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

Cougars weathered the storm

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, Houston looked they were going to run Texas Tech out of the gym, until the Red Raiders fought back into the game in the second half, and made the contest interesting. During the Red Raiders 12-2 second-half run, things started to get a little intense.

When Texas Tech was trailing Houston by nine points with a little over 5:30 to play, Mac McClung took the ball strong to the basket, after making a series of isolation moves, and eventually freezing his defender (who was Dejon Jarreau). Fortunately for Jarreau, Brison Gresham saw that Jarreau was on the verge of getting beat off the dribble, which is why he elected to slide over, elevate, and swat McClung’s layup attempt out of bounds.

Gresham must have said something to McClung as he was landing because a few seconds later, he was assessed with a technical foul. McClung then drilled two free throws with no problem and helped Texas Tech trim Houston’s lead to seven. When I was watching the game live, I was afraid that the Cougars would fold after that somewhat questionable technical foul call, and allow the Red Raiders to seize full control of the game.

To my surprise, the Cougars managed to keep their composure and exhibit excellent mental toughness in the final few minutes of the game. It seemed as though the Cougars knew that if they wanted to secure a victory, they needed to get back to implementing the defensive principles, that helped them hold the Red Raiders to just 19 points in the first half.

Additionally, the Cougars understood that they needed to string together a few solid offensive possessions, to truly put the Red Raiders in a jam, that they wouldn’t be able to get themselves out of.

Now that I am taking the time to think about it, I really shouldn’t have been surprised by the Cougars ability to finish the game strong, because it is not like there are a bunch of freshmen on their team.

If you look at some of the important pieces on Houston’s roster, you will notice that many of them are older players (Quentin Grimes- Junior, Dejon Jarreau-Redshirt Senior, Justin Gorham-Redshirt Senior, Brison Gresham-Redshirt Senior, Reggie Chaney-Junior, Marcus Sasser-Sophomore, Caleb Mills-Redshirt Sophomore, Tramon Mark-Freshman).

In other words, Houston has guys that know what it takes to win at this level, and are able to comprehend that while bumps in the road are just a part of college basketball, it is how you handle those bumps in the road, that will determine the outcome of tight games. When the Cougars had to deal with a little adversity on Sunday, they made sure that they got themselves together mentally, so that they could go out and finish the work that they started in the first half.

I may be jumping the gun here, but Houston showed me that if everything is clicking for them at the right time, the Cougars have the potential to be a final four squad come NCAA Tournament time.