i H
^ —
sports
Battalion/Page 16
March 26, 1982
Roberts, Metcalf hope UH
can top Final Four field
by John Wagner
Battalion Staff
There’s a party going on this
.weekend in New Orleans, hut
the guest list isn’t long. Not long
•lit all.
The four best college basket
ball teams in the country re
ceived invitations. To borrow a
■phrase from the sage of New
Orleans, Bum Phillips, these
teams may not be in a class by
themselves, but it doesn’t take
long to call the roll.
Or guest list, as the case may
be.
Amid all the speculation
whether Coach Dean Smith of
North Carolina will finally win it
all, amid all the guessing as to
just how dominating George
town’s freshman center Patrick
Ewing is, and amid all the talk
about Louisville’s blue-chip
players, Guy Lewis and the
Houston Cougars are going ab
out the business of trying to be
come the best basketball team in
the land.
The Cougars earned their in
vitation the hard way.
After a pre-season nod as a
slight favorite to win the South
west Conference, they jumped
off to a great start, winning the
Sugar Bowl Classic and looking
unbeatable. Akeem Abdul Ola-
juwon, the sophomore from
Nigeria, was grabbing headlines
with his play off the bench. The
rest of the Cougars were playing
consistently, and UH ran its re
cord to 11-1.
Things were looking good.
Really good.
But the threads of what had
appeared to be a dream season
soon unraveled. Junior guard
Rob Williams was hurting, the
result of knee surgery, and he
hadn’t completely healed. When
he regained full strength, he was
pressing, trying to make up for
lost time. The rest of the team
was unhappy and critical of Wil
liams for shooting the ball So
much.
The Cougars were 2-4 in the
SWC at one time, and a now-
famous team meeting in Fort
Worth turned the team around.
Houston went on a tear during
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the second half of the season,
going 8-0. Lewis began putting
the threads back together.
The first time the same
Cougars played Texas A&M in
G. Rollie White Coliseum, the
Aggies bombed UH 95-77. The
second time UH won 96-93. The
Cougars won during the South
west Conference tournament,
and Aggie guard Reggie
Roberts says UH is a different
team now than they were that
first meeting.
“They’re playing real well
together, real good team ball,”
he said. “Most of their players
have been scoring in double fi
gures, and Lynden Rose is play
ing super.”
Roberts said he thinks
Georgetown will win the NCAA
championship, but he said: “If
UH beats North Carolina, they’ll
win it all. Georgetown won’t be
able to keep Rob Williams down
— Rob’s head will be so big.”
The sophomore from McKin
ney said the Cougars’ success is
helping the reputation of SW’C
basketball, a reputation that
even this year was not com
plimentary. Basketball experts
sometimes frown on SWC bas
ketball as inferior, and many
consider Texas high school bas
ketball years behind the rest of
the country.
“I think Texas is a good bas
ketball state,” Roberts said.
“There’s a lot of good players
from Texas playing in junior
colleges and at major colleges.
Houston has given the confer
ence a good reputation, and
that’s why I’m wishing them
luck.”
Roberts said he’ll be in front
of the television when Houston
takes on number one-ranked
North Carolina Saturday.
“I’ll be watching it,” he said,
“And I’ll definitely be pulling
for the Cougars.”
Aggie coach Shelby Metcalf
said he hopes UH wins it all.
“I’ll be pulling for Houston,
but I’ll be thinking with my heart
and not my head,” Metcalf said.
“North Carolina has a disci
plined team, but I think UH is
the kind of team that can really
bother North Carolina.”
Both Metcalf and Roberts feel
the Cougars need to outre-
bound the Tar Heels and need
to have the lead going into the
latter stage of the game. North
Carolina is well known for its
four-corner stall, which Smith
likes to use if UNC has a lead late
in a game.
In Saturday’s other game,
Metcalf said he favored Louis
ville.
“Georgetown has a good
team also, but I like the Cardin
als in that game,” he said. “I also
think Houston has a better
chance of beating Georgetown!
than they do North Carolina.”
Metcalf said the Cougars’ suc
cess is the result of several fac-
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“The big thing is the way Ola-
juwon is coming along and the
way Rob Williams is playing,”
Metcalf said, “f think Rob is
playing his most unselfish bas
ketball since he’s been at UH.
“The Cougars started win
ning when they put Rose in and
went with tw'o guards. Rose
takes a lot of pressure off of Wil
liams, and makes them a quicker
ballclub.”
Metcalf said the Cougars’
tournament success won’t
change the way the rest of the
country looks at SWC basketball.
The Aggie head coach said the
conference’s reputation isn’t as
bad as some think.
