In basketball, it’s not about what happened in past games, it’s the now. For example, let’s take a look back at last year’s game between Houston and Whitehaven in the regional at Whitehaven. The season was on the line. It got out of hand and was quickly over for the Mustangs of Houston. By halftime people in attendance decided they had seen enough, including myself, who left the game at the start of the 4th. Leaving that game made it seem as if the Mustangs were overmatched. This led to some feelings that this year’s game would go the same way for Whitehaven. On an ugly, rainy Saturday night in Memphis the question was, “Will the Mustangs find their hooves stuck in the mud?”
Whitehaven didn’t lose much from last year, in fact, from a talent standpoint, they actually got better. They added a 6’7 from out of town and 2 of the area’s best players in Taquez Butler and Jarmon Brittman. Houston did return 3-4 starters but there weren’t any really significant impactful transfers. Based on this scenario, one could assume that maybe it would once again be lopsided with the Tigers digging their claws into the flesh of the Mustangs, right?
Like Rafiki hitting Simba in the head in the Lion King, you can’t really go off the last time that 2 teams played each other, it’s about the now.
Let’s look at 4 takeaways from Houston’s upset win over Whitehaven and maybe the biggest win of Houston’s coach’s tenure since he arrived there.
Jackson’s Imprint Was All Over This Game
You hear different things about this young player:
- well he’s talented but…
- yeah Keiron is nice, but…
- he has no “motor”
I know how talented he is. I’ve said that he’s one of the best 3 players in the city. I’ve also said that he’s arguably the best senior in the city. On Saturday night, from the jump, Kieron Jackson was going to be felt by Whitehaven. How did Jackson start? 3 ball up, cash. 3 ball up, cash. Kieron had 8 points before Whitehaven was able to run the floor 6 times. He looked to be aggressive as a scorer, rebounded, hit the elbow jumper, showed off the handle in space; he did it all. He set the tone for Houston and they fed off of his energy. I think it led to others playing well on his team. When he’s going, looking as engaged as I’ve ever seen him, there is no doubt, he’s the best player in the senior class and again, let me say it again, he could be the best player in the city.
Growing By The “Myles”
In middle school, the first time I saw him, I loved his game. He was a 6th grader. He was long and had decent shooting touch early on. Last year, as a 9th grader, he started at Houston. He was really good in some games but was mostly showcased as a jump shooting 6’5″ wing who could stretch the floor and handle it some. This year, he’s 6’7 and what he showed me on Saturday, he hadn’t shown on the high school level. It wasn’t the 3 ball that he hit, it wasn’t the ability to catch and go finish in transition, it was the ability to hit the glass to really help his team and hurt Whitehaven’s chances to win.
I thought the Mustangs would need rebounding due to Whitehaven’s height, and Myles stepped up in a major way. His willingness to rebound was impressive. He positioned himself nicely and using his reach and quick jumping, he outrebounded Whitehaven on the interior. He finished with a grown man double-double: 19 points, 15 rebounds including some huge put backs in the second half. If he’s giving them that all year in their league with the ability to pop out and hit perimeter shots as well, you have to start mentioning him among the top 10 best prospects regardless of class.
Jeffries Is Really Important to Houston
I think Caleb Jeffries’ value to his team is really understated. When you talk Houston with local fans. You hear Jackson, Frison and some might say Myles before mentioning Jeffries. It’s not a slight, it’s reality but the way he can make big shots and give them offense, they absolutely need him every game. The 3rd quarter, after a Cameron Brown (Whitehaven) jumper and another 2 points by his teammate, Houston’s lead was down to 4, 42-38 but Jeffries made a huge 3 to push the lead back up to 7. He added a layup to end the 3rd quarter 49-40.
In the 4th, I thought he hit maybe the biggest 3 of the game with Houston up 58-49 and Whitehaven trying to gain momentum. He made that 3 ball and shot a look back at the crowd like, game over. I love his confidence, he’s unafraid to take and make big shots and he’s one of those players who could shoot it uncharacteristically bad in a game but make a shot and hit 3-4 in a row. His ability to put things in the past quickly is a trait college coaches will love.
Whitehaven Has Some Things to Figure Out Defensively
Getting down like they did early, I wondered who would be the person to try and rally them? Who would be the guy to say, “let’s lock in defensively, let’s string together to stops, we are good.” No one really delivered that for the Tigers. I thought that’s where they struggled a lot in the game. They can score points. That’s a given, but on the defensive end is where they needed to lock in.
If the Tigers could score points off turning teams over, it would make overwhelming favorites in every game, especially with their length. I think they expected it to be sort of like last season’s game. They walked in with a bit of an “this should be easy for us,” attitude and Houston took it right to them. The Tigers didn’t match Houston’s energy out of the gate.
Whitehaven must become better on the defensive end to really reach the next level they aspire towards. They showed an ability in spots and proved they are capable of locking in, but they have to do it for a full game. You can’t turn it on and off defensively especially when you dig yourself in a hole from the jump against a good team and Houston does have a good team.
Perimeter Shooting Woes
Houston didn’t score for the last 5:32 of the second quarter. Whitehaven did cut it to 6, but they could have done more to make it even tighter or tied at the half by being able to make shots. Whitehaven didn’t shoot it well from deep at all. Could it have been due to Houston’s defense? Possibly, because Houston did a great job of contesting but some of the shots were open that they missed as well. Whitehaven has really good isolation guys, mid-range jump shots guys and guys who can get to the rim, but they aren’t a great 3 ball shooting team.
They shot a lot of 3 pointers but didn’t make many and Houston was able to score off some of those misses and convert those into points. The Tigers will have to be able to make shots from 3 or they will face a lot more zones from teams that are a capable of playing close. I don’t think it will be a lot of teams but for the ones that can and their coaches, if they were there, they might have saw a way you could get Whitehaven into a tighter game than anticipated. They will have games where they shoot it lights out, I’m sure, especially at Whitehaven but hopefully for them, Saturday night’s shooting was not indicative of future shooting problems.
All in all, Houston deserves a lot of credit for their performance on Saturday night. They didn’t allow what happened in their last meeting to dictate that game. If they can get contributions like that from Myles, Jeffries and have Jackson be Jackson and Justin Frison play steady at the PG position, they are a tough out for anyone. That’s a dangerous team that can beat anyone locally.
