The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Head Coach Kelvin Sampson Says Cougars Are 'Progressing' While Atop The Big 12

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

Cougars men's basketball is at the top of the Big 12 following another conference win Monday when Houston defeated Baylor 76-65. With their third straight victory, the Cougars move to 12-1 against Big 12 opponents and reach 20 wins for the tenth consecutive season. Last season, their first season in the conference, Houston captured the Big 12 regular season title and reached the Sweet 16 for the fifth straight year; however, the Cougars are looking to accomplish even more as the NCAA Tournament approaches. "I think our team is progressing," head coach Kelvin Sampson said. "Everybody settles into a role." When the Toronto Raptors selected Jamal Shead with the 45th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, the Cougars were unsure who would step up as their next point guard, but junior Milos Uzan embraced the role in his first season with Houston. The Oklahoma transfer recorded 12 points and six assists in the victory over Baylor. "[Uzan has] gotten tougher and more competitive," Sampson said. "We didn't have to recruit him. He chose us...He came in here with the right attitude." No. 6 Houston will visit No. 13 Arizona on Saturday.

Coos knocked off the Baylor Bears. A couple nights back. Ten straight 20-win seasons. At the University of Houston, the all-time god of coaching. Calvin Samson joining us here on the show. Coach, good afternoon. Thanks for joining us. Congratulations.

It seems like just yesterday you and I were sitting atop that dump, known as the Hoffines Pavilion, thinking, oh, you're going to fix us right away. And it took a couple of years, but you got us there. Congratulations on another 10-20-win season for you and your squad. It does seem like a long time ago, but yet you and I both still remember it. So that says something about our cognitive state. Yeah.

It's still a, it's been a beautiful ride, wonderful journey, and can't wait to see what the future holds. It feels like to me that you have had to balance a lot of aches and pains with your roster the last three or four weeks with guys getting some time, starting second halves, not playing. in certain sections of the games. Where is the state of your squad right now, injury-wise? And is this kind of a... Look, you don't want to ask for injuries for anything, but it's giving you an opportunity during this time to check out some different combinations.

Am I correct on that? No, that would be accurate. I think health-wise were about as good as we've been, sitting Emmanuel down for a week or so, at least two games. I think really helped him. The only reason he did not start the second half was he had to retape his ankle. So he was late getting out to the bench at halftime.

So we started Terrence. No big deal. Terrence played good. When Emmanuel got back out, we stuck him in, and he went out and played well, too. So I think our team is progressing. The great thing about your team as the season goes on is everybody settles into a role. It's a lot easier to define your role as the season goes on before. before the season starts or even early in the season,

because you're still learning your team. You know, we have a brand new point guard. It means everybody's game was going to change a little bit. But Milos has done an excellent job of fitting in and not doing it his way. And I'm really proud of that young man. You have mentioned, I was going to ask him about Miles right away. You had talked about him from the first time you got him on your campus to where he is now. was there a certain turning point or was that just I've got a young man very talented but me coaching him and others coaching him in his life are two different animals

I would agree with that 100%. Every coach is going to be different, you know, and however, the previous coach handled Milos was exactly the way it should have been. Every coach is different, but every coach is right in the way he does his own thing. I think the big thing with Milos with us is adapting to our culture, you know, just on a day-to-day basis, individual development, position workouts, team workouts. You know, we build our team through those three areas. You know, we work you out individually as applies to how we defend and play offense. And your position workouts is usually defense and then offense and then the team workouts.

Kind of a smorgasbord of everything. But he's a smart kid. I think he's gotten tougher and more competitive. And I think he's embraced that. He enjoys that. But like every basketball player in the country, he's not perfect. He still has some things he has to work on, some fences he needs to climb over. But a lot of that stuff is individuals.

You know, as a basketball coach, you can put your team together, but as an individual, you have to conquer your own demons. And I think he's done a great job of that. You've got so many young men that have obviously bought into your system, and if they don't buy in, they usually go somewhere else. Joanne continues to play great. Tugler has even advanced even from last year. I want to go to Malik Wilson for a second because, you know, and look, you and I could have a deep conversation about kids that jump with the portal as fast as possible, kids that are jumping because of NIL or they're not getting playing time or whatever.

