Houston Basketball: 3 takeaways from Cougars big win over Texas Tech

HONOLULU, HI - DECEMBER 23: Quentin Grimes #24 of the Houston Cougars drives the baseline past Michael Devoe #0 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets during the first half of the game at the Stan Sheriff Center on December 23, 2019 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /

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Marcus Sasser Houston Basketball (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images) /

Balanced scoring was key

In Houston’s season-opening victory against Lamar, the Cougars got outstanding offensive production from Marcus Sasser (who finished with 25 points), and Tramon Mark (who finished with 22 points coming off the bench). Outside of those two guys, the Cougars didn’t get much production from any of their other key players, such as Quentin Grimes (who finished with 8 points), and Dejon Jarreau (who finished with 9 points).

You could make the case that the Cougars didn’t need Jarreau and Grimes to step it up offensively because Houston was able to cruise to an 89-45 win. However, I just thought that it would be wise for me to give you a better sense, of how the Cougars’ offense looked in their first game.

In Houston’s second contest of the season (against Boise State), the Cougars were able to get 25 points from Grimes, but the next highest scorer in that game was Caleb Mills (who finished with 12 points, after missing the first game due to an ankle injury). Mark, Sasser, and Jarreau also contributed to the Cougars’ 68-58 win, but only combined for a total of 25 points (Mark-9 points, Sasser-10 points, Jarreau-6 points).

Once again, the Cougars were still able to come away with a victory, so Grimes being the main weapon offensively, didn’t appear to affect the Cougars too much in that game. However, as Houston was preparing to face off against Texas Tech on Sunday, I knew that the Cougars would need to focus less on getting one or two guys going, and more on making sure that they had a balanced attack offensively. Surely enough, that is exactly what the Cougars had, in the biggest game of their young season.

Sasser led the way for the Cougars with 17 points, but the next highest scorer (who was Quentin Grimes) chipped in with 15 points of his own, and right behind him was Mark, who netted 11 points, but the contributions didn’t stop there. Gorham was able to pitch in with nine points, and Dejon Jarreau found a way to score eight points. Caleb Mills notched just four points in 11 minutes of play but still contributed to Cougars’ win as well.

Now, isn’t that better than hoping that one or two individuals will go for 20+ points, and guide the Cougars to victory? Well, I believe so, and although the Cougars shot just 35.1% from the field as a team, they showed that they could still get the looks they wanted offensively and put tremendous pressure on Texas Tech’s defense. If the Cougars can get this kind of balanced scoring more often, they will be a tough out in the AAC this season.