No. 2 Houston will host Towson on Saturday afternoon in another early-season matchup that Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson views as important to get his new charges acclimated to major college basketball.
Sampson knows a thing or two about winning games, given that he notched his 300th career victory at Houston with a 75-57 triumph over visiting Lehigh on Monday.
“This has been an amazing journey that we call coaching,” said Sampson, whose team last year finished 35-5 after losing to Florida in the national championship game. “It’s such a job where your joy comes from helping guys get better, and we have a lot of guys on this team that need to get better.”
Last season’s top scorer, LJ Cryer, who averaged 15.7 points a game, and defensive post player J’Wan Roberts are gone after exhausting their eligibility. Reserve guard Terrance Arceneaux transferred to North Carolina State.
Sampson tried to fill the void of those departures by recruiting one of the nation’s top classes that included forward Chris Cenac Jr., point guard Kingston Flemings, guard Isiah Harwell, and Utah State transfer Kalifa Sakho.
Cenac and Harwell were five-star recruits and McDonald’s All-Americans, and many recruiting services rated Flemings as one of the higher-rated point guards.
Emanuel Sharp (24 points and seven rebounds) and Milos Uzan (12 points, five rebounds and five assists) led Houston to the win over Lehigh.
Cenac had a double-double (12 points and 10 rebounds) in his collegiate debut while starting in place of Roberts, who is playing professionally in Germany.
“Guess who replaced him tonight — Cenac,” Sampson after the win over Lehigh. “He’s never played a college game before. How did you think he was going to play?” Sampson said. “I wonder how many people compare him to J’Wan. How unplugged is that?”
Flemings (eight points), Harwell (three) and Sakho (one point and one rebound) played minor roles in the Lehigh game.
The Cougars will face a Towson team that beat Loyola Maryland 67-56 in Baltimore in their opener on Monday. Tyler Tejada scored a career-high 24 points for the Tigers.
Tejada, the reigning Coastal Athletic Association Player of the Year, and redshirt junior point guard Dylan Williamson combined for 28 of the team’s 39 second-half points.
“I felt like I made a lot of improvements in the offseason with my body, with my energy, being more vocal, trying to be more of a leader and be more active on the defensive side of the ball,” Tejada said. “I think that’s starting to carry over now into this season.”
Towson coach Pat Skerry has led the program to CAA regular-season championships in two out of the last four years. The Tigers were picked by the media during CAA basketball media day to claim another conference championship this season.
Towson has produced at least 20 wins in each of the last four seasons.
