Season Outlook
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S E A S O N O U T LO O K 2007-08 HOUSTON BASKETBALL HOUSTON 27 POSTSEASON TOURNAMENTS PAGESEASON INFORMAT PREVIEWION More Experience, Improved Depth, Better Overall Defensive Play…Those are three key ingredients the University of Houston basketball team plans to use in its efforts to return to postseason play in 2007-08. Last season, Houston played most of the season without two of its most experienced players when junior forward Sam Anderson left the team for personal reasons after the first outlook five games, and three-year starting point guard Lanny Smith was limited to just four contests after undergoing preseason surgery on his left foot. In addition, junior-college transfer Tafari Toney was limited in his ability to run most of the year while he recovered from preseason knee surgery. season As a result, junior-college transfer Robert McKiver (Mc-key-ver) was forced to take over the point guard position and Houston began the season with just two returning starters in Oliver Lafayette and Jahmar Thorpe. McKiver earned All-Conference USA First Team honors after averaging 2007-08 19.2 points per game and leading the league in minutes played with an average of 37.5 per game. His scoring average ranked second among C-USA leaders, and he set school records for most three-point field goals in a game (nine vs. Prairie View A&M) and a single season with 116, while averaging 3.4 assists per contest. Lafayette averaged 35.8 minutes per game. He scored 14.3 points per contest and led Conference USA with 2.36 steals per game, while Thorpe aver- aged 10.9 points and 6.1 rebounds in 30.8 minutes per contest. Houston’s other two starters were Marcus Malone, who averaged 7.2 points per game as a junior-college transfer, and Dion Dowell, who chipped in 2007-08 PreVIEW Starters Returning: Three Robert McKiver, 6-3, 170, Sr., G, 19.2 ppg, 3.4 apg Dion Dowell, 6-6, 205, Sr., F, 11.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg Marcus Malone, 6-5, 215, Sr., G, 7.2 ppg, 1.4 apg Starters Lost: Two Oliver Lafayette, 6-2, G, 14.3 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.4 spg Jahmar Thorpe, 6-6, F, 10.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg Other Lettermen Returning: Three- Six overall Robert McKiver earned All-Conference USA First Team honors after averaging Tafari Toney, 6-8, 241, Sr., C-F, 3.0, ppg, 2.6 rpg 19.2 points per game and 3.4 assists per game. Nick Mosley, 6-8, 210, So., C, 2.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg Kyle Hatcher, 6-2, 170, So., G, 1.3 ppg with 11.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game after joining the team in December as a mid-year transfer. Other Lettermen Lost: One “We were forced to stick with guys for better or worse,” head coach Tom Robert Lee, 6-2, G, 5.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg Penders said. “There were a lot of guys pacing themselves in order to stay Charlie Jones, 6-0, 175, G, 0.8 ppg, 0.5 rpg on the floor. If we had stayed intact, we could have had won four or five more games.” Medical Redshirt Returning: One That difference cost Houston its third straight postseason tournament Lanny Smith, 6-3, 194, Sr., G, 12.1 ppg, 5.4 apg in 2005-06 berth. New Players: Seven SIX ReturnING LetterMen Marcus Cousin, 6-11, 245, Jr., Center This season, the Cougars return McKiver, Malone and Dowell from last Kelvin Lewis, 6-4, 175, So. Guard season’s starting lineup. In addition, Smith is slated to return at the point posi- Horace McGloster, 6-7, 210, Fr. Forward tion, if he can remain healthy and injury free. Penders is hoping for the same Yan Moukoury, 6-7, 225, Fr., Forward type of production that Smith enjoyed when he averaged 12.1 points and 5.4 Zamal Nixon, 6-1, 170, Fr., Guard assists per game when he earned All-Region and All-Conference USA Third- Brockeith Pane, 6-2, 200, Fr., Guard Team honors. DaShaun Williams, 6-2, 200, Jr. Guard In addition, four other lettermen return from last season. They are senior forward-center Tafari (Ta-Far-eye) Toney, sophomore post Nick Mosley, and 2006-07 In REVIEW sophomore walk-on Kyle Hatcher. 2006-07 Overall Record: 18-15 Toney played with limited mobility most of last season and averaged 3.0 2006-07 C-USA Record/Finish: 10-6/Third points and 2.6 rebounds in 27 games. Mosley chipped in 2.5 points and 3.4 2006-07 C-USA Tournament Record: 2-1 rebounds, while Hatcher scored four points in three games. 