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Sports

After back-to-back conference losses, 
UH not ready to call it quits

by CHRIS ELLIOTT
The Daily Cougar

For the first time this season, the cougars lost two consecutive games. That is something neither the coaches nor players expected as they bunkered down for what was a two-game home-stand last week.

The Cougar Red far out numbered those of Autry's Army. When UH battled their downtown rivals, and the way things had developed all week, the Houston's players felt confident they would demoralize the Owls with an old fashioned butt-kicking.

However, a team that had run through much stronger opponents and stayed competitive with some of the country's best fell to a mediocre Rice team, because of one reason: the zone.

"I'm trying to get this team to develop fearlessness," Houston head coach Tom Penders said. "I mean we had a lot of guys out there that looked like deer in the headlights for the first two minutes, and why?" 

Rice began the game running a 2-3 zone defense, and from a spectator's point of view, UH players looked like someone had just driven a Hummer through Autry with the high beams flashing. 

They turned the ball over twice in a one-minute span and allowed the Owls to jump out to an 8-0 lead. It would not be until 07:30 minutes had passed that the cougars would put their first points on the board. 

"Tonight (Rice) threw up what I thought was no more than a CYL or high school zone, and we didn't attack it," Penders said.

The purpose of the zone defense is to force the other team to shoot three pointers or low percentage shots. Houston played right into Rice's hands forcing up 38 shots from downtown, and only hitting 11 of them. This would be a factor in their 62-71 loss to the Owls.

As expected, Saturday night, the UCF Golden Knights came out playing a zone defense. This time however, UH did make an effort to take some shots in the paint. Penders also chose to start the game with a larger, younger line-up, playing freshmen forward Lamar Roberson, forward Corey Bloom and center Emmanuel "Tree" Adeife alongside the usual suspects: Ramon Dyer and Lanny Smith.

Dyer hit his second of three shots from behind the arc early in the first half to put the Cougars down by just one point, 6-7, with 15:42 left in the half. That would be the closest they would get to a lead the entire night.

The versatile forward would also give Cougar fans something special to leave the game with, or at least laugh at. After the struggling junior guard Oliver Lafayette missed another three, Dyer seemed to come from out of nowhere; he caught the rebound and threw it down over two unsuspecting Golden Knight defenders, a perfect example of "posterization."

Houston entered the half down 29-36 and would come out of the second half attacking the basket with Senior Forward Sam Anderson. This strategy however would not last long, because of UH's inability to knock down shots. As a team, UH shot 26 percent in the second half, and 31 percent for the game.

And thanks to UCF forward Anthony Williams' offensive explosion in the second half and near perfect three-point shooting by guards senior Troy LindBeck and sophomore Mike O'Donnell, the Golden Knights would run away with a game that should have been closer than it was.

"UCF played well. Give them credit," Penders said after the 56-66 loss. "They came out wanting to slow down the game, and they really controlled the tempo."

After starting the season with a 9-3 record, UH lost two consecutive games in conference play, but Penders wants people to remember which direction the team is going.

"It's important to stay positive and keep working hard. You can't hang your head when things go bad, Penders said. "We were a nine win team two seasons ago; we're going forward, not backwards."

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