Men's Basketball Travels To Houston
1/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 15, 2002
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Frogs Travel To Houston, Face Former SWC Rival Houston: The TCU Horned Frogs (10-7, 0-3 C-USA) hit the road for the second straight game as they travel to Houston to face the Houston Cougars. Tipoff for the contest at Hofheinz Pavilion is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. TCU and Houston, former Southwest Conference rivals, are meeting for the first time since the league ended in the 1996 season. The Frogs, in their first season in Conference USA, have dropped three straight league games, while the Cougars are 1-2 in the league. TCU dropped a 93-85 decision at Louisville last Saturday, while the Cougars lost to Cincinnati, 83-62, at home. The Houston game is TCU's second straight road game and the third out of the first four conference games overall.
Radio/TV:The Houston game can be heard on KMKI Disney Radio 620 AM or KTCU (88.7 FM) with Brian Estridge (play-by-play) and former TCU basketball letterman Herb Stephens (analysis) describing the action. The game will not be televised.
Billy Tubbs: One of the nation's winningest coaches, Billy Tubbs is in his 8th season at TCU and his 28th overall as a head coach. His career record stands at 589-289, which places him 12th among the NCAA's winningest active coaches. Tubbs needs only 11 wins to reach the 600 victory plateau. Only 35 coaches have won at least 600 games in their respective careers. While at TCU, Tubbs has recorded a win-loss mark of 150-87. He is assisted by Brian Fish, Rob Flaska and Scott Edgar.
TCU vs. Houston: This is the 62nd meeting between TCU and Houston, and the first since February 14, 1996. Houston leads the all-time series, 42-19. In 47 meetings as SWC rivals, TCU posted a record of 18-29. The Cougars won each of the last three games between the two teams, but all three contests were decided by four points or less. TCU coach Billy Tubbs has a 2-5 record vs. Houston, including a 2-3 mark while at TCU. In Houston, the Frogs have won only five times, the last coming on February 15, 1995 - a 106-95 win.
About The Houston Cougars: Houston coach Ray McCallum is in his second year, having posted a win-loss mark of 16-27 since arriving at UH. The Cougars are averaging 71.9 points per game, while holding opponents to an average of 71.2. Nine of Houston's 14 games have been decided by seven points or less. The Cougars are led by Dominic Smith, who is averaging 13.0 points per game, and Patrick Okafor, who is scoring 12.8 per contest.
Tough Start to League Play: TCU has not exactly been treated well in their first three games in C-USA play, dropping contests to the top two teams in the National Division, and at perennial league contender Louisville. The Frogs lost to Louisville, 93-85 last Saturday. Memphis, the preseason favorite to win the league, defeated TCU, 98-93, on January 9. In the league opener, South Florida beat TCU, 117-108, establishing league records for points by a winning team, points by a losing team and combined points in a conference game. South Florida, Memphis and Louisville are a combined 8-1 in conference play, and 36-10 overall.
So, What's Next: It does not get any easier for the Frogs. TCU travels to Houston (7-7. 1-2) to face former SWC rival Houston, then back home to host Tulane (9-5, 1-2) on Saturday. The Frogs then hit the road again, this time travelling to Wisconsin to face Marquette (13-3, 2-1) - a team that has been ranked in the top-25 this season.
The Lone Star State: Nine of TCU's games this season are against teams from the state of Texas. Thus far, the Frogs are 5-2 vs. teams from Texas. TCU has posted wins over UTEP, Southwest Texas, UTSA, SMU, Baylor and dropped contests at Texas Tech and at home vs. North Texas. TCU has two games remaining against Houston.
C-USA Record Book in Jeopardy: The Frogs have already impacted the Conference USA scorebook in its debut campaign. The Frogs are currently tied for second in league history with three 100-point games this season. In 1996-97, Cincinnati set the record, scoring at least 100 points in four games. The Frogs should also set a new league record for scoring average. That same Cincinnati team averaged a league record 80.7 points. Cincinnati also owns the scoring average record for C-USA play as they averaged 78.0 in the 1999-2000 season.
30-point Scorers: TCU is the only school in the nation that has had three different players score at least 30 points in a game, and one player has done it twice. Junior Blount scored 31 in the loss at South Florida. He opened the season with 34 points vs. Northwestern State. Corey Santee scored 32 against Baylor and Jamal Brown scored 33 vs. North Texas. Four other schools have had two players score at least 30 points in a game this season. The Frogs have had six different players score at least 20 points in a game this season.
Balanced Scoring: As a result of all the 20-point games by the Frogs, there are five players that are averaging at least 10 points per game, and seven are scoring at least 6.3 points per contest.
Leading Scorers: Thru the first 17 games of the season, the Frogs have been led in scoring by six different players. Corey Santee and Junior Blount have each led the team in scoring four times, while Corey Valsin and Jamal Brown have led the team in scoring three times. Marlon Dumont has led the team twice, and Bingo Merriex has paced the Frogs once.