80 2007-08 HOUSTON BASKETBALL HOUSTON FIVE NCAAA FINAL FOURS SEASON PREVIEW 2007-08 S eason outlook Senior forward Dion Dowell averaged 11.1 points and 5.8 rebounds in his first season at Houston. SIX HIGhlY TalenteD NEWcoMers “DaShaun is a very good decision maker who can run the fast break or run Penders also has to blend in six highly talented newcomers with the re- an offensive system,” Penders said. “He also knows how to feed the post and turning players. Headlining the list of new players is All-American junior-college brings a lot of maturity to the floor.” guard DaShaun Williams from Monroe College in the Bronx, N.Y. Joining him Williams earned Third-Team All-American and the NJCAA Region 15 Player are Kelvin Lewis, a transfer from Auburn who received a waiver from the NCAA of the Year honors after averaging 17.9 points and 6.2 assists per game as a and is immediately eligible, along with pair of freshmen guards and two fresh- sophomore at Monroe. His 6.2 assists average ranked 24th nationally. men forwards. The guards are Zamal Nixon from Boys and Girls High School in “Zamal Nixon is a pure-point guard, who knows how to play,” Penders said. Brooklyn and Brockeith Pane from Carter High School in Dallas. The two forwards “He has a chance to be a special player before it’s all said and done.” are Horace McGloster from Genesis One Christian School in Mendenhall, Miss., A seventh-team All-Metro New York selection, Nixon was one of the Top and Yan Moukoury of Christian Life High School in Baton Rouge, La. Five 2007 senior point guards in New York by Hoopscoop.com. He averaged “I think this year’s team has a good mixture of five senior veterans who 16.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.6 assists at Boys and Girls High School, which have a lot of experience and some young, inexperienced, but highly talented finished the season with a 30-4 record and was ranked among the nation’s Top players,” Penders said. “This team also has a lot of players who have been 75 high school teams. leaders in the past, and therefore, should have a high basketball I.Q.” With Smith returning, combined with the addition of Williams and Nixon, The other thing Penders likes about his roster is that there is more than Penders anticipates being able to move McKiver back to his more natural two- one true point guard. guard spot most of the time. “Last year, Lanny Smith was the only true point guard on our roster,” Penders added. “When he went down, we had to simplify our offense, and we didn’t win McKIVer HeaDS LIst OF TWO GuarDS as many games as we would have won with him on the floor. This season, he will “(Robert McKiver) had a great year last season considering how many have the leg up for the starting point position if he is healthy and injury free.” minutes he had to play and the fact he was playing a new position,” Penders said. “He had defenses keying on him at the point and still led us in scoring. Playing off ADDITIonal Depth AT The POInt PosITIon the ball more, it won’t be as easy for defenses to focus on him. I also don’t think If Smith isn’t, Penders can turn the reins over to a pair of newcomers in there will be as much pressure on him to score this year, so that should help him DaShaun Williams and Zamal Nixon. improve his shooting percentages, and in turn, help us as a team.” WWW.UHCOUGARS.COM 81 HOUSTON 27 POSTSEASON TOURNAMENTS PAGESEASON INFORMAT PREVIEWION Joining McKiver at the two spot will be senior guard Marcus Malone– who started 19 games on the perimeter last season– Kelvin Lewis and Brockeith Pane. “We have been stressing defense a If needed, Williams also can move from the point position. “Marcus was a very good defensive player and clutch shooter by the end lot during the off-season, and I think of last season,” Penders said. “In the last five games, he either won or tied some outlook games when he made a clutch shot. That has to build his confidence, which is something I felt he lacked coming into last season.” it will be the strength of this year’s Malone averaged 7.2 points for the Cougars last season after he opened the year netting a season-best 25 points at Rhode Island. He also developed season into one of Houston’s top defenders at the end of the year. His best game team.” defensively was against Rice in the C-USA Tournament, when he held C-USA Player of the Year Morris Almond to 11 points.