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Houston, we both had problems tonight. Our beloved Shocks lose a rare home game and Houston loses on the road to Tulane 81-72. Thus, Houston will have the eye of the Cougar and the Shocks through the years rarely lose two in a row. With that said, Houston is 8-0 at home this Season, so life on the cold and lonely road in the AAC is not without its share of tough challenges. Here in Wichita, we beat Houston 81-63 and that could have been even more lopsided. Rob Gray only scored 13 which is rare. In that game, LS scored 18 in 22 minutes and Frankamp had 15 points. Houston is now 4-2 and 14-4 overall. They are coached by Kelvin Sampson who was quite complimentary of WSU and believed Landry may be NBA bound sooner than later. Shaq had 14 points and 6 rebounds in 20 minutes in the Wichita win, so we need more of that. We also scored 20 points in the paint to Houston's 10 points.
It has been well chronicled on SN about the sluggish slow starts and how they could come back to haunt us. While I was not expecting that to occur at home tonight, SMU shot the lights out. Two issues tonight were our offense and our defense. On offense, we missed way too many 3's and on defense we could not slow Shake to a mild roar as he had a career night of 33 points. When we smothered him, he also answered with 5 assists. Houston plays far better at home and will want to avenge the loss here. Houston is the only team to out-rebound us this Season, but only by 1.
So what does it all mean? Dunno, but I predict Coach Marshall might make a few changes on the starting line-up? Maybe, but maybe not. What might Coach do to spark these slow starts we have been having? He may start Duff in place of Z. Brown although he still thinks MM is trying to force things a little too much as he gets back in the groove. Another possibility would be Willis for Kelly? Not sure about that either and I like both of them. Against Houston, Brown led our team with 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Duff had 11 points in only 13 minutes. In that game, we had only 8 turnovers while Houston had 15. That is Shocker basketball, but we are not seeing that advantage this Season as much as we like and are accustomed to. We win by a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Beloved Shocks---77
Houston-------------74
It has been well chronicled on SN about the sluggish slow starts and how they could come back to haunt us. While I was not expecting that to occur at home tonight, SMU shot the lights out. Two issues tonight were our offense and our defense. On offense, we missed way too many 3's and on defense we could not slow Shake to a mild roar as he had a career night of 33 points. When we smothered him, he also answered with 5 assists. Houston plays far better at home and will want to avenge the loss here. Houston is the only team to out-rebound us this Season, but only by 1.
So what does it all mean? Dunno, but I predict Coach Marshall might make a few changes on the starting line-up? Maybe, but maybe not. What might Coach do to spark these slow starts we have been having? He may start Duff in place of Z. Brown although he still thinks MM is trying to force things a little too much as he gets back in the groove. Another possibility would be Willis for Kelly? Not sure about that either and I like both of them. Against Houston, Brown led our team with 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Duff had 11 points in only 13 minutes. In that game, we had only 8 turnovers while Houston had 15. That is Shocker basketball, but we are not seeing that advantage this Season as much as we like and are accustomed to. We win by a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Beloved Shocks---77
Houston-------------74
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