Sports

Cougars put ugly loss behind them

By Emily Davis
The Daily Cougar

With two consecutive home losses hanging over their heads, the Cougars now have to play catch-up in back-to-back road games.

And UH will be asking for a little more than fries with that order when it faces Charlotte on Wednesday and South Florida on Saturday with hopes of capturing critical Conference USA wins and restoring its clout in the league standings.

"Weire still competitors in this conference," head coach Ray McCallum said. "We just need to regroup and stay together."

After a devastating 81-55 loss to Louisville on Saturday that bumped the Cougars out of a three-way National Division tie for first place and into a three-way tie for third, UH recognizes the importance of this weekis games.

"Everyone hates to play a bad game," said sophomore guard Andre Owens, who has combined for just 12 points and eight rebounds in his last two games, well below his average of 14.3 points per game. "But we will learn from our mistakes and bring what we learn into our next games, games we must win."

But all is not lost for the young Cougars (6-13, 4-4 in C-USA), who rebounded from a 2-10 start to gain a share of the top spot in the division before losing their last two games.

Freshmen Cedrick Hensley and Dwight Jones II, who had the teamis only three-pointer against Louisville, have been consistent and are getting better every time out.

"We are young," McCallum said. "A lot of these guys have never been in any sort of a collegiate pressure situation. But we want these challenges because they serve to only make us better."

So the Cougarsi uphill battle will continue against Charlotte, which leads the all-time series against UH 7-1 and claimed an 83-68 victory over the Cougars at Hofheinz Pavilion last season.

Although the 49ers (8-12, 3-5) are coming off a 72-64 loss to DePaul on Saturday and have lost six of their last seven games, they play well in front of their home crowd. Led by Curtis Withers and Demon Brown, Charlotte is 9-2 at Halton Arena.

But it wonit scare off the Cougars.

"If your backs are against the wall, you fight," Owens said. "We have the fight, and weill be ready."

And they will need all the fight they can muster when they take on second-place South Florida on Saturday. The Bulls (12-8, 5-4) extended their conference winning streak to three games with a 71-64 win over Saint Louis on Saturday and have won 11 of their last 12 home games this season.

UH and USF met just two weeks ago, with the Cougars claiming a 59-57 win at Hofheinz.

Led by Jimmy Baxter, who had 15 points on Saturday and went 3-of-6 from the three-point range, the Bulls are trying to move past Memphis into first place in the National Division.

"South Florida is a great team," McCallum said. "They are competitors, but so are we."

After a whirlwind week of basketball on the road, the Cougars will return home to play Southern Miss on Tuesday before packing their bags again. Their destination: Alabama-Birmingham on Feb. 22 and Tulane on Feb. 26.

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