NCAAB Game Preview - Houston at Cincinnati

Sat Feb 1, 2020 6:00 PM EST

Houston's balance, a significant reason why the No. 21 Cougars have won 15 of their past 17 games, continued to show in the team's win at East Carolina on Wednesday night.

The Cougars, who beat the Pirates 69-59, have five players averaging between 9.8 and 13.1 points a game entering Saturday's American Athletic Conference game at Cincinnati.

In the win over East Carolina, Kelvin Sampson's team got 18 points, five rebounds and a season-high six assists from redshirt freshman Caleb Mills, who is the team's leading scorer. Kansas transfer Quentin Grimes added 15 points, while Chris Harris Jr. had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

"We're just so young," Sampson said. "Our leading scorer is a freshman. Our leading rebounder (Nate Hinton at 9.3 rebounds a game) is a sophomore."

Grimes, a sophomore, is the second-leading scorer at 12.4 points a game.

Houston (17-4, 7-1 AAC) continues to lead the nation in rebounding at 42.6 a game behind Hinton, Fabian White Jr. (5.5 a game) and Harris (5.3).

For the first time this season on Wednesday, the Cougars did not win a rebuilding battle against an opponent. Behind 19 rebounds by Jayden Gardner, East Carolina managed to tie the Cougars with 43 rebounds.

"It's a road win. It's hard to win on the road, but it's not the way we want to win," Mills said. "We want to outrebound. We want to dominate. That's not what we did tonight."

The Cougars' 3-point shooting is an area of concern after making 5 of 16 beyond long distance against East Carolina. Houston is making only 33.7 percent of its shots from beyond the arc. DeJon Jarreau, one of the team's top five players, is making 16.7 percent of 3-point attempts.

Cincinnati (13-7, 6-2) is on a three-game winning streak after beating SMU 65-43 at home on Tuesday. The Bearcats have won five of six.

Jarron Cumberland scored a season-high 28 points on Tuesday as Cincinnati led the whole way. He had 15 points in the first half, when Cincinnati led by as many as 17 points. Cumberland finished the game 9 of 13 from the field and had team highs with nine rebounds and four assists.

A preseason foot injury and an early season benching after a poor performance made it seem like Cumberland, a senior, was having difficulty in coach John Brannen's system after playing for Mick Cronin, who departed for UCLA. Brannen was hired by Cincinnati after four years as head coach at Northern Kentucky.

"I didn't coach him last year. I just know what I see now," Brannen said of Cumberland. "He's definitely healthy. A big part of him being on the ball more is he's in great shape. He's able to do what he's capable of doing. Great players make the game easier for others. That's where Jarron is right now."

Cumberland was the American Athletic Conference preseason Player of the Year and among 50 players on the Naismith Player of the Year watch list. He leads the Bearcats in scoring (14.9 points a game) and assists (4.1). He is also one of the team leaders in steals with 1.2 a game.

--Field Level Media