3 takeaways from Houston’s win over Arlington

<p>Houston protected home court Friday night, cruising past Arlington, 81-61 without senior big man <strong>Jerrell</strong> <strong>Colbert.</strong></p> <p>Here are three takeaways from the Mustangs’ win over the Tigers.</p> <p><strong>Houston’s 3s were uncontested</strong></p> <p>The Mustangs had a lot of easy looks from 3. Arlington didn’t do a great job of forcing Houston into tough shots. The Mustangs had their way on the offensive end for majority of the night. Great ball movement led to those wide open 3s. Houston made 13 3-pointers in the win.</p> <p><strong>Mustangs’ defense led to easy transition points</strong></p> <p>Houston mainly played in a 1-3-1 zone, at times played man-to-man, and sent traps at every angle of the court. The Mustangs forced the Tigers into turnovers that led to easy transition points. Houston led by as many as 23 points and had 31 total rebounds (25 defensive). The Mustangs didn’t seem to break a sweat as they were building a huge lead.</p> <p>Another thing to point out about Houston’s 1-3-1 zone: It was a long one.</p> <p><strong>Mason</strong> <strong>Miller</strong> is 6-foot-9. <strong>Johnathan</strong> <strong>Lawson</strong> is 6-8. <strong>Cal</strong> <strong>Greene</strong> and <strong>Zander</strong> <strong>Yates</strong> are 6-7. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="775538" first="TJ" last="Madlock"]</strong> is 6-4. It was difficult for senior point guards <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="983719" first="Madison" last="Peaster"]</strong> (6-2) and <strong>Jace</strong> <strong>Lockhart</strong> (5-11) to see over the zone.</p> <p>This game was only a close one for about two minutes in the first quarter before freshman point guard Ahmad Nowell’s 3-pointer put the Mustangs up 22-9 heading into the second quarter. Three consecutive 3s by Lawson, Greene and Madlock made it 35-19 at halftime.</p> <p>Miller led the team with 19 points. Madlock added 16. Lawson had 14. Nowell and Yates each had 10.</p> <p><strong>Dribble drive handoffs worked well for Houston</strong></p> <p>If it’s not broke, then don’t fix it.</p> <p>Head coach Mike Miller placed his son and Lawson in great positions to score. With Nowell and Madlock taking turns running the offense, coach Miller orchestrated simple dribble drive handoffs for Mason from his strong left side and for Lawson from his strong right side. Anytime Mason could catch the basketball from his left side, he was in great position to score, whether that’s a shot from 17-feet out or a drive to the basket.</p> <p>For Lawson, he was going straight to the basket. Catching it from his right side, the Oregon commit only needed two dribbles to get in the paint. The simple handoffs worked for both players and allowed them to catch a rhythm early on.</p> <p><strong>Jones led Arlington in scoring</strong></p> <p>Senior wing <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="537277" first="Isaiah" last="Jones"]</strong> led the Tigers with 18 points. He was the only player for Arlington to score in double figures.</p>