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Sports

Resurgent Cougars to face hot Jaguars

by CHRIS ELLIOTT
The Daily Cougar

It could be another one of those games that will go down to the wire, against another one of those tough teams that will find itself in the NCAA tournament in March. 

Riding a 12-game winning streak, South Alabama will enter tonight's contest at Hofheinz Pavilion with a 19-7 record. The Jaguars, who boast stellar guard play, could create matchup scenarios where the Cougars will not be able to press and trap the way they've done to win eight of their last 10 games. 

It will be another one of those non-conference games that, if won, will look great on UH's postseason résumé. And don't forget about the grudge factor. The Jaguars pulled the chair from under an unsuspecting Cougar squad in the 2005-06 season, relieving the then-Associated Press Poll No. 25 Cougars of their national recognition.

Despite all the things riding on this game, UH head coach Tom Penders said he felt like the fans would not show up, kind of like they did not show up for equally pivotal home games against ranked opponents UNLV and Memphis, when the average attendance for both nights was reportedly 4,455.

"We know they're here," Penders said. "They showed up at the Rice game, and they showed up like it was (Duke's) Cameron Indoor Stadium. Do they only care about beating Rice here? Is that the only game that's important?" 

UH drew a season-high 6,115 people in its Jan. 31 win over the Owls at Hofheinz, and Penders said that without consistent fan support, playing in a postseason tournament will be increasingly difficult.

Penders said his team could have to attack the Jaguars defensively with a strategy that differs from its usual style of play, and this could pose a problem if the environment's not right. 

"I don't think we can press these guys, particularly in an empty building," Penders said. "We need a crowd. The crowd is something we feed off of defensively. This team, because they're in the Sun Belt, doesn't get the publicity that they should have."

"We're going to play as hard as we can on defense, but they're going to be hard to press, trap and turnover. I mean nobody else has all season. When you watch them play and watch teams try to pressure them, they handle it very well. They've got really good guards, and they're skilled at every position."

South Alabama point guard Daon Merritt quarterbacks a team that only turns the ball over an average of 11.7 times per game, with a 1.2 assist to turnover ratio. Merritt, who is third on the team in scoring with 12.8 points per contest, will look to feed forwards Demetric Bennett and Earnest Little. Both combine for an average of 28.8 points and 14 rebounds per contest. 

Penders said he is starting to second-guess scheduling his team to play the elite programs in the country.

"I don't know how in the world we've won as many games as we've had considering the schedule we've played, and we've played a Top 25 non-conference schedule," Penders said. "We've gone out and done that. I guess we'll stop doing that. There's no sense in doing that. If the same crowd comes for Grambling comes from UNLV, we might as well play the SWAC."

UH associate head coach Melvin Haralson, who has been with the program for seven years, said considering UH's NCAA tournament history and the recent success, an increase in the Cougars overall support could be in the near future.

"Duke, UConn and Michigan State, all of them have big time tradition," Haralson said. "I think we have tradition here too, but we are in a big city. There are a lot of things to do. It's not like being in Durham N.C. where there aren't a lot different venues to go to. We just have to continue to work hard, win and just hope the fan support gets better."

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