As a young, aspiring coach rising through the high school ranks, Frank Martin couldn’t watch enough of Kelvin Sampson’s teams.

Sampson, who’s now at Houston, was head coach at Oklahoma while Martin was cutting his teeth as a high school head coach, and Saturday the two longtime coaches square off again for the second time in two years.

“There are teams I feel are unbelievably well coached and Houston is one of them. I think Kelvin Sampson is one of the better coaches in my generation, even though he’s slightly older than me,” Martin said.

“As a young, aspiring coach, watching his teams on TV, he’s one of the guys I’ve always looked up to. It’s an exciting week and I’m excited for our guys.”

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And Saturday’s game against Houston (6 p.m./ESPN Plus) is the toughest test of the Gamecocks’ non-conference schedule and a similar team as the South Carolina one rolling into town.

Both are guard heavy and similar in average height—South Carolina’s average height is 77.6 inches compared to Houston’s 76.9—and returning over half of their minutes from last season.

Each is trying to fill the void of a key piece last season with the Gamecocks trying to replace center Maik Kotsar and Houston small forward Nate Hinton.

“We’re facing a very similar team that’s a lot like we are: trying to replace one guy that provided a lot of stuff for them. At the same time they have so many returning guys that they should be better at how they play,” Martin said. “That’s what gets me excited. I think it’s two teams that return a big number of guys. I think both teams are better than this time last year when we played each other.”

Also see: Keys to pulling the upset over Houston

The Cougars could be without the American preseason player of the year in Caleb Mills, who’s dealing with an ankle injury, but guard Seventh Woods is dealing with a knee injury for South Carolina.

Houston (3-0) comes in ranked No. 10 in the AP Poll and No. 11 in KenPom, top 25 in both offensive and defensive efficiency.

“They’re probably a little deeper than we are on the front line from an experience standpoint with the fours and fives but we’re playing a little differently than we’re playing last year,” Martin said.

“I wasn’t playing Justin at the four as much as I am now. That’s going to be an interesting match up. By playing Justin at the four we’re playing with more skill. We really haven’t lost our physicality there because of Justin.”

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Houston's offensive numbers: 73.7 points per game, 110.4 points per 100 possessions (KenPom), 39.4/35.1/79.7, 15.7 offensive rebounds per game, 9.3 assists per game, 13.3 turnovers per game

Houston's defensive numbers: 52 points per game, 88.5 points allowed per 100 possessions (KenPom), 36.7/15.7/58.3, 29 defensive rebounds per game, 9.7 steals per game, 4.3 blocks per game

Leading scorer: PG, Marcus Sasser: 17.3 points per game, 47.4 FG%, 50 3P%

Leading rebounder: SF Quentin Grimes and SG DeJon Jarreau: 7.3 rebounds per game

Best offensive player: Grimes: 16.3 points, 7.3 rebounds per game, 100.5 offensive rating, 41.7 effective FG%, 2 assists per game

Best defender: DeJon Jarreau: 0.4 defensive win shares, 13.8 PER, 5.3 steal rate, 23.8 defensive rebound rate