Houston Basketball: Takeaways from Cougars first three games of 2019-20

TULSA, OKLAHOMA - MARCH 22: Fabian White Jr. #35, Galen Robinson Jr. #25 and Breaon Brady #24 of the Houston Cougars celebrate from the bench against the Georgia State Panthers during the second half in the first round game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at BOK Center on March 22, 2019 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

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KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – MARCH 28: Head coach Kelvin Sampson of the Houston Cougars coaches during a practice session ahead of the NCAA Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at the Sprint Center on March 28, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

It’s been an up and down start to the year for Houston Basketball, what are the biggest takeaways for the Cougars in their first three games before their clash with #11 Oregon?

What a shaky start it’s been for Houston Basketball after losing to BYU on a last-second buzzer in a game they had all but won. In their bounce-back game against Rice Houston trailed by as many as 15 and looked out of it before a huge run down the stretch saw Houston pull away in the final minutes. Kelvin Sampson will be really pleased with the effort he saw down the stretch against RIce from his guys and that should ease a little bit of the worries from fans.

A convincing win against Alabama State got the Cougars off on the right start but a costly mistake in the closing seconds against BYU saw the Cougars pay the price. Kelvin Sampson has a young team and it’s going to take some time for them to gell together. The game against Rice saw Quentin Grimes have his breakout game.

Sampson has to be pleased with how his freshman have played in their first few games. Mills and Sasser will be big-time contributors for the Cougars this year.

Houston trailed for almost the entire game as run after run was met by Drew Peterson and Rice and if it wasn’t for Quentin Grimes we might have had a different result. Things won’t get easier for Houston as they head out to #11 Oregon in what will be their biggest test of this early season. Oregon just beat fellow AAC rival Memphis by eight points.