Thursday, December 5, 2013

Spartans versus Houston on Saturday

It's 6-3 Houston coming up on Saturday afternoon for San Jose State University, this with the Cougars coming off a 74-57 loss on the road to Texas A&M on Wednesday and the Spartans falling last Saturday at Weber State.

6-foot-8 junior TaShawn Thomas leads the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 17.1 points plus 10.3 rebounds. He has also recorded 35 blocks in nine games and is shooting 62% in the paint. His Achilles heel is a 51% accuracy at the charity stripe.

Daniel House, a 6-foot-7 sophomore guard/forward, is second in those categories with 15.6 and 5.7 averages. Last season, he was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Year.

LJ Rose is the third player in double figures with 11.3 points per outing but his shooting numbers are confounding -- he sits at 40% but is at 46% from long distance. From the foul line, the 6-foot-4 sophomore is making 86% of his attempts.

Also worthy of mention is 6-foot-10, 190 Danrad Knowles, a redshirt sophomore averaging 6.3 points and 4.4 rebounds, with the nickname "Chicken." His foul line percentage is 67% so we'll assume his moniker is based on an enormous affinity for fowl.

The most notable offensive differential is that on the season, Houston has gone to the foul line 35 more times than its collective opponents. It's the opposite direction for SJSU at 180 versus 238. Keep a watch on that.

The Cougars started out the season with five wins (Texas State, Texas Pan American, Texas San Antonio, Lehigh and Howard) before falling to Stanford and Texas Tech in a New York-based tournament. Then it was a victory over Texas A&M Corpus Christi prior to the loss to TAM.

Obviously, Thomas is going to be a load for the Spartans, meaning Chris Cunningham is going to have his hands full while needing to stay out of foul trouble.

Another key is limiting the number of Houston-ites who enjoy big games -- Thomas is going to get his numbers in this matchup but what needs preventing is not allowing say two other Cougars to also enjoy big or bigger games than usual.

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