Three Cougars
- Jherrod Stiggers- the junior guard leads Houston with 14.8 points per game, but shoots only 35 percent from the floor. In his last three games, he has shot an abysmal 13.9 percent from the field. But Stiggers is capable of getting hot from behind the arc; he had a two-game stretch in which he shot 15-of-20 from three earlier this year.
- L.J. Rose- The Baylor transfer and former top 100 national recruit is not a scorer, as shown by his 9.9 points per game and 35.7 shooting percentage. But he is an adept passer who averages 5.2 assists per game. Last year, the Houston native led the AAC with 5.5 assists per game. He is one of two Cougars players who has more assists than turnovers this season.
- Danrad “Chicken” Knowles– Perhaps the nation’s strangest-nicknamed player, Knowles is Houston’s second-leading scorer at 11.2 points per game and second-leading rebounder at 5.9 boards per game. Tall but wire-thin at 6-foot-10 and 190 pounds, Knowles also shoots 36.9 percent from three.
Three Mustangs
- Nic Moore- Moore has been the engine for the SMU’s offense this year. His exceptional play of late has led the Mustangs to some of their best offensive performances this season. When Moore is off the floor due to foul trouble, SMU tends to struggle. Fortunately, he has stayed out of foul trouble recently. Moore leads SMU with 14.5 points per game, 5.1 assists per game, 43.5 three-point percentage and 89.8 free throw percentage.
- Sterling Brown- Brown started the past two games in place of the ineligible Keith Frazier. While Brown does his best work on defense and on the glass, he has 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting in his two starts. He’s also grabbed 12 rebounds.
- Cannen Cunningham- The senior’s minutes were down when Markus Kennedy first came back, but with SMU now down to an eight-man rotation, Cunningham’s minutes have risen again. He responded with a seven-point, 10-rebound game at Tulane in which he played with a lot of energy. Performances like that will keep his minutes up.
