Houston Basketball: Cougars finding ways to win without key pieces

Despite playing without two key pieces, Houston Basketball is still in position to win the AAC and make a potential deep run in March.

After losing Marcus Sasser (17.7 PPG) and Tramon Mark (10.1 PPG) back in December, it seemed as though Houston Basketball would have a difficult time asserting their dominance in the AAC this year. However, the Cougars have completed 14 conference contests and have only suffered two losses thus far.

Why am I so surprised by this? Well, if you took the time to watch Houston play at all prior to Marcus Sasser’s injury, you should know that Sasser was heavily involved in the Cougars’ offense when he was on the floor. The 6’2″ junior guard is known for using his advanced handle to create open looks for himself on the perimeter after receiving favorable matchups.

Sasser took roughly 13 shots per game when he was fully healthy, so it was clear that Kelvin Sampson leaned on the 3rd year guard to carry the load offensively early on. Unfortunately, Sasser went down with a season-ending left foot injury just 12 games into his junior campaign, which forced the Cougars to continue life without their leading scorer. Additionally, Tramon Mark got off to a solid start to the season and was turning the corner as a second-year player who appeared to be learning how to pick his spots wisely and get into the scoring column consistently.

Sadly, Mark has missed significant time this year due to a lingering left shoulder injury that required immediate surgery. So, how have the Cougars managed to win 12 of their first 14 AAC games without Sasser and Mark? Well, in addition to continuing to defend at an extremely high level and holding most of their opponents to under 70 points, Kelvin Sampson’s squad has adjusted to life without two of their key pieces by playing their individual roles to perfection.

Sampson loves to give Jamal Shead (9.6 PPG) opportunities to flourish in pick-and-roll situations and the sophomore guard has demonstrated that he has the patience/basketball IQ to make positive plays for himself and for his teammates. Shead has developed a reliable floater in the paint that he can utilize when opposing big men elect to retreat while defending ball screens. If he’s unable to get a good look in the paint, well, he has the awareness to play off two feet and find an open teammate who will make the next best play available.

Kyler Edwards (13.8 PPG) and Taze Moore (9.3 PPG) are two versatile guards who are capable of scoring in double-figures on any given night. When Edwards happens to be the recipient of one of Jamal Shead’s kick out passes to the perimeter, he typically catches the ball in rhythm and buries momentum-changing threes for the Cougars. The Arlington, Texas native has also done a masterful job of either finding ways to get into his smooth pull-up jumper or slinking his way into the paint for high-percentage layups when necessary.

Moore hasn’t shot the ball from three as well as he did during his last two seasons at CSU Bakersfield (29.5% three-point shooter this season after shooting 36.0% from three in 2019-20 and 51.4% from three in 2020-21), but he’s a guy that you can count on to take and make contested two-pointers in the mid-range area. As a driver, he can get too ahead of himself at times, but I like the fact that he’s willing to receive the ball in transition (or in a half-court setting), and fight through contact before using his tremendous athleticism to finish off explosive layups/dunks at the rim.

As it relates to Fabian White Jr. (12.0 PPG) and Josh Carlton (11.7 PPG), let me just say that the two seniors have been giving the Cougars the production they need in order to be successful. By expanding his game and becoming a legitimate catch-and-shoot threat on the wing (40.4% three-point shooter this season), White has been able to stretch the floor effectively and make defenders pay for drifting away from him when Shead, Edwards, or Moore attack the basket. When defenders manage to take the three away, White is comfortable putting the ball on the floor, lowering his head, and barreling toward the rim.

Carlton is a lethal low-post threat who torches defenders who fail to front him on either block. He’s never been a player who will create problems for opponents from the outside (he’s only attempted one three-pointer at the collegiate level), but he understands the importance of fighting for low-post position, taking a second or two to feel out his defenders, and making moves that’ll put the opposition at a disadvantage.

As for guys like Reggie Chaney (3.8 PPG), Ramon Walker Jr. (4.0 PPG), and J’Wan Roberts (2.9 PPG), well, they embody everything that Houston basketball is all about. If you aren’t going to put up a ton of points for Kelvin Sampson, you better be prepared to bring something else to the table if you want to see the floor.

Chaney, Walker, and Roberts don’t provide much for the Cougars from a scoring standpoint, but the toughness and tenacity that they play with enables them to positively impact games in the AAC. Whether it’s diving for loose balls, being in the right spots defensively, or continuously crashing the offensive and defensive glass, the Cougars’ three glue guys make it nearly impossible for Sampson to keep them out of Houston’s regular rotation.

Hopefully, each individual Cougar will continue to produce moving forward and help the team pile up crucial league wins down the stretch of the regular-season. Yes, we all comprehend that Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark will be missed by Sampson and company in the postseason, but I think that the Cougars have proven that their ceiling is still fairly high despite being short-handed.