Inside a dark, cramped trash can, Luis Lemus waits for his cue.

As South Florida's Mayan Kiir steps to the free-throw line, less than two minutes left on the clock, Nirmal Patel wheels the trash can from a nearby tunnel to just behind the basket at Fertitta Center.

Kiir bounces the ball a few times.

"Time to get ready," Lemus says.

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Patel pounds three times on the side of the trash can.

"That's my signal to go up and fly out and start yelling," says Lemus, a sophomore architectural major at the University of Houston.

Then the lid closes, as Lemus, covered from "head to toe" in red body paint and red hairspray, disappears back into the trash can.

The newest floor seat at Fertitta Center comes with an obstructed view.

On Saturday night, in the Cougars' 71-59 win over USF, Lemus became a social-media sensation, known as "Trash Can Man" for his role in the gimmick to distract USF on free-throws attempts in the second half. Think a red Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street meets a Jack in the Box toy.

"He pops out and goes nuts," said Robert Boudwin, UH's assistant athletics director for marketing and event presentation.

Boudwin first thought of a similar skit five or six years ago in another life when he was better known as Clutch the Bear, a character he created during a two-decade career with the NBA's Houston Rockets.

Back in May, when Boudwin took a job in UH's athletic marketing department, he began to think of in-game entertainment for home basketball games. Wanting to include students, one of the first names he heard was Lemus, who has not missed a home game in two years and goes by "Discount Rob Gray" on Twitter for a striking resemblance to the former UH hoops star.

"He's a total diehard fan," Boudwin said. "Those are the type of students we are looking for."

A chance to be a part of a historical season – the Cougars are ranked No. 9 and own the nation's best record at 26-1 – was too much to pass up.

"Anything for this team, I'll do it," Lemus said.

The plan was set in motion a few weeks ago when Boudwin contacted Lemus. First order of business: buy a red trash can.

"We bought it new, so we weren't washing out anything old," Boudwin joked.

For Saturday's game, Lemus sat in the student section during the first half. At halftime, Lemus went to an area in the tunnel and covered himself in red body paint.

It was also a chance for Lemus and Patel, president of the student group "Bleacher Creatures" who had never met, to go through a brief rehearsal. On the first try the trash can fell over as Lemus jumped out.

"Good thing we practiced," Lemus said.

Fans quickly took notice on social media, and Lemus was shown during the ESPN2 broadcast.

All the while, Lemus was crouched inside the trash can. To occupy time, he watched a live streaming of the game on his cellular phone.

"I didn't want to miss a moment," he said.

What's it like sitting in a trash can for about an hour?

"Real hot. And dark," Lemus said. "It takes a little toll on your knees."

Even though he was just a few steps from the court, Lemus watched the game on a few seconds delay.

"I could hear the roar of the crowd inside the trash can but had to wait to see what happened," Lemus said. "I knew when something big was about to happen."

Rolling out the trash can in the second half was a matter of "when the game is on the line," Boudwin said. The distraction seemed to work: USF was 8-of-10 on free throws in the first half but only 13-of-22 after halftime.

"I don't know if it was me, but something happened," Lemus said.

By midday Sunday, Lemus had received numerous messages on social media.

"This is wild," he said. "It was all over the place. It was on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram."

Boudwin said the trash can feature will evolve over the final two home games to include Lemus and other students and could include props and themes. Members of the Bleacher Creatures, a student group that sits front row for football games at TDECU Stadium, will be involved.

Next time he climbs into the trash can Lemus plans to be prepared.

"We need water for next game," he said. "My voice was dying."