Houston men’s basketball opens season vs. Grambling State

GRAMBLING STATE TIGERS (0-0) at HOUSTON COUGARS (0-0)
Tickets	Ticket Information
Time	7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011
Location	Hofheinz Pavilion (8,479) • Houston, Texas
Radio	Live Streaming  SportsTalk 790 • Houston IMG Sports Network  Tom Franklin, PxP; Elvin Hayes, analyst  Broadcast begins at 6:45 p.m.
Television	Live Streaming
Live Stats	GameTracker
Series History	Houston leads 3-0
Last Time	Houston won 95-53 • Nov. 24, 2007  Hofheinz Pavilion • Houston, Texas
Game Notes	Houston Notes   Grambling State Notes   Conference USA Notebook
Social Media	Facebook • Twitter

Houston, Texas - Fresh off a dominating exhibition win, the University of Houston men’s basketball team begins its 67th season of competition at 7 p.m., Saturday, when it plays host to Grambling State inside Hofheinz Pavilion.

In their lone exhibition contest of the season, the Cougars put on an offensive show for the hometown fans earlier this week. Houston connected on 62 percent of itsshots from the field and nailed at least 60 percent in each half on the way to a 118-70 win against Concordia.

In a game that featured 10 dunks, including eight in the first half alone, it was three Cougars making their collegiate debuts that led the team. Redshirt freshmanguard and nearby Yates High product Joseph Young led all players with 26 points and five 3-pointers.

Junior guard Jonathon Simmons did a little of everything for the Cougars and nearly finished with a quadruple-double. After energizing the Cougar fans with several thunderous dunks, the Houston native finished the night with 21 points, eight rebounds and game highs of nine assists and five steals in only 26 minutes.

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Southern battling unknowns vs. Houston

Not only will Southern be playing up a level on Saturday, but the Jaguars will also be faced with a huge dose of the unknown. Houston’s Kevin Sumlin is in his first year as a head coach anywhere. “That’s the puzzle in this,” Southern coach Pete Richardson said. “We go into the game having to prepare for almost anything because we really haven’t seen them play. “We don’t know what type of philosophy they have. The only thing we can do is look at the coordinators, see where they came from, and hopefully they’ll utilize some of their philosophy.”

By land or air, RS - Junior QB Bryant Lee is ready to lead the Jaguars to victory. The 6-2/200 quarterback is from Boutte, LA/Hahnville H.S.

Southern, a Championship Subdivision team that went 8-3 last season, visits Houston, a Bowl Subdivision team that went 8-5 a year ago, at 6 p.m. Saturday at Robertson Stadium in Houston. Houston had an explosive offense last season, averaging 34.5 points per game, but former Texas Tech offensive co-coordinator Dana Holgorsen could give that spread offense even more oomph. Texas Tech ranked first in passing offense (470.3 yards per game), second in total offense (529.6 ypg) and seventh in scoring offense (40.9 points per game) in the Big 12.

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