Future Gains — Mercy Miller and Terrance Arceneaux Give No. 8 Houston Tremendous Growth Potential and Kelvin Sampson’s All In

At one point, amid the din of a Toyota Center that felt like a neutral site March Madness game, it looks like LJ Cryer is about to start cooking. Like Cryer can. Like he did in scoring 18 straight points against Kansas in the second half of that game in Allen Fieldhouse last season. Cryer hits a a pull-up three at the top of the key, then a turnaround jumper. . . but foul trouble almost necessities that University of Houston coach Kelvin Sampson takes Cryer out for the last five minutes of the first half. Sizzle fizzled. This is just one of the What Ifs from UH’s 74-69 loss in a Top 10 showdown. But the two biggest probably involve young guards Terrance Arceneaux and Mercy Miller.

The 20-year-old Arceneaux is limited to 12 minutes, and only four in the second half, when his surgically repaired Achilles tendon flares up and starts to feel sore. With Houston playing on the same Toyota Center court where Arceneaux tore his Achilles last December — and with players slipping on the floor in this high-intensity game — Sampson wisely errors on the side of caution, saving the talented player for another day. Mercy Miller, the true freshman guard who just turned 19 in September, is also held back. Miller logs a DNP.

Want just two easy reasons this now 8th-ranked University of Houston team remains one of college basketball’s best growth stocks? Both Arceneaux and Miller will be bigger parts of the mammoth games to come. Likely as early as that November 26 showdown against No. 2 Alabama in Las Vegas. Even with Arceneaux limited and Miller on the bench against Auburn, UH leads for 26 minutes of the 40 minute game.

“This is like taking a really hard test in a hard college,” ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla tells PaperCity of Houston’s loss. “A B in a class like this is still pretty damn good. It’s like taking an exam in med school.”

This UH team is not quite ready to take its MCAT yet. Not with Arceneaux on a 16 to 20 minutes restriction early in the season even on non-sore days. Not with college basketball unicorn JoJo Tugler adjusting to the demands of playing 30 minutes coming off his own surgery. Not with regular starting center Ja’Vier Francis just working himself back into basketball shape after a groin injury robbed him of 19 practices. Not with Mercy Miller still learning the play the type of defense that Kelvin Sampson demands.

“Mercy’s getting better,” Houston associate head coach Quannas White, who works with the guards every day, tells PaperCity. “All freshmen are different. But Mercy has a will to just continue to work and get better.

“And he’s trying to learn everything he possibly can in a short period of time. So you’ve just got to be patient.”

The Potential of Mercy Miller and Houston’s Future

UH’s basketball lifer of a head coach admits that he now wishes he had found a way to work Miller into that Auburn game, particularly early in the second half. “I’ve got a find a way to get Mercy in there,” Sampson says. “Play Terrance a little more. Play some of the main guys less. Get some more balance in our lineup. But that’s why you play these games early — to make adjustments accordingly.”

“This is like taking a really hard test in a hard college. A B in a class like this is still pretty damn good. It’s like taking an exam in med school.” — ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla

Whether this ends up being one of the best University of Houston basketball teams ever is something that will be decided far down the road. But this is clearly the Kelvin Sampson Houston team with the greatest potential for dramatic growth from game one and two to game 20 and 22. There are more different ways for this UH team to drastically improve than almost any other team Sampson’s coached.

Sampson’s biggest challenge will be determining how all the talented pieces best fit together, the kind of thing he relishes now in head coaching year 36 as much as he did in head coaching year one.

“I enjoy tinkering,” Sampson says. “Making it work. Just putting this team together. That’s kind of my deal. I enjoy doing that.”

Few coaches in basketball have ever done it better. Once Francis is back to full strength, the ever impactful JoJo Tugler won’t need to play so many minutes in a row like he does in the second half against Auburn, wearing down against the Tigers’ length.

“Houston’s interior defense was so good for 30 minutes,” Fraschilla tells PaperCity. “And it’s natural in a game like this, where fatigue sets in. I thought that’s where maybe they slipped down the stretch and (Auburn star) Johni Broome was able to get the ball much closer to the basket in the last 10 minutes of the game than the first 30.”

“All freshmen are different. But Mercy has a will to just continue to work and get better.” — UH associate head coach Quannas White

UH’s defense isn’t the same without J’Wan Roberts, Ja’Vier Francis and JoJo Tugler all able to play major minutes. You can’t remove one of these legs without the whole thing wobbling a little. Yes, this should be Kelvin Sampson’s deepest Houston team ever. But these Cougars aren’t there yet.

Not with Francis just coming back. Not with Arceneaux still finding his footing. Not with Mercy Miller on the bench.

“It went through my mind (getting Miller in there against Auburn),” Sampson says. “As we go forward, we need to keep working and get Mercy better. That’s the bottom line.”

This is h0w this already Top 10 team can make another jump. And the Happy Tinkerer is ready to have at it. Kelvin Sampson’s near buoyant mood in the days after the Auburn game is no coincidence. This is a coach who loves having a non-injury problem to solve, a chance to get in the lab and see how the pieces best fit together.

“You’d better get Houston now,” Fraschilla says. “Because they’re going to get a lot better.”