Houston began its quest for a sixth straight 30-win season on Sunday, reloading with commitments from top-60 transfers Dedan Thomas Jr. (LSU) and Delrecco Gillespie (Kent State).
Both players announced their decisions on social media.
Thomas has been a high-level point guard at both UNLV and LSU, spending two seasons in Vegas and this past season with the Tigers. He was limited to just 16 games in Baton Rouge due to a hand injury, but averaged 15.3 points and 6.5 assists and had the Tigers off to a 12-1 start prior to his injury.
In two seasons at UNLV, Thomas posted 14.5 points and 4.9 assists, shooting nearly 36% from 3-point range.
Gillespie, meanwhile, is one of the elite rebounders in college basketball — a prerequisite to be a frontcourt player in Kelvin Sampson’s system. He earned first-team All-MAC honors this season after averaging 17.7 points and 11.3 rebounds, finishing fourth nationally in rebounding.
He had two 30-point, 10-rebound performances.
Houston is coming off a season in which it earned a top-two seed in the NCAA tournament for the fifth time in six seasons and advanced past the second weekend of the tournament for the sixth straight season. The Cougars are expected to lose four starters, with senior guards Emanuel Sharp and Milos Uzan out of eligibility and freshmen Kingston Flemings and Chris Cenac Jr. leaving for the NBA draft.
Thomas gives the Cougars an immediate-impact starting point guard, likely surrounded by returnees Mercy Miller and Chase McCarty on the wings, while Gillespie provides Sampson with an anchor up front next to lone returning starter Joseph Tugler.
