. The Miners shot a woeful 28.1% (9 for 32) from the field in the game's opening 20 minutes.
"It was a combination defense," said Houston head coach Tom Penders. "We were playing some guys tight. Sometimes we were playing a loose man-to-man with three guys and two guys really tight. Then, we went to a zone with three guys and two guys, whatever; and, the kids worked on it the last couple of days.
"We did a lot of positive things tonight and the kids played together."
The Cougars led the Miners 37-24 at halftime; but, the Miners scored the first eight points of the second half to trim UH's lead to five points (37-32) with 17:19 remaining in the ball game.
UH freshman forward Kirk Van Slyke swished a three-point bucket to stem the tide; and, senior Kelvin Lewis drained a three of his own to put the Cougars ahead by 11 (43-32) in the blink of an eye.
The Miners worked the ball inside to big man Derrick Caracter and Caracter's effectiveness down low helped the Miners pull within four points (49-45) at the 12:13 mark.
Houston's Aubrey Coleman drained a three-pointer to start a 12-2 UH run and helped keep the Miners' at a comfortable distance the final seven plus minutes of the game.
After the game, Aubrey Coleman mentioned a players' only meeting which helped get the players focused on the importance of tonight's game versus UTEP as well as look within himself and decide what each player can improve to help the Cougars win games the rest of the season.
"We knew we had to get this win," Aubrey said. "Everybody came in (to the game) locked win. We had a team meeting til 11 o'clock last night just to make sure everybody knew how important it was that we win this game. We stuck to our game plan perfectly."
AC scored a game-high 22 points while teammates Maurice McNeil and Kelvin Lewis each produced double-doubles. McNeil picked up his third double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 boards while Lewis scored 13 points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds.
"Coach has been telling me to rebound more," Lewis said. "Help the team out and get us more possessions. Certain shots I shot today didn't really fall; so, I wanted to stay on the floor and help the team out another way by playing good 'd' and getting rebounds."
Lewis and McNeil credited teammate Sean Coleman for organizing the two hour players' only meeting.
"Sean took the meeting into his own hands," McNeil added. "He made everybody go into a circle and say what's important to them this year. Everybody just opened up."
Lewis said, "Sean is one of the three captains -- me, Aubrey and Sean. It (Sean's leadership) might not show on the court at times; but, he's a leader on and off the court. He helps us -- even if he's on the bench. He helps with our defensive mistakes. Sean is a big leader on this team."
AC summed up the intent of the meeting, "Everybody has to focus on what they have to do. Take responsibility."
Aubrey became the 43rd Cougars' player to score 1000 points in his UH career with his first made three-point basket in the first half. AC was more pleased to get the win.
"That's what it's about, to get the win."
Video of UH's postgame press conferences are on The HRR's Facebook Fan Page.
Houston (9-7 overall, 2-1 C-USA) held the Miners without a single field goal for 11 plus minutes. The Miners scored just four points (all made free throws) the final 10:05 of the first half before big man Arnett Moultrie made a jump shot at the 18:38 mark of the second half.
Houston's "junk" defense gave the UTEP (10-5, 1-1) fits throughout the first half. The Miners shot a woeful 28.1% (9 for 32) from the field in the game's opening 20 minutes.
"It was a combination defense," said Houston head coach Tom Penders. "We were playing some guys tight. Sometimes we were playing a loose man-to-man with three guys and two guys really tight. Then, we went to a zone with three guys and two guys, whatever; and, the kids worked on it the last couple of days.
"We did a lot of positive things tonight and the kids played together."
The Cougars led the Miners 37-24 at halftime; but, the Miners scored the first eight points of the second half to trim UH's lead to five points (37-32) with 17:19 remaining in the ball game.
UH freshman forward Kirk Van Slyke swished a three-point bucket to stem the tide; and, senior Kelvin Lewis drained a three of his own to put the Cougars ahead by 11 (43-32) in the blink of an eye.
The Miners worked the ball inside to big man Derrick Caracter and Caracter's effectiveness down low helped the Miners pull within four points (49-45) at the 12:13 mark.
Houston's Aubrey Coleman drained a three-pointer to start a 12-2 UH run and helped keep the Miners' at a comfortable distance the final seven plus minutes of the game.
After the game, Aubrey Coleman mentioned a players' only meeting which helped get the players focused on the importance of tonight's game versus UTEP as well as look within himself and decide what each player can improve to help the Cougars win games the rest of the season.
"We knew we had to get this win," Aubrey said. "Everybody came in (to the game) locked win. We had a team meeting til 11 o'clock last night just to make sure everybody knew how important it was that we win this game. We stuck to our game plan perfectly."
AC scored a game-high 22 points while teammates Maurice McNeil and Kelvin Lewis each produced double-doubles. McNeil picked up his third double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 boards while Lewis scored 13 points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds.
"Coach has been telling me to rebound more," Lewis said. "Help the team out and get us more possessions. Certain shots I shot today didn't really fall; so, I wanted to stay on the floor and help the team out another way by playing good 'd' and getting rebounds."
Lewis and McNeil credited teammate Sean Coleman for organizing the two hour players' only meeting.
"Sean took the meeting into his own hands," McNeil added. "He made everybody go into a circle and say what's important to them this year. Everybody just opened up."
Lewis said, "Sean is one of the three captains -- me, Aubrey and Sean. It (Sean's leadership) might not show on the court at times; but, he's a leader on and off the court. He helps us -- even if he's on the bench. He helps with our defensive mistakes. Sean is a big leader on this team."
AC summed up the intent of the meeting, "Everybody has to focus on what they have to do. Take responsibility."
Aubrey became the 43rd Cougars' player to score 1000 points in his UH career with his first made three-point basket in the first half. AC was more pleased to get the win.
"That's what it's about, to get the win."
Video of UH's postgame press conferences are on The HRR's Facebook Fan Page.
posted by Kris Gardner @ 10:53 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home