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Sports

Junior finds his footing at Hofheinz

by RONNIE TURNER
The Daily Cougar

Fans of the UH men's basketball team have waited all season for the day when they would see junior forward Dion Dowell place his stamp on the court at Hofheinz Pavilion.

That moment has yet to arrive, but if the result of Houston's Wednesday night home win against Rice was a good indicator of what Dowell can do in the future, then he should be well on his way. Dowell, a University of Texas transfer, played with efficiency and effort that had been rarely seen by fans at home this season in the Cougars' 70-63 victory over the rival Owls.

In his best outing to date at Hofheinz, Dowell poured in 16 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. He also blocked two shots and slammed two Earth-shattering dunks at the outset of the game that energized the crowd.

"Night in and night out, I just want to play hard and do whatever I need to do for my team to win," Dowell said. "I don't care if I (score) five points; I just want to win."

Dowell's production never waned in the second half. He came out after the halftime break and continued to fight for every rebound and loose ball.

Prior to Wednesday's game, Dowell had played almost like a stranger at Hofheinz, where he averaged only 8.2 points and four rebounds in five previous home contests. However, those numbers didn't matter against Rice. 

"A lot of that had to do with his activity on defense and his rebounding," UH head coach Tom Penders said. "Tonight, he played like (Phoenix Suns forward) Shawn Marion; he drove to the bucket, he got rebounds and he blocked shots."

Dowell has been one of the Cougars' most consistent road performers, averaging 16.2 points and 7.1 rebounds in games away from Hofheinz, but he's struggled to replicate that same production at home. 

But despite Dowell's outing against Rice, Penders feels that the best is still yet to come. 

"He's still in many ways a rookie," Penders said. "He's playing on a new team. This is all new (to him), but hopefully, from here on in, that's the Dion we see. Some nights, he may not get 16 (points), but I can see (him having) that 10 or 12 rebounds every night." 

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