Malik could have done that. He's stuck around. He gets his minutes. He's had some impactful games for you in the time you've asked of him. But tell me about a young man like that that said, you know what? I'm not getting the, maybe I should be playing more. Maybe I've got to get on the good side or bad side one way or the other. But he stuck it out and he has been able to give you what you needed in those times where you need him, Wilson on the floor.

Yeah, I think the biggest thing with Malik, Matt, is he enjoys being part of a team. His ego doesn't drive him. You know, everybody wants to, everybody wants to be in a winning program, but not everybody wants to win the way the program is set up. A lot of kids have a comma beside it. I want to win, but I want to win if I get the most shots or the most minutes or the most this. So as individual, we don't have those kind of kids in our program.

And you're right. Sometimes it allows kids to go make a choice and go somewhere else. You know, Tramon Mark, Caleb Mills, Damien Dunn, all transferred. And that was the best decision. for them and that's okay that's the that's college basketball today it's no it's no mark against anybody kids look for better opportunities but malick is unique uh he's from rayville louisiana which about as small town as you can get i think he he was raised with small town small town values by his mother um he's got a very close-knit family they wanted him here

um i remember when he was going through his process uh his mother called me and she said coach samson i want malik to stay with you and i said well we absolutely wanted to stay here we brought him in i sat down and was very honest with him about the way i saw his uh his role um being i didn't think he would be a starter but i thought he could develop and come off the bench and be part of a winning team and have that um you know for the rest of his life. Malik's been part of an NCAA tournament,

Suite 16, conference championship. Was he a starter and the leading score on those teams? No, but he has no ego. He wants to be part of a team. We don't beat Kansas without Malik. He scored 18 points in that game.

Don't let that cloud your future falls on him. That was probably a one-off. But he still does things that impacts winning for us. His athleticism is a factor. His defense is a factor. and his personality and his heart is a factor.

I absolutely love and respect Malik Wilson a lot. Well, I think you should recruit the Rayville area because my close friend, Elvin Hayes, is from there. So there must be some sort of pipeline over there. Well, we're two-for-two from Rayville. We'll see. We'll monitor that area closely going forward to see if we can go three-for-three.

Yeah, I want to ask big-picture question for you. Kevin Sampson with us here on the program. Kevin, when I was calling college basketball 20 years ago, when you brought transfers in, you always were, I'm not saying in every situation, but you were always leery about the transfer because he's transferring for some reason. It feels like to me in 2025 as your sport changes, and we've talked about this on numerous occasions, do you have to kind of shake off that? Well, there must be a reason why.

And maybe what you do instead of saying, well, why did you leave as compared to why do you want to come see us now? Why do you want to play for us? Does the mentality change a little bit, or do you still have to do the deep dive? as to why a particular young man wants to leave a school and all of a sudden wants to come play for Calvin Samson at the University of Houston. Well, absolutely, you have to do your due diligence. But Porter Mosier, the head coach at Oklahoma,

is a very, very good friend of mine. He's in his assistance, have been through here, spending time with this in the summer, he's changing ideas. I've known Porter since he was at Loyola in Chicago when he took that program to the final floor. So I picked up the phone and called Mosier. And I know that had the potential to be an uncomfortable situation. But I think it speaks to our relationship with each other.

And he had nothing but great thing to say about Milos. He knew he was going to leave. And he thought that it would be an adjustment, but he was worth the gamble. One of the things that helped Milos is his dad was a very successful high school coach in Las Vegas and Milos played for him. And I think the key thing Matt was Milos chose us. He did

his research. He went through and said, what program can I go to and be the best version of myself I can be? And when we had started to have an initial conversation, he made that very clear to me. Coach Sampson, I want to come to Houston.

