Houston Transfers Leading Offensive Surge
Posted by Jared Kotler on December 11th, 2015Going into Tuesday night’s matchup against Rhode Island, Houston had been a pleasant surprise. The Cougars’ 5-0 record looked great, even if all of their games had come at home against subpar opponents (none ranked higher than #143, according to KenPom). However, a road game against a team picked to finish near the top of the Atlantic 10 represented Houston’s first attempt to compete with legitimate teams. Kelvin Sampson‘s team ended up falling short against the Rams, but it showed in the loss that an improved offense will make the Cougars a tough out in the American this season.
Purdue transfer Ronnie Johnson is leading the Houston offense to new heights this season. (Photo: Twitter)
To say Houston was bad offensively last year would be an understatement, as the Cougars ranked no higher than 200th in every KenPom offensive category but one, offensive rebounding percentage. In Sampson’s second year, however, Houston appears to have turned the corner, ranking in the top 100 of almost every category to date. Transfers Rob Gray, Ronnie Johnson and Damyean Dotson have joined a mix of veteran returnees in allowing the Cougars to employ a more fluid and successful offense.
Gray, a JuCo transfer, has quickly settled in. He has scored in double figures in every game so far, including a 14-point outing against this week against the Rams. In addition to being a consistent scorer, Gray has been one of the team’s most effective three-point shooters, making 40 percent of his shots. Gray’s backcourt mate Johnson has been even more effective, as evidenced by his sensational 136.3 offensive rating (23rd in the nation). However, the Purdue transfer struggled in his first game against tough competition, recording only two points on 1-of-7 shooting. It could easily be a random anomaly, but if Houston would like to make a run in the American, Johnson will need to play at a high level against every level of competition. Dotson, the most highly regarded of the trio, submitted a 19/12 double-double in the losing effort against Rhode Island, but he has a sterling offensive rating of his own (121.2) and will be called upon to continue the scoring touch that he brought over from Oregon.
Playing alongside the trio of transfers in the backcourt is the defending AAC Player of the Week, Devonta Pollard. The senior is logging some of the best numbers of his collegiate career, averaging 15.7 points per game to go along with 6.7 rebounds per contest. With the second highest offensive rating on the team (129.8), Pollard is giving Sampson the balance he needs to create a capable offensive outfit.
The schedule only gets tougher for Houston, as LSU and its superstar Ben Simmons will visit the Cougars on Sunday. That game should act as another good barometer for just how far Sampson’s group has grown from last year. For now though, Houston’s 77th-best offense is miles ahead of where it was last season. The defense will need to catch up in the coming months, but even in a worst case scenario, Houston very much looks the part of a program on the rise in the AAC.