“We get treated with a lot of
respect when we travel out of
state,” Metcalf said. “They know
we have good programs.”
Metcalf said he’ll be in front
of the television set when the
Final Four begin battle.
“It’ll be a good tournament.
It has a little bit of everything,”
he said.
Including a SWC school.
Aggies at home
A&M in must-win series with TCM
by John Wagner
Battalion Staff
The Southwest Conference
baseball season is only six games
old for Texas A&M, but Coach
Tom Chandler and the Aggies
are already in a must-win situa
tion as they prepare to meet the
TCU Horned Frogs here this
weekend.
The Aggies, picked by many
as favorites in the 1982 race,
won two of three from the Rice
Owls in Olsen Field, but were
ambushed by the University of
Texas in Austin last Friday and
Saturday.
The Aggies lost three games
to the Longhorns, and enter this
weekend’s series with TCU 2-4
in conference play. They are 20-
7 overall.
TCU is 1 -5 in conference play
and 7-1 1-1 overall.
Texas and Houston lead the
SWC with identical 3-0 confer
ence records. The Aggies are
three games back of first place
and TCU is four games out.
Overall, however, the Lon
ghorns are 33-0. Houston is 22-
3-2.
pitch-
The!
The Aggies need to finish in
the top four in the conference to
make the post-season tourna
ment.
Chandler said he didn’t know
w'hat to expect from TCU, since
they have such a young ballclub.
“They’ve had some pitching
problems, and when they went
up to Arkansas to play the
Razorbacks, they lost all three
games in the last innings,”
Chandler said.
T he Aggie head coach citi
injuries and illness in the
ing staff as the reason for Tei
A&rM’s recent problems,
losses to Texas, he said, dis-i
appointed his squad, but the);
rebounded well.
“It took a lot of starch outofj
the boys, but I think we’ve re-!
grouped well,” Chandler sal
“Hopefully, the tw'o wdns on
Minnesota got us back on
right track, because we had gi
pitching and some outstahdii
defensive plays.”
Rick Luecken will start
first game for the Aggies toni|
at 7:30. Sherman Corbett
Phillip Taylor will start in ti
first game on Saturday at 1 p,
and David Flores w ill pitch in
second game of Saturdav!
double-header.
Rockets fire past Trail
Blazers to win 108-95
United Press International
PORTLAND, Ore. — Hous
ton coach Del Harris was opti
mistic today about his team’s
chances for making the playoffs
after a solid 1 08-95 victory over
the Portland Trail Blazers
Thursday night.
“I leel very good about our
chances,” he said. “I felt when
we won bv two points at Utah the
other night that we might be
over the hump. This one really
gives us a little edge.”
The Houston victorv.
sparked by Moses Malone’s 41
points and 18 rebounds, gives
the Rockets a 38-32 record.
Portland, one of the teams con
tending with Houston for a play
off berth, dropped to 35-33.
“Mo (Malone) was magnifi
cent once again,” Harris said,
“but we got solid games out of
everybody.
“After a shaky start against
Jim Paxson, I thought Robert
Reid was magnificent. I don’t
think he missed a shot for us in
the second half.”
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Houston led 50-47 at entb
the first half during wjudj
Malone got 23 of his pointi
Malone fell off to 6 points in
third period, but Reid scored
and Houston went out in from
79-67. The Rockets built If-J
point leads twice in the h
quarter when Portland could
no closer than 1 1.
Harris, asked why the Rockets
play so well on the road (I&l
said, “We are a good rebounj
ing team and a good reboundi#
team should be a good roa
team. Also, we play pretty go*
defense and you’ve got to A
that to win on the road.”
Texa
lob b
of H
He said, “We have the lows hanipion
game yield in tK^txas Te
points per 0
West and the W ; est is where J
the big scoring teams live — De
river, Los Angeles, San Antoiw cor
BY
nat:
Golden State, Seattle.
Portland Coach Jack Ram«'
said: “You have to credit Hous
ton for scoring and reboundirg
inside and shooting well jn*
outside.
“Moses got the ball virtiuT’
unobstructed tonight and those
things are costly.”
Allen Leavell scored 19posrj
and Reid added 14 for Houst--’
Mychal Thompson hit 23 ar-: AMAf
Paxson had 20 for the Trrf jBrtgham
Blazers. | jftry.s^
The third-place Rockel &anfc nt
gained half a game on the Sail gyp
Antonio Spurs, who didn’t ptt’BThursda
Thursday. Houston still tna I
the Spurs by 4'/a games
second-place Denver bv li
games.
The Rockets plas at yn«f
Gy
in
The T<
am will
vmnasti
The /
corning
Lied for
Iheteair
tonight and Portland
Golden State.
CrJ
indfee’
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