Dedan Thomas Jr. led the way with 16 points and five assists, Delrecco Gillespie contributed 13 points and seven rebounds and No. 10 Houston overpowered visiting La Salle 94-55 on opening night Monday.
Thomas (LSU) and Gillespie (Kent State) led a new-look Houston roster that had seven players score at least nine points. Corey Hadnot II (Purdue Fort Wayne) supplied 14 points and five assists, and freshman Arafan Diane tallied 10 points.
Houston forward Chase McCarty (10 points, six rebounds) was injured in the second half when Bowyn Beatty was tripped and fell into the back of McCarty’s leg. McCarty, entering his third season with Houston (counting a redshirt year), had to be helped off the court and later reappeared on the bench with ice wrapped around his knee.
The Cougars may have avoided the worst-case scenario, though, with coach Kelvin Sampson saying postgame, “I don’t think (the injury is) that bad.”
Houston (1-0) outshot La Salle 54.4% to 25% and finished with a plus-15 rebound margin. Joseph Tugler, the main piece back from last year’s Sweet 16 team, had nine points and six boards.
Kam Burton scored 15 points and Devin Booker had 12 for La Salle (0-1).
The Explorers had two players foul out early in the second half: Noah Collier with 12:24 to play, and Rob Dockery at 11:40. They combined to score three points, neither player made a field goal and Dockery also committed five turnovers.
Houston’s two most ballyhooed newcomers scored their first points with their new program in the first minute, as Thomas knocked down a 3-pointer before Gillespie threw down a fastbreak dunk.
Houston ran off 14 points in a row following Anthony Finkley’s 3-pointer for La Salle. Six different Cougars scored in the run, with Hadnot’s triple and Braden East’s fastbreak layup pushing the lead to 20-3 at the 10:57 mark of the half.
La Salle scored eight in a row to briefly get within single digits, but McCarty joined the action with a three-point play and a 13-footer, and the Cougars were in complete control.
Gillespie knocked down the only 3-pointer he tried with 1:25 left in the half, and the Cougars took a 43-23 lead into the break.
Booker and Trey Moss made 3-pointers in quick succession for La Salle early in the second half, but the Cougars answered both with shots of their own as they built a 26-point advantage.
Kordel Jefferson hit a pair of 3-pointers during a late 13-0 Houston run as the Cougars led by as many as 43 points.