photo by Don Mooney
by Don Mooney
FORT WORTH, Texas—Amid a week of cheers and chants at Dickies Arena the crowd on hand was reduced to a hush when all-American guard Marcus Sasser crumbled awkwardly to the court. Sassers feet slipped from under him while dribbling past midcourt, Houston Coach Kelvin Sampson knew something was wrong even without really seeing what had happened.
“Marcus goes down, it means he’s hurt,” Sampson said. “We always say pain is an opinion. Some kids have a high opinion. Some kids have a low opinion. But Marcus doesn’t go down. He never misses practice, never misses a rep. He’s always there.”
Sasser, the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, suffered an apparent groin injury with about 6 1/2 minutes left in the first half of the top-ranked Cougars’ 69-48 win over Cincinnati in their American Championship Semifinal game on Saturday inside Dickies Arena.
Houston (31-2), which led throughout, was up by eight when Sasser got hurt and expanded that to 15 by halftime.
Sampson said Sasser would be re-evaluated but indicated that the senior guard might not play when the two-time reigning regular-season champion Cougars try to win their third consecutive American Championship title.
“I would probably err on the side of holding him out because of how important next week is,” Sampson said. “But the most important thing is Marcus … his healthy going forward is the most important thing here.”
Junior point guard Jamal Shead had 16 points and nine assists for the Cougars in the Semifinal, which matched two teams that are moving to the Big 12 next season. Junior forward J’Wan Roberts had two second-chance layups in the game’s first minute to put Houston ahead to stay. He finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, while freshman forward Jarace Walker had 13 points.
“Just knowing that Marcus came out of the game and we still have teammates that we know that come off the bench and come with that same energy, it just shows a lot about our team,” Roberts said. “It just shows everybody has each other’s back and we never get away from what we’re doing, just staying together.”
Houston is a sure bet to be a No. 1 seed when the NCAA Tournament bracket comes out Sunday, no matter what happens in its fifth straight American Championship Title Game.
Landers Nolley II had 14 points for Cincinnati (21-12), which shot a season-worst 25.5% (13 of 51) from the field. After 30 points for the Cougars on Friday, Sasser had four points in nine minutes against Cincinnati before the non-contact injury. He was dribbling between the conference logo and the 3-point line when his right foot appeared to slip, throwing him off-balance before his left foot slipped as well, sending him into an awkward split.
Sasser was a starter on the Cougars’ 2021 Final Four team but missed their run to the NCAA Elite Eight last year because of a broken bone in his left foot before Christmas. He didn’t talk to the media after the game.
Cincinnati was within 44-35 on a 3-point by Nolley with just over 15 minutes left – the only time after halftime the Bearcats were within single digits. Shead then started a 17-3 run with a jumper, and had seven points in the spurt that pushed Houston’s lead to 61-38.
“Obviously, they’re the No. 1-ranked team in the country for a reason, and they’re a difficult team to score on,” Bearcats coach Wes Miller said. “It was a tough night for us, because we didn’t score and we didn’t defend well. So that’s how you get that kind of a lopsided margin.”