After missing several months over the summer due to a knee injury, freshman guard Isiah Harwell had his breakout game in No. 7 Houston’s 80-38 victory over Jackson State, on Wednesday night at Fertitta Center.
Just two weeks ago following the Players Era Festival, coach Kelvin Sampson emphasized that Houston needed more production from Harwell to be successful this season.
Tonight, the former five-star recruit had a breakout game, scoring 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting.
“Isiah’s making steady progress. But he’s important to this team. What he did tonight was more important than anything,” Sampson said.
Redshirt sophomore forward Jacob McFarland has had a long journey back from injury, after suffering a broken leg last October, and he made his collegiate debut on Wednesday night.
“It was surreal to me,” McFarland said. “Just being here for three years and watching, redshirting my freshman year, being hurt last year, and I am not going to lie, before the game I went home and I cried. It’s all been bottling up until this moment. It’s amazing.”
In his four minutes of play, he recorded two rebounds and a steal in his first game action.
“Honestly, I didn’t really expect to play that much. I thought I was gonna play like two minutes,” McFarland said. “Thank you coach Samp for letting me play longer.”
After Jackson State’s 3-for-3 start from behind the arc to take an early 9-8 lead, the Cougars got back to playing a vintage style of Houston basketball, as they forced 25 turnovers.
Redshirt senior guard Emanuel Sharp scored a season-high 27 points against Florida State last Saturday, and he followed up that performance with a 23-point showing to lead all scorers.
The veteran guard outscored Jackson State in the first half by scoring 19 points, compared to the Tigers’ 16.
Sharp finished 8-for-11 from the field and 5-for-8 from three, which is his most efficient shooting performance of the season.
With several positives from tonight’s game, there was a major negative as Harwell crashed into graduate forward Khalifa Sakho’s left knee, causing him to be helped off the floor with an apparent knee injury.
In a series right before the under-12-minute timeout, junior forward JoJo Tugler took an open lane right to the basket to deliver an emphatic slam dunk that fired up the entire Fertitta Center.
On the following play, the Cougars played strong defense for all 30 seconds, and freshman forward Chris Cenac Jr. recorded a block right at the rim to force a shot-clock violation.
After that sequence of events, Sampson waved his hands up and down at the crowd, signifying that those two plays are how Houston basketball is supposed to be played.
“I am appreciative of our fans,” Sampson said. “I am appreciative that they support these kids, and they feel supported.”
Houston’s next game will be against New Orleans this Saturday, Dec. 13, at 2 p.m., inside Fertitta Center.
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