Culture / Sporting Life

Fabian White Jr. Knows Teams Are Trying to Get in Houston’s Head With Extra Physical Play, Pushing and Trash Talk

AAC Foes Desperate For a Top 10 Upset Have a Nasty New Gameplan

BY // 02.06.22

As the trash talking and the little extra shoves intensified, Fabian White Jr. understood what the Tulane players had in mind. They thought they could get in the minds of White and his University of Houston teammates.

“Teams are just trying to get us out of our game,” White tells PaperCity. “Get in our heads.”

The best Tulane could do is a shoving match at the end of the first half that ended up having little effect on the game. The two teams had to be separated and offsetting technicals were called, but UH still moved to 19-2 with its 16th double digit win of the season. Poking a bear — or a Cougar — doesn’t often work in your favor.

But that doesn’t mean teams will stop trying. Other teams see this sixth ranked Houston squad as vulnerable without the injured Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark. And you can bet the physical play, extracurricular shots and trash talk will only intensify. The other teams in the American Athletic Conference are desperate for a signature Top 10 win — and UH is the team that can provide it.

So why not try and see if a few extra elbows can make the conference’s only truly elite team forget what it’s trying to do?

“We were already motivated to try and beat them,” White says of Tulane’s tactics. “I don’t know what happened (before halftime). I don’t know how I got a tech either. Teams just try to get us off our game. But we’ve just got to shake that off. We’ve got a lot of older guys so we shouldn’t fall for it.”

The composure and mettle of Kelvin Sampson’s team will be tested this week. With games at 15-6 Cincinnati, which remains as physical as ever even if it’s not as talented as ever, (which turns into a dominating 80-58 UH win), at 16-5 SMU, the second best team in the conference, on Wednesday night and a home clash with Memphis on Saturday, this is arguably UH’s toughest week remaining in the regular season.

Both the Mustangs and Tigers will be determined to push the Cougars. One way or another. Fabian White and Co. need these wins to keep their visions of a No. 3 or even a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament trucking along, which would give their Final Four repeat visions a major boost. But Cincinnati and SMU both desperately need to beat Houston to give themselves a chance to even get in the Big Dance.

Right now, most bracketologists like Joe Lunardi only have one AAC team projected to be in the entire 68 team NCAA Tournament field. That would be Houston, the sixth best team in the entire country.

“Teams are just trying to get us out of our game. Get in our heads.” — UH forward Fabian White Jr.

So yes, SMU and Memphis’ players will do whatever they can to get in the Cougars’ heads. Just like Tulane did. Only, these two teams — particularly SMU with guard Kendric Davis — have more talent to add to such distracting tactics.

“Our margin of error is not high,” UH coach Kelvin Sampson says.

Such is life with life with Sasser off crutches and now in a boot. With Ramon Walker, the only real reserve guard playing despite the fact he’s coming off tendon detachment surgery. With UH needing Kyler Edwards and even Taze Moore to all but play the full game (Edwards logs all 40 minutes against Tulane, Moore goes 38 minutes).

University of Houston Cougars men’s basketball team defeated the Tulane Green Wave, Wednesday night at the Fertitta Cente
Ramon Walker is a crucial reserve on a depth light Houston team. (Photo by F. Carter Smith)

Opposing teams know that Sampson’s squad is down to a very thin eight man rotation that sometimes borders on a seven man rotation (forward J’Wan Roberts only logs four minutes against Tulane). Being extra physical with Houston and trying to wear the Cougars down — or get them to retaliate — becomes part of that strategy.

Anything to try and knock the Cougars off their game. Fabian White knows it’s going to be more and more a part of team’s upset plans. He’s talked to his teammates about it, told them what to expect. Pushing and yapping and everything extra.

How strong is your head?

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