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Sports

Cougars confident of win against SLU Billikens

Houston looks to snap two-game cold spell against conference foe

By Sam Khan Jr.
The Daily Cougar

Another week, another team that the Cougars are supposed to beat.

Houston will try to avoid the fate they suffered Jan. 26 when they were upset for the first time this season by Tulane when they try to take down the St. Louis Billikens Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Hofheinz Pavilion. 

It will be the final time St. Louis and Houston will play each other as Conference USA foes in the regular season, as the Billikens (5-14, 3-4 C-USA) will leave to go to the Atlantic-10 conference next season. St. Louis comes into the game after having dropped two straight games last week -- a 60-53 decision to East Carolina and a double-overtime contest to Marquette 55-51.

The Billikens are led by senior guard Reggie Bryant who turns in 14.5 points per game and senior forward Izik Ohanon, their leading shooter (50.8 percent), rebounder (6.8 per game) and second-leading scorer. They lead the all-time series over Houston 23-10. The Billikens won last year's contest, a 72-69 overtime thriller.

Houston (12-9, 3-4 C-USA) is coming off of two straight losses of their own, the aforementioned Tulane game, and an 87-68 loss to No. 21 Cincinnati on Saturday. One thing that's been worked on in practice a lot this week is free throws, something that contributed to the Tulane loss.

"We had a great opportunity to beat Tulane, but we came up short," Cougar head coach Tom Penders said. "The free-throw shooting hurt. You can't win games if you can't shoot free throws. We have spent a lot of time on it. You just have to keep working at it."

In Cincinnati, much was made about how the game was officiated, but Penders did give them credit for their solid play.

"(Cincinnati) could have beaten any team in the country the way they played that night," he said. 

Despite the two losses, Penders said the team isn't down and is confident they'll come out and play well Wednesday. 

"Their attitude is great," Penders said. "Their attitude is what every coach would dream what their attitude should be. They don't have any quit in them. They compete."
 
 

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