Underdog mentality: Houston stays motivated following injuries to two top players

SAN ANTONIO — When Houston coach Kelvin Sampson was asked about Arizona guard Bennedict Mathurin by a reporter who trekked from Montreal to AT&T Center to cover one of Canada’s budding stars, he rattled off nicknames.

“What do they call him? Benn? Like he doesn’t have ‘Big Benn’ or ‘B-Money,’ none of that stuff? Just Bennedict? You guys have nicknames, right? Let’s just call him Benn,” Sampson said.

Then Sampson showered Arizona’s guard, who is coming off a 30-point performance against TCU in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, with compliments.

“Whatever you call him, he’s the best guard we’ve seen. That’s not coach-speak, that’s the truth,” said Sampson, whose fifth-seeded Cougars will take on the top-seeded Wildcats in Thursday’s Sweet 16. “I was in the NBA for six seasons, and he’s an NBA guy. He’s not going to go in and be a role player, he’ll start. … I mean, he’s a first-day starter for an NBA team. He has everything you need. He can create a shot, a tremendous defender. He’s got next-level acceleration, and he can really shoot.”

Stopping Mathurin will be Houston’s biggest challenge. The Cougars lost guards Marcus Sasser and Tramon Walker to injuries, wrecking their depth.

Just before the holiday break in December, Sasser suffered a season-ending toe injury. Walker underwent shoulder surgery. The duo that led Houston to a Final Four last season averaged a combined 27.8 points per game at the time of their injuries.

Now that Sampson and Houston are in the Sweet 16, the “Coogs” aren’t seeking a pat on the back.

“I don’t think that makes us special or unique. We all have to deal with injuries,” Sampson said. “I guess the blessing was it happened early in conference season. … We just don’t have the depth in the backcourt. And then fatigue. But we’ve been dealing with that all year. Every coach has to deal with this stuff, so I don’t think we’re unique or special.”

Sampson said replacing Sasser’s production hasn’t been a problem. “He wasn’t averaging 40 (points per game), he was averaging 18. But four or five guys getting three or four more points, we’ll figure that out. But you can’t replace his leadership and confidence. He was the guy our kids looked up to.”

The next-man-up mantra has led to significant playing time for Jamal Shead, Kyler Edwards and Taze Moore, who Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd referred to as a “freak athlete.”

“He’s playing on ball screens. He’s hitting pull-ups. He’s getting to the basket,” Lloyd said. “Just looks like a really good live-bodied player who’s got a great coach, and he’s listening to his coach. And he’s able to translate that athleticism and sprinkle some effort in there, and it’s a heck of a combination.”

Edwards leads the Cougars with 13.9 points per game, while Shead is averaging an AAC-best 5.9 assists per game and a team-high 1.7 steals per game game. Houston wing Fabian White is averaging more minutes (36) than the previous four seasons, and is averaging double-figure scoring (13 points per game) for the first time in his career. Since losing Sasser and Mark, the Cougars are 20-3 and won the AAC championship outright.

“I just feel like we all have pride in what we do, just like you all have pride in what you all do,” White said. “We’re just going to play our best basketball, play as hard as we can, play together, and it just happened to come out with some wins and the conference championship.”

Besides steady guard play, the Cougars are also among the best rebounding teams in college basketball. Houston leads the country in offensive rebounding percentage (37.8%); Arizona isn’t far behind at No. 11 (33.9%).

“Hey, listen, they’re going to get some offensive rebounds,” Lloyd said. “It’s just what they do, and it’s just how the game goes. We just got to do a great job battling and hopefully limit that number.”

032422-tuc-spt-uabksidebar-p2 — Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd praised Houston's Taze Moore for being a freak athlete and solid basketball player.
Gene J. Puskar, Associated Press

Offensive rebounding could spell trouble for Arizona considering the Wildcats allowed TCU to grab 20 offensive rebounds — including 10 from center Eddie Lampkin Jr.

“Every possession, we’ve got four guys on the glass,” said Houston center Josh Carlton, who is 19th in college basketball with 3.28 offensive rebounds per game. “We know that we’re going to be able to have the opportunity to do that again against Arizona, so that’s going to be a big emphasis for us.”

For just the second time since December of the 2020-21 season, Houston enters a game as the underdog. Arizona is that highly respected.

Still, “I feel like our mentality is just the same mentality we always have for every game, really: Play harder than our opponent, out-tough our opponent, and play to the culture,” White said. “We usually come out with the win.

“But the underdog thing? We’re always the underdog. We’ve been the underdog since December, since we lost (Sasser) and (Mark). So it’s something we’re used to.”