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Sports

Houston looks to settle vendetta in Virginia

Cougars hit road Saturday night to face Virginia Commonwealth University

by Chris Elliott
The Daily Cougar

Houston missed its chance to knock off Virginia Commonwealth in the second game of the 2005-06 season. A year ago, then-junior guard Lanny Smith went in for the lay-up, jump-stopped and had the ball slapped out of his hand. On the following inbound play, then-junior forward Jahmar Thorpe couldn't knock down baseline three-point jumper, leaving a 1-1 Cougar squad in utter shock.

Houston head coach Tom Penders said he remembers that loss, and he's sure his remaining players from last year's team will also have that defeat in mind as they prepare to face VCU on the road Saturday night.

"I'm sure the guys from last year's team remember what a disappointing game that was," Penders said. "We led the entire game. I believe the only time that they led was at the final shot. We had an opportunity to tie it and missed some free throws, but the only time they led was late in the ball game. 

"It was really hard. It was at home. We were feeling good about things. I'm not saying we took them lightly at all. We just had a lot of trouble getting in our offensive rhythm last year."

Thorpe and senior guard Oliver Lafayette will be the only players to hit the court who played in last year's match-up against the Rams, and they will likely play important roles in Saturday's game.

Both teams, however, have been revamped in different ways. VCU has former 12-year Florida assistant coach Anthony Grant calling the shots this year for the Rams. Grant and his up-tempo pressing philosophy have been proficient enough to coach his team to a 4-2 record to start the season. 

The Rams currently have four players who average double digits in scoring. Senior guard Jesse Pellot-Rosa leads the team in scoring with 13.8 points per game and is tied for a team high 4.8 rebounds per contest.

"They're a very athletic team, and they go 10 deep," Penders said. "It's going to be a really difficult game and we're going to have to pull an upset. They have a new coach, and he's from Florida. 

"They're running a lot more set plays and they've been pressing and trapping a lot. They press full court at times, three-fourths court, and they run half-court traps as well. That's stuff we do every day and hopefully we can exploit that."

The Cougars are averaging 22.1 more points per game than they were last year thanks in part to Penders' new Phoenix Suns-style offense. The Cougars have two players with point-per-game averages of more than 20. Junior Guard Robert "Fluff" McKiver has been able to put up 26 points per game in Penders' quick-scoring offense, and Lafayette is the team's second-leading scorer with 20 points per game.

The Cougars have three other players averaging more than 10 points per game. Thorpe, who is averaging 11 points per game, put up a season high 20 points Wednesday night in a home victory against Prairie View A&M. He used his superior leaping ability to posterize a few unsuspecting defenders and will look to carry his performance over into Virginia. 

The Cougars will get back one of their more prolific scorers in Marcus Malone on Saturday. He had been putting up 16 points per contest before suffering a stomach virus that kept him off the court for three games. Penders said Malone's presence Saturday night will definitely help the Cougars' cause.

"I think Marcus will be able to play Saturday," Penders said. "He's nowhere near the 100 percent level. I'd say he's more like 75. He's getting stronger every day."

Junior guard Robert Lee, another guard averaging more than 10 points per game, has been getting significant playing time since Malone has been out and has become an integral part to the team, but will not have to stay on the court as long as he's had to the last couple of games.

"He's going to play, but hopefully we don't have to use Robert for 40 minutes. Hopefully we can get Marcus to give us 15 to 20 minutes," Penders said. "That would be ideal."

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