By SAM LANCE
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — No coach is walking away from Peach Jam more proud of his team than 16u Houston Hoops head coach Stephen Woods.
Due to Hurricane Beryl, the team had not been able to practice or play together leading up to Peach Jam. Houston was not initially expected to be in the main path of the storm, but the city ended up being severely impacted.
“May 27th was Kansas City and we won that silver bracket,” Woods said of the last time the team was together. “Texas is a big state: we had one player from San Antonio, two from Houston, one from Austin and three from Dallas, so we’re spread out. We were going to get together to practice in July prior to coming here.”
But due to the severe impact of the hurricane, the program was not able to be together at all before traveling to North Augusta. Several Houston residents were impacted by the storm. More than two million people were left without power for days and the devastation resulted in more than $1.5 billion in damage.
One player on the Houston Hoops 16u team, who’s family wishes to remain anonymous, was personally affected by the storm. “He doesn’t have a backyard anymore,” Woods said. “His whole fence and all of that stuff is gone. When we left they still didn’t have electricity.” Despite these personal challenges and the team not practicing, Houston Hoops banded together to finish the tournament 3-1 and had the opportunity able to play in front of a national audience on NBA TV against Mokan Elite. “What I told them was get in the gym, work on your skills,” Woods said of not being with the team. “No one cares how rough and rocky the sea is, we just want to bring the boat to shore. I told them, no one is going to feel pity for you. Your opponent is not going to stop playing because of what you went through.” Unfortunately, Houston Hoops just missed out on the final bracket of Peach Jam. They were the only team to finish pool play 3-1 that missed the field. But Woods is still proud of his guys. “I hate that we lost,” Woods said, tearing up. “But in the grand scheme of things I’m so proud of them. The thing I love about this group is that they are grateful and they appreciate this opportunity. In summer ball you might have some kids who are entitled and think stuff is given to them. This group is not like that. I think that’s why we came up here and they played their butts off to win three games. They don’t want anything given to them. They want to work.” In their first game against Team Durant, Houston was down 17-10 in the first quarter. They were’t playing very well. “I mean, it was a hard time trying to knock off the dust to start the first game, but we got it going and we understood — everyone understands their role so we just kind of picked it up from there,” one player who was not affected by the storm, Amare Guerra, said. “It was kind of tough, but we got gelling at the end.” From there, Houston rallied and defeated Team Durant 67-60. They then defeated Team Thad, 71-69, and Team Melo, 65-63, before falling to Mokan Elite, 75-47. Houston Hoops was left out of the Peach Jam final bracket due to Team Durant’s better point differential with the same record in pool play. Assistant coach Jacobe Kemp is particularly proud of this group considering where they came from at the beginning of the season. To start the year, Houston Hoops had just four players and had to plug and play before getting a roster fully together. With that, and Hurricane Beryl, the program has faced many challenges this summer. “Man, I’m so proud of these guys,” Kemp said. “They’re a steady group. They’re great kids. They’re all great kids man. And they just kind of stayed the course. They knew that we weren’t going to be able to practice, and the one thing they did when they got down here was they just got together and they started to hold each other accountable for the little things.” Kemp continued: “Whether that was getting to bed on time, or making sure they got to the van on time for practice, or making sure everybody was eating breakfast together; they made up for some of that camaraderie that we lost for not practicing during that time that we didn’t practice. So outside of the gym they just tried to make up for it as much as they could.” Not only was the 16u team practice schedule altered, but the entire Houston Hoops program. The 17u and 15u squads also weren’t able to get in the gym before Peach Jam. A Go Fund Me has been created to help out the family that was affected by the storm. You can find it here.One of the most compelling storylines emerging from Peach Jam is the Houston Hoops E16 team, which has started 3-0 despite not practicing or playing together since May 27th due to Hurricane Beryl.
— Jay Frye (@JayFryeNBA) July 19, 2024
Initially not expected to be in the storm's direct path, Houston was severely… pic.twitter.com/wXTCYrzSWf
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