Houston Basketball Defeats Texas A&M In Charity Exhibition: 3 Takeaways

Houston basketball began their 2024-25 season with a dominant exhibition game win 79-64 over the Aggies. In a game where the entire roster played besides senior forward Ja’Vier Francis, UH had quite a bit to take away.  

Typical Cougars basketball picked up right where it left off in Fertitta Center last season, with an Emmanuel Sharp three, strong defense, and their signature offensive rebounds which opened to an 8-0 lead that Houston never gave up.

Senior guard LJ Cryer was the leading scorer with 18 points and six threes, alongside graduate forward J’Wan Roberts with 10 points. 

Takeaway #1: Houston has strong depth this year, especially with the bench

UH presented their depth well in the exhibition game with 38 bench points. Sophomore guard Terrance Arceneaux shot well and contributed with 10 points in 16 minutes, including 2/3 from three after recovering from his torn ACL suffered vs Texas A&M last December. “He’s been rehabbing all summer, bulk (of credit) goes to John Houston (associate AD for sports medicine),” said head coach Kelvin Sampson.

Freshman guard Mercy Miller is someone that has a lot of potential after being recruited last season. Miller demonstrated his offensive skill with 11 points in 14 minutes (5/7 from the field). Senior guard Ramon Walker also chipped in with a late seven point burst, further demonstrating the multitude of guards off the bench available to Kelvin Sampson. 

Graduate guard Mylik Wilson, who played a big role off the bench last season, also scored seven points. Junior point guard Milos Uzan looked good with the floater and early three as well with five points in eight minutes. This can mitigate the loss of program leader Jamal Shead last season. Uzan had a great pass on the last possession of the first half to an open Cryer on the top of the key. It gives a glimpse to the kind of backcourt we will see this season from Houston. Uzan and Cryer continued to build that chemistry throughout the game.

Sophomore forward Jojo Tugler, who had major surgery on his ankle back in February, was in the starting lineup in place of Francis and showed his strong presence in the paint with nine rebounds, but no points. “You saw what he did on the boards tonight,” said Sampson. UH ended up emptying the bench with sophomore center Cedric Lath, freshman guard Kordelius Jefferson, freshman forward Case McCarthy, and freshman center Jacob McFarland, who suffered a broken leg during practice this week and is out for the rest of the year. Lath had a thunderous put-back slam which extended the Cougars lead to 57-36 over the Aggies. Houston showed they have a potential nine-man rotation to use this season. 

“All the guys did things that we want to emphasize…our top nine is our top nine. The freshmen are not going to contribute,” said Sampson. 

Takeaway #2:Cougars defense looks just as strong

This is a Kelvin Sampson consistency among all his teams. The same tough and physical approach with huge effort on the defensive end could be seen even in the exhibition game. It was a typical rebounding performance, as Houston won the boards 40-29 as well as +11 in offensive rebounding. This resulted in 10 second chance points. The Cougars also had 14 steals and nine blocks, a great sign of defensive dominance. Steals always used to be high with Shead on the team. 

Takeaway #3: Houston can shoot

Houston showed the ability to increase their lead with the three-ball. One of the concerns for UH throughout the years has been their ability to consistently shoot from three, but in the exhibition game this was not a worry. The Cougars shot 45% from downtown (14/31). Cryer, as well as junior guard Emanuel Sharp are key in this department. 

“I feel pretty confident. Jojo has worked on his game a lot, his three ball looks pretty well, Milos is a good shooter, Chase and Mercy can shoot the ball, Mylik’s shot is still improving so on the outside we should be pretty good,” said Cryer at media day. 

Free throws have also been a worry, but with only 10 total attempts for UH, it is difficult to make an assertion about that. 

This was the third time that the Cougars beat the Aggies within the last year. UH beat A&M in the Halal Guys Showcase 70-66 along with a NCAA second-round win 100-95 in overtime to advance to their fifth straight Sweet 16.