We didn't have to recruit him. He chose us. And all the conversations we have with him, was about him getting better and the reasons why he wanted to get better in the areas that he felt he needed to improve in so he came in here with the right attitude uh he has surrendered to the culture of the program he uh has fit seamlessly in with our kids because like our all the all of our kids he's a uh a great human beings outstanding person so um you know mylos's best days i think are still ahead of him. We still want him to be a little bit more aggressive in the shot clock.

His defense in space is getting better. But there's still a lot of work to do for him and all our players as we continue to push on through this season. Far let you run. The last time I think you were in Tucson, I called the game. You were coaching in Oklahoma and I was calling Utah games. Am I correct on that? You haven't played there since then, right? No. That was Andrew Bogus here. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You had Kevin Book out of Oklahoma. I remember them very, very well. Let's get to

your squad has gone to Kansas and played. You have played at Iowa State. There are some ferocious arenas in the Big 12, but my guess is your team is mature enough to not worry about the elements. Just appreciate the big crowd. And I don't know what you

want to put on it if it was just one game, but you went to Allen Fieldhouse. There are a lot of great basketball players, and that have been in that building that have completely been shell-shocked by the moment. So going to Tucson, while again, great basketball team, they've got just a couple of blemishes in the conference. That should be nothing in terms of a overwhelming moment for your squad going in that building on Saturday. Well, I wouldn't say nothing. I coached in the Pac-10 against Coach Lute Olson's teams with Damon Stadammer, Khalid Reeves, Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr.

I mean, that's up there with all the great basketball arenas in the country. They do have a great home court advantage, which is why they never lose. I think they're undefeated at home this year in the conference. I think that's right. But, you know, when you go on the road and you're playing at Houston or at Arizona or at Kansas, if you win, it's an unbelievable win. But if you lose, it's not the end of the world. You're playing a team that probably should win this game at home.

But for us, it's an opportunity to take a step forward and see if we can compete in that kind of atmosphere with the team that's fighting for elite championship this year. They got an outstanding team, great depth up front. Coach Lloyd has done an unbelievable job there. Caleb Love, Jalen Bradley, KJ. Lewis, Delorsso, good back court. So two really good teams. One of them's going to win, one I'm going to lose,

and whichever one wins, we'll move on down the road, and whichever one loses, they'll do the same thing and get to the next. And lastly, what's the one thing you want to see from your squad between now and the end of the season that thinks it will be the determining factor about how you go deep in the tournament? And obviously, we would like to get you back to the final four. Is there anything you're looking for still at this point, or do you feel like just maintaining what you have brought to the program,

you started talking the kids about when you first got together during the summertime. Well, I think all coaches this time of year, Matt, your biggest concern is the things that are out of your control, and that's health. You know, Baylor took a huge hit when they lost their center. You know, you can look around the country. Everybody's got kids out, seems like, and we've certainly been through that with our program, and so we pray for good. We pray for good health and just keep working on the things that's got us to where we are. I mean, we're 20, what is our record, 20 and 4, 12 and 1 in the league. There's some things we need to get better at, some areas that we need to shore up, but you're always trying to work to get better.

You watch film, you identify problem areas, and you go out there and do the best you can to clean them up. But when you're playing good teams, you're not going to shut these teams out, They're not going to shoot you out. It comes down to your depth on the bench. I think one of the strengths of our teams is Malik, Terrence, and Javier coming off the bench. Those three guys have all contributed to winning for us. And then the other guys just keep working, man. It's a, you know, you're going to lose games on the road in the Big 12 as all teams do.

But your ability to bounce back and get to the next one. And we're only about three or four weeks away from getting to the, coppers tournament. So you just want to keep playing well this time of the year. Calvin, thank you for the time. As always, safe travels to Arizona. We really appreciate it. Congratulations in yet another 20 win season. I think 100 weeks in the top

25 outstanding accomplishments for you and your organization, your squad, your staff. And we wish you the very best coming up in the next couple weeks. Okay. Thanks for having me on that. You got it. Calvin Sampson with us here.