Houston's Rob Gray is the poor man's Trae Young

[coolm]

He's not as good as Trae. But when you watch his game it certainly reminds you of Trae.

He likes to take those 3's (just a little closer).

He's creative offensively with the ball in his hands. He's not nearly the passer that Trae is, but he is a few steps ahead of his teammates and tries to pass them open.

He's very crafty as a dribbler and is really good at finishing. He doesn't have all of Trae's little shots, but he's as good a ballhandler as Trae (I'd actually say better) and can get that ball to the hole.

I bring all this up because he's a 5th year, JUCO xfer senior. To me that says a lot for Trae. Both of them are fun to watch individually though.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

I agree that Rob Gray is fun to watch. He is not only a good player that obviously improved during his college career, but he also plays with toughness. Rob Gray helped Houston advance to the championship game of their conference tournament this weekend. Somehow, the current Houston coach always has a tough and very competitive guard like this on his teams.

At Oklahoma, it was "Heart - Hustle - Hardwood"

Now at Houston, it is "Let's go hit the rock" (see article linked below)

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sp...asketball-and-his-12738134.php#photo-15203319

 

[Chiefdaddy]

I tried to tell you guys earlier this year. Lol. Houston is legit and they play with the toughness and tenacity that we are sorely missing. Go get em Coach!

 

[coolm]

I tried to tell you guys earlier this year. Lol. Houston is legit and they play with the toughness and tenacity that we are sorely missing. Go get em Coach!

It was refreshing watching them play yesterday. I wish it was our guys out there though. It was like seeing where I figured our team should be at this point in the season.

 

[AdaSooner]

Gray made a key steal near the end of Houston’s game with WSU that deserves another look. He also scored 33 points.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game?gameId=401019983

If I was going to put together a college team of tough, aggressive players who would leave it all on the floor on defense and offense, Gray would be my choice of a floor leader. He is the epitome of a Kelvin Sampson point guard. Oh, he’s also a juco transfer.

 

[coolm]

If I was going to put together a college team of tough, aggressive players who would leave it all on the floor on defense and offense, Gray would be my choice of a floor leader. He is the epitome of a Kelvin Sampson point guard. Oh, he’s also a juco transfer.

agreed. his mental toughness was evident yesterday. the whole thing made me wonder what would have happened to this group of OU players if they had been hounded on playing hard-nosed defense from day one.

does that help or even solve the current shooting woes?

If we assume that we'd have had a worse record to start the season doing that - would it all work out better at the end as the collapse we've felt wouldnt happen?

Is that a lesson to take out of this season??

 

[AdaSooner]

agreed. his mental toughness was evident yesterday. the whole thing made me wonder what would have happened to this group of OU players if they had been hounded on playing hard-nosed defense from day one.

does that help or even solve the current shooting woes?

If we assume that we'd have had a worse record to start the season doing that - would it all work out better at the end as the collapse we've felt wouldnt happen?

Is that a lesson to take out of this season??

Playing hard-nosed defense from day one may not have improved our shooting, but it would have given us a better chance of winning close games when our shots weren’t falling. Having said that, momentum swings on offense often have a direct relationship to playing solid defense, so the reward can be twofold.

The lesson the returning players and our coaches need to take out of this season is that defense can win a lot of game (at home or on the road), providing the players are committed to an all-out effort on every possession. A game plan like the one we saw this season, where we’re simply trying to outscore our opponent, while seemingly placing little to no value on every opportunity, is foolhardy at best.