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Culture / Sporting Life

UH Ceiling Raiser Terrance Arceneaux Somehow Already Looks Faster, Smoother and More Confident In Achilles Tear Return — Big Brother Is Watching and Approves

A Whole Family Comeback With Kobe Inspiration

BY // 10.28.24

Terrance Arceneaux twists in the air, contorting his long frame to get to the hoop along the baseline, finishing the drive with a bank off the window. It’s a quick, confident move, one that puts one of this Goliath of a University of Houston basketball program’s most important comebacks in sharp focus. Little more than 10 months removed from tearing his Achilles tendon, Arceneaux somehow looks smoother, quicker and even a little longer than he did before.

Watching from the Fertitta Center stands, Eric, Lataisha and Byron Arceneaux cheer with joy. This comeback has always been something of a family affair. As most things in Terrance Arceneaux’s basketball life are. Playing his first game with fans in the stands since tearing his Achilles in a December 16, 2023 game at Toyota Center is no small step. This Texas A&M matchup may technically be a mere exhibition game, but it’s a major moment for the Arceneauxs.

“It’s amazing,” Eric Arceneaux, Terrance’s dad, tells PaperCity. “To see it come full circle too. Especially because he got hurt playing against A&M. Then first game back out. . . God’s good. God’s good.

“He showed a lot of maturity. The time and work he put in when was off leading up to this. I just told him it looked like the game slowed down a lot for him. Right now he’s just fighting through this tightness (in the Achilles). Once he gets through that. . . It hasn’t been a year yet. So he’s ahead of schedule.”

Already taking off. And just getting started.

Kelvin Sampson’s Houston basketball program is right on schedule, heading into another season as a beyond legitimate national championship pursuer. “Among the best in the country when we played them last year,” Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams says of UH. “And I anticipate among the best in the country going into this season.”

Houston blitzes a Top 13 A&M team 79-64 in this scrimmage while playing 13 guys, grabbing 19 offensive rebounds, blocking nine shots and hitting 14 threes. But it’s Terrance Arceneaux’s smooth and sure 16-plus minutes that may end up mattering most for a team chasing so much more. For Arceneaux possesses the kind of talent that could help push a team returning four starters and JoJo Tugler, one of the more unique players in America who’d start for most other teams in the country (and does against the Aggies with defensive monster Ja’Vier Francis held out with a groin injury), to another level.

Terrance Arceneaux can be a Swiss Army knife problem solver for this Houston team, adapting to fit whatever is needed. The now 6-foot-6 Arceneaux hits two 3-pointers in his first stint on the court against A&M, and then starts using his lanky frame to get to the hoop and create openings in his second half run. In his No 23 Houston jersey, Arceneaux can sometimes look like he’s gliding through an opening.

Terrance Arceneaux Houston basketball
University of Houston guard Terrance Arceneaux has somehow returned from an Achilles tendon tear looking faster and more confident. (Courtesy UH Athletics)

Just ask Big Brother. Byron Arceneaux was a good high school and lower level college basketball player who has four years on Terrance. Still Byron remembers Terrance beating him in one-on-one for the first time when little bro was only in the fifth grade. It turns out recovering from injury is not the only thing Terrance Arceneaux does quick.

“He wouldn’t want to go home until he would win,” Byron Arceneaux says.

That willpower would come in handy during the recovery from the Achilles tendon tear, one of the harder injuries to fight back from in basketball. Terrance Arceneaux is not out of the woods yet on this injury. His playing time figures to be capped around the 16 minutes he plays in his scrimmage early in the regular season too. He rides the exercise bike just off the court while waiting to check into games. And when he’s done playing, UH associate AD for sports medicine John Houston wraps a heating pad pack around his lower leg.

“Sometimes I would just close my eyes. Because I was like, ‘Man, I wish I was out there.’ I would tell my parents every day. ‘Man, I wish I was out there.’ ” — UH’s Terrance Arceneaux on having to watch his team play while injured.

Kobe, Pain and Struggling to Watch

Arceneaux read Kobe Bryant’s book The Mamba Mentality, which delves into how Kobe attacked his own Achilles tendon tear recovery, during his rehab too.

“I have an uncle who’s a big Kobe Bryant fan,” Terrance Arceneaux tells PaperCity. “The biggest ever. So just seeing his highlights and watching him when I’m over his house. I used to play the (video) game with him too. I was watching when (Kobe) tore his Achilles too. I’d seen that and I’d seen how tough he was. He shot the free throw and then he walked. That was crazy.

“I tried to take a couple steps (after his Achilles tear), but I was like ‘Nah.’ ”

Kobe Bryant death
Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash at age 41, leaving the sports world in shock.

Terrance Arceneaux now has a chance to help University of Houston basketball take some giant steps. He calls this first crowd game back against Texas A&M something that was on his “bucket list.” This difference maker will never forget the feeling of helplessly squirming through tense games on the bench last March, feeling like he could have helped.

“Sometimes I would just close my eyes,” Arceneaux tells PaperCity. “Because I was like, ‘Man, I wish I was out there.’ I would tell my parents every day. ‘Man, I wish I was out there.’ ”

Terrance Arceneaux does not need to close his eyes on the bench anymore. He is out there again, determined to show off aspects of his game that he feels like people haven’t even really seen yet from him in college. Better shooting. More confident dribbling and play making. Texas A&M is hit with glimpses of all three.

Already taking off. And just getting started.

“Coach Quannas (White) has done a great job,” Kelvin Sampson says of Arceneaux’s progression. “But so has (Strength) Coach (Alan) Bishop. So has John Houston. I’d say the bulk of that goes to John Houston.”

An Arceneaux Family Moment

When this evening is done, Terrance Arceneaux heads for the stands to wrap his mom, dad and brother up in hugs. There are no small moments in such a big comeback.

“That’s who I play for right there,” Arceneaux says. “. . . Them being right by my side, keeping me company during that hard time I was dealing with. . . They actually made it easier. Just being there, got closer with my family. We learned a lot from each other during this period.

“It was a battle for all of us. And we all pushed through.”

University of Houston Cougars defeated the Texas A&M University Aggies during the Halal Guys Showcase in the Toyota Center
Terrance Arceneaux limped off the Toyota Center court last December, but his UH teammates kept his spirts up. (Photo by F. Carter Smith)

In a Kelvin Sampson program where all the players are almost always unfailingly polite, the 20-year-old Arceneaux is one of the most polite and friendliest of all. There is an openness about Terrance Arceneaux, a curiosity to learn more. Whether it’s picking up a book on Kobe Bryant or embracing new drills, Arceneaux wants to adapt. He credits his big brother with pushing him to a better basketball player than he ever imagined he could be early on.

Now Terrance Arceneaux’s the one pushing for more.

“The big thing for me was seeing his mindset good,” Byron Arceneaux says, that old competitiveness replaced by big brother pride. “He’s playing good. He looked like he wasn’t nervous. . .  It was great to see him back out there playing without any nerves. The main thing I told him is ‘Don’t play safe.’ ”

Terrance Arceneaux sure doesn’t look like he’s holding anything back as he glides through the air on that baseline drive. He just may help the fourth ranked team in America jump even higher too.

Already taking off. And just getting started.

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