Hooten sees UH game Saturday as opportunity
12/4/2010 7:39:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sam Houston State head coach Jason Hooten wants his team to play every game like it is the last. That sounds a little drastic this early in the season, but opportunities like the one facing the Bearkats today do not come around very often.
For the first time in 13 years, Sam Houston gets a shot at the Houston Cougars on the Bearkats' home court. That's right, Houston is coming to Johnson Coliseum today for a 2 p.m. tip.
The Cougars' last visit to Huntsville was in 1997 as they held on for a 67-64 victory. Sam Houston returned the favor by dropping the Cougars 67-63 the following year in Houston, but the previous two meeting have gone to UH at Hofheinz Pavilion in 2004 and '05.
"It's hard to get these type of quality opponents to come here, but over the years we have been lucky to get some," Hooten said Friday afternoon. "This year we have some good ones and Houston is the first one. They have a great team, coach (James) Dickey does a great job and they will be prepared.
"We do talk about opportunities and this one is a good one."
While knocking off the Cougars is one of the goals, the Bearkats (4-1) are more concerned about getting better. Hooten and his staff have added a new offense, and even though Sam Houston has seven returning players off last season's NCAA tournament squad, everyone is going through a learning curve, not just the newcomers.
After opening the season with a pair of easy wins over Mary Hardin-Baylor and Northwestern Oklahoma State when the Bearkats were just working on the basics, Sam Houston really began to implement the new offense in a blowout loss to Texas on Nov. 23.
"We put together a new offense, so we are a little slow trying to work out the kinks right now," SHSU junior guard Drae Murray said. "We are just trying to smooth things out so we can transition into our game and start playing better."
Sam Houston showed flashes of figuring things out a few days after the loss to the Longhorns with another road game at Colorado State. After a slow first half, Sam Houston got things rolling and outscored the Rams by 17 points in the final period to notch a 92-81 victory.
The Bearkats got a huge night from All-Southland Conference forward Gilberto Clavell, who scored a season-high 29 points on 10 of 14 shooting. Seniors Josten Crown and Lance Pevehouse each drilled three 3-pointers in the win.
"We feel good about what we are doing and what we are trying to establish," Hooten added. "What it comes down to is our intensity and we didn't have that the other night."
Hooten is referring to Wednesday night's 54-46 victory over Saint Thomas. The Bearkats didn't reveal much of their new offense against the Celts, but they couldn't hit any shots either.
Things will come together as Sam Houston gets more experience in the new system, but the Bearkats need to start knocking down more shots to be truly effective. The team is shooting just 28 percent from long range on the year.
"It has been tough for us," Pevehouse said. "We had one good half at Colorado State where everyone was clicking and making shots. It felt really good, but we need to have another good shooting game to open every thing else up."
Today would be the right time for those shots to start falling. The Cougars bring a 4-3 record into the contest with wins over Nicholls, Alcorn State, Northwestern Oklahoma State and Louisiana-Lafayette.
Led by senior guard Adam Brown, who scores 15.4 points a game, Houston is averaging 69 points and shooting 46 percent from the floor and 39 percent from 3 on the season.
"Our intensity wasn't good and I don't know if we got any better offensively the other night," Hooten said. "But our guys continue to work hard. Thursday was a great practice and we had a really good practice (Friday). We encourage our guys to work hard everyday. What you put into it is what you get out. If you work hard in practice, you get that in a game.
"Hopefully, we will get some results (today)."
The Houston game is the second of a series of four home games in eight days. Wednesday, Dec. 8, the opponent is North Texas in a 7 p.m. matchup. Prior to the game with the Mean Green, the Kats' 2010 Southland Conference championship banner will be raised in a special pregame ceremony.
The four-game series ends Saturday, Dec. 11, with a 3:30 p.m. contest with Cleveland State. Dec. 11, it's "Kids Day" at Johnson Coliseum for the 3:30 p.m. tilt with Cleveland State. Students and children 17 years old and younger are free with one paid adult. Up to four kids will be admitted free with each adult.
Tickets for Sam Houston men's basketball are on sale now online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets .
Fans also may purchase tickets at the Sam Houston athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1764.
