Houston Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for the Cougars

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 08: Marcus Sasser #0 of the Houston Cougars during the first half during their game against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Colonial Life Arena on December 08, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images) /

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Houston Basketball (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

In the rotation

The 2020-21 season saw Coach Sampson go 10 players deep, with all but one of them averaging double-digits in minutes. The flip-side of that is just three players averaged over 25 minutes, with Hinton leading the way with 30 minutes per game. Coach Sampson is not hesitant to go to the bench, and as he attempts to replace Hinton and White Jr, the same is to be expected this year.

The player with the highest-ceiling is 6’8 / 205 Kiyron Powell out of Benjamin Bosse High School. Although his 205-pound frame may not be suitable to log a lot of minutes at center in the AAC, his stats during his high school year are something to at least look at.

While not highly ranked, Powell did average 14.6 points, 12.4 rebounds, and eight blocks. Two other freshmen that will be coming off the bench are forward Tramon Mark and point guard Jamal Shead who are also at the top of the AAC recruiting rankings.

The 6’4 high school guard and No. 75 on the Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI), Traman Mark will come off the bench to maintain the three-guard backcourt. In the same light that his size benefitted him versus high school guards, it might not be enough to create space in the AAC and his defense needs to improve in order to guard the wing.

Shead will be a great compliment for Sasser off the bench and might even equal the 24 minutes per game Sasser averaged last season. The 6’1 Shead is ready to play point guard in the AAC and will be taking defenders off the dribble and looking to pass first.

Cameron Tyson (13.5 PPG), a redshirt sophomore from Idaho will be yet another member of the three-guard backcourt. Prior to sitting out the 2019-20 season, Tyson started 31 of 32 games and logged over 25 minutes, while connecting on 43 percent of the three-pointers he attempted, while he attempting 7.7 per game as Idaho went 2-18 in the Big Sky.

Rounding out the bench will be Justin Gorham who logged 13 minutes per game last season behind Fabian White Jr. The 6’7 redshirt senior will provide an experienced voice to the freshmen that will benefit Houston more than the three points he averaged last season.