No. 1 Houston has dominated every challenge so far this season.
Now comes the Cougars’ first game away from home. It’s against a ranked opponent, no less.
Houston (3-0) will take on No. 22 Auburn (3-0) on a neutral court — perhaps more accurately described as a semi-neutral court — on Sunday afternoon in Birmingham, Ala.
Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson said he was excited to see how his young team responds.
“Everybody at some point is going to have to play a road game,” Sampson said. “I chose this schedule to challenge them. If we lose some of the games, they’ll learn from it. It’s not the end of the world. If you win some of these games, you’ve got to learn from those, too.
“… Playing in these environments is going to be new for freshmen. I’m anxious to see how they react to all of it.”
Houston has posted double-digit wins over Lehigh, Towson and Oakland to start the season.
Emanuel Sharp leads the team with 17.3 points per game in his first three games. Kingston Flemings is next with 15.7 points per game, and Joseph Tugler is averaging 10.0 points.
Sampson credited Sharp with leading his younger teammates.
“Emanuel has run the gauntlet, having redshirted, then coming off the bench as a freshman, moving into the starting lineup as a sophomore, establishing himself as a junior and now going into his senior year,” Sampson said. “(He has) experienced just about everything he possibly can experience.
“The winning, the stages, the moments. Big games, big environments. He’s seen it all.”
Auburn is hoping to play spoiler as it takes the court in its home state. The Tigers needed overtime to win their first game against Bethune-Cookman, and they followed up with lopsided wins over Merrimack and Wofford.
First-year coach Steven Pearl, who took the job from his father Bruce Pearl just before the start of the season, joked that he was ready for a baptism by fire.
“Incredible opportunity, playing the No. 1 team in the country,” Pearl said. “Pretty cool that it only took me three games to play the No. 1 team in the country as a head coach. I’m not sure if that’s the quickest in the history of college basketball, but I feel like it’s got to be close.”
Six players for Auburn are scoring in double digits. Keyshawn Hall leads the way with 24.3 points to go along with a team-high 11.0 rebounds per contest.
However, Pearl said he was most proud of his team’s effort on defense.
“I don’t think Coach Sampson even knows this, but I watch what they do from a distance and I admire what they do from a distance more than probably anyone in the country,” Pearl said. “Defensively, when we really made an adjustment in how we guarded and the effort that we played with, a lot of it was from film that I watched of Houston and how aggressively they flew to the ball and impacted ball screens and just tried to disrupt teams. …
“I have a ton of respect for him, his staff and their program and how they operate. They’re the standard in college basketball.”
