Dedan Thomas Jr. Leads Balanced Attack as No. 10 Houston Overwhelms La Salle 94-55

Kelvin Sampson finished Monday night not knowing who his leading scorer was, and that was the point. Houston put seven players at nine points or more, scored 44 points in the paint, lived at the free throw line and smothered La Salle 94-55 at Fertitta Center to open the season. "We have one of those teams where I have no idea who our leading scorer was. We don't have a leading scorer," Sampson said afterward.

For the record, it was Dedan Thomas Jr., the senior point guard by way of UNLV and LSU, with 16 points and five assists. But the No. 10 Cougars did not need a star on a night when the defense held the Explorers to 25 percent shooting and forced 19 turnovers. It was Houston's 18th straight season-opening win, and Sampson is now 13-0 in openers since taking over the program.

A New Roster, the Same Identity

This is not last year's Houston team. Kingston Flemings, Chris Cenac Jr. and Emanuel Sharp all went in the first 45 picks of the NBA draft, and Milos Uzan moved on to the G League. Sampson spent the preseason calling this a brand-new team, and the starting five reflected it: Thomas, Kent State transfer Delrecco Gillespie, Chase McCarty, Mercy Miller and Joseph Tugler, with Purdue Fort Wayne transfer Corey Hadnot II and five-star freshman center Arafan Diané headlining the bench.

What did not change was the defense. Asked about it after the game, Sampson kept it simple: "Our defense was outstanding tonight first time out." The numbers backed him up. La Salle went 15-of-60 from the field and 8-of-39 from three, and Houston turned those 19 turnovers into 25 points.

The 14-0 Run That Set the Tone

Gillespie opened the night with a fast-break dunk, and Thomas buried an early three. Anthony Finkley gave La Salle a pulse by scoring the Explorers' first six points, including a three, but that was about all the offense La Salle could find early. Houston answered Finkley's three with a 14-0 run in which six different Cougars scored, and a Hadnot three followed by a Braden East fast-break layup made it 20-3 with 10:57 left in the first half.

La Salle did punch back. The Explorers ripped off eight straight, capped by a Kam Burton three that cut the deficit to nine. Then Burton's night took a turn: after a 26-footer, the Stephen F. Austin transfer was hit with a technical foul for gesturing at a Houston defender and went to the bench. The free throws stretched the lead back to 13, and the momentum was gone.

McCarty took over from there. The redshirt sophomore scored all 10 of his points in the first half, including a three-point play and a 13-footer, while going 6-of-7 at the line. Gillespie, who had 11 of his 13 points before the break, knocked down his only three-point attempt of the half with 1:25 left. Houston outscored La Salle 23-12 after that 8-0 run and took a 43-23 lead into halftime.

The first half was also chippy. There were three technical fouls before the break, one of them on Sampson, and the two teams combined for 46 fouls on the night. Thomas was later whistled for a flagrant one in the second half. It was not a pretty game, but Houston rarely asks for pretty.

Getting to the Rim, Then the Line

The most notable shift from last season is how Houston scores. The Cougars took only 14 threes, making five, and instead hammered the paint and the free throw line. Houston went 31-of-57 from the floor (54.4 percent) and 27-of-37 at the stripe, and the 44-10 edge in paint points was the single most lopsided stat of the night.

Thomas embodied the approach. He only made 2-of-7 field goals, but he went 11-of-14 at the line, added five assists, three rebounds and two steals, and did not commit a turnover in 27 minutes. That is a point guard who understands what this team wants to be.

Hadnot was the most efficient creator, scoring 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting with five assists in 22 minutes off the bench. Gillespie, who averaged 17.7 points and 11.3 rebounds at Kent State, finished 5-of-6 for 13 points with seven rebounds. Miller filled the box score differently, with five points, seven rebounds and five assists, and drew a pointed compliment from Sampson, who said Houston's staff had not made Miller a good rebounder because he already was one.

Houston won the glass 47-32, handed out 21 assists on 31 baskets and committed only 13 turnovers despite all the whistles.

Diané Arrives, McCarty Goes Down

The freshman everybody wanted to see did not disappoint. Diané, the 7-foot five-star who reshaped his body over the offseason, scored 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting with four rebounds and two steals in 21 minutes. He is early in his development, but the length and activity on defense already show up.

The frontcourt rotation is still sorting itself out. Tugler, the senior and the main holdover from last year's Sweet 16 team, had nine points and six rebounds but picked up four fouls in 16 minutes. Sampson has moved him from center to power forward and said afterward he wants Tugler guarding his own man rather than helping on the five. East, a junior, gave Houston nine points, five rebounds and two steals off the bench.

The scary moment came in the second half, when La Salle's Bowyn Beatty tripped and fell into the back of McCarty's leg. McCarty had to be helped off and did not return, though he later came back to the bench with ice on his knee. Sampson downplayed the injury afterward, saying he did not believe it was serious. Houston will be watching that one closely.

La Salle's Shooting Experiment

La Salle coach Darris Nichols went into the transfer portal looking for shooters after a season in which the Explorers ranked near the bottom of Division I in made threes, and the plan was obvious on Monday. La Salle launched 39 threes, more than double the 17.9 per game it attempted last season. The problem was the result: 8-of-39, roughly 21 percent.

Burton led the Explorers with 15 points on 4-of-12 shooting, every make from three, plus three free throws. Devin Booker, the George Mason transfer, added 12 but went 1-of-7 from deep. Early second-half threes from Booker and Trey Moss gave La Salle a brief flicker, but Houston answered and pushed the lead to 26.

Foul trouble did the rest. Noah Collier fouled out with 12:24 left and Rob Dockery, the Atlantic 10 preseason second-team pick and last season's leading scorer, followed at 11:40. Dockery played just six minutes, finishing with one point, three rebounds and a game-high five turnovers. Freshman RJ Smith went 0-of-6 from three but handed out five assists. With its best player on the bench, La Salle had no answer as Houston closed on a 13-0 run and built its biggest lead at 43.

La Salle, picked next-to-last in the Atlantic 10, hosts LIU on Saturday, Nov. 7.

What It Means for Houston

Houston has made six straight Sweet 16s, and the standard does not drop just because the roster turned over. This was a reassuring first look. The new guards can get to the line, the transfers fit the system, Diané looks like a real piece and the defense already has its familiar bite.

There are questions. Houston shot 5-of-14 from three, and it will face teams that pack the paint and dare the Cougars to shoot. Tugler's foul trouble and McCarty's knee bear watching. Sampson also admitted after an 83-66 exhibition win over Michigan that his team made plenty of mistakes, and Monday's flurry of technicals suggested the composure is still a work in progress.

Next up for Houston is California on Sunday, Nov. 8, in the Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic. That will be a better measuring stick than a rebuilding Atlantic 10 team. Still, a 39-point opener with seven contributors and no clear go-to scorer is exactly what a Sampson team is supposed to look like in November. The full line score is on the ESPN box score (opens in a new tab), and Houston Athletics has its own game recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: ESPN box score, Field Level Media via Deadspin, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Houston Cougars On SI, KPRC 2. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Houston sent three players to the NBA draft and still won by 39. That is the program in one sentence.

Photo: Houston Athletics.