The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Kelvin Sampson - Playing For Something Bigger Than Ourselves

Episode Date: January 21, 2020

University of Houston Men's Basketball Coach, Kelvin Sampson , joins Matt to talk about the Coogs' continued success on their way to another run at the NCAA Tournament

Coach Sampson, I was telling the audience just a minute ago, nothing better than watching a little Houston Cougar victory in Wichita State. First, thanks for joining the show. Secondly, that defense of yours was phenomenal in one of the most difficult buildings to play. How are things? Matt's been a while since we've talked. How's everything going in your world? Oh, everything's good.

The teams I'm covering, eh. But things going all right for me. How about yourself? You know, always good. Some days better than nothing. but always good. No, I'm really proud of this team. You know, we're, we got a lot of youth. We got some youth and experience.

They take their lumps. They keep coming to practice every day, practicing the right way. We've had some guys in and out with some injuries, just like every other team. So we've had some good wins this year. Obviously, beat a great program, a team that we have, such great respect for in Wichita State on the road. You know, it was a good way for this team because it kind of put their stamp on the program. They've heard a lot about last year's team and been asked questions about it and people want to compare teams.

But, you know, I was just happy that this team finally broke through and got a significant win. And it shows them they can be a good team. And now it's the challenges to not let up. We've got a big game coming up Thursday. And, you know, Wichita State's kind of in our rearview mirror. And that we go to windshield in front of is Connecticut. And that's kind of where our focus is. You mentioned a couple weeks ago, Coach, about your team was searching for an identity.

Was that a code word for, I'm going to shift some guys in on the starting lineup to try to find a combination that works? So what exactly did you mean by that? Well, I think every team has a culture, good or bad. You have one. Good, bad, or indifferent, you're going to be known for something. And, you know, we've chosen since day one here to be a team that plays extremely hard, played for each other, understanding that what we're trying to accomplish is bigger than ourselves. And, you know, when you've got a team full of juniors and seniors,

that message is received more clearly and a lot sooner. You know, young kids, they're trying to figure out what time is Chick-fil-A clothes so I can get by and get number one or, you know, aren't these cool shoes we're buying? They're not really interested in a lot of the things that you focus on. But then as they get older, season goes through, they get a little more maturity, experience, keeps kick in it. They start understanding. But, you know, we want our kids to compete every night and play for each other.

And I didn't see that on the road at Tulsa. And sometimes a loss can be bad for you. And sometimes a loss can help you because you can learn from it. So we just shook some things up. Starting lineup for us is really insignificant because we, we, we, play nine or ten guys, and you may start and play less minutes than the guys coming off the bench if they're playing well.

So for me, it's more important that we get 10 toes and not two feet in and buy into what we're doing. And I knew that once they did that, our team would take off. And one of those players, I think, coach is Dejean Jero. He has been really good for you the last couple of weeks. You know, he broke his hand at the end of October. Matt at a really bad time.

because he had a really good trip to Italy this summer. He played well there. It was good in September and practices in October. And then he missed 35 consecutive days. Now, think about that. That's five consecutive weeks that he didn't dribble or shoot a basketball with his right hand. And that just set him back. When he came back, you know,

if they had two or three weeks of practice for him to, you know, get comfortable. get his confidence back. But nice thing you know it. We're playing BYU at home and we're right back on the road at Oregon. And, you know, he just didn't play very well. And our team was right there with him. We didn't play very well either. But, you know, you learn never to overreact to losses or wins in this business. You just don't. You know, how do we learn from it? How do we get better?

Especially games in November and December. The ones that counter in January February and March. You know, you're going to have some ups and downs with young kids in November, December, in college basketball. But as long as they're moving in the right direction, and I could see that with Deshaun. You know, he's such an important piece for us because we play him at point guard. Now, he's not a true point guard, but he handles that position for us. And I thought his toughness, his leadership, his moxie, you know, I thought was really good on the road on Saturday. Quentin Grimes was obviously a young man that you thought a lot of, the transfer,

and a lot of folks are very excited. And I would say there are some moments that you watch and go, wow, he's everything is advertised, and there are some times that he struggles. Is that typical for a young man that goes from one program in the next in a certain adjustment period? And how would you evaluate his time with you so far this year? I think that's fair. You know, he played for such a great coach.

in a great program at Kansas. But you know, you don't always fit. You know, we've all had this day and age kids transfers. It's not a surprise. You know, Dejan and Bryson transfer from UMass. Justin Gorham transferred from Towson State. Every team has transfers. But, you know, Quentin's continuing to get better.

I thought he played well against Wichita State. But there's a, that word expectations can be, you know, can hold you hostage, but it also can create problems. Because, you know, even though you've never seen someone play, you read about it. And you're reading someone's opinion, so you're basing your judgment based on what someone else says. And that's not really fair to the young man. I'm not saying that's wrong to do because people that follow sports, you know, listen to a met. promise give his opinion and some people based their judgment on your opinion. That's just an example. I think Quentin's kind of been held hostage by unfair expectations. I see him as

who he is. I didn't see him in high school. Since we've gotten him here, he's learned to play harder. He's learned to play tougher. He had five rebounds on Saturday early in the season. He had games where he had no rebounds. So I think he's improving for us. And that's the most important thing. For it let you run, a big picture college basketball, why have, has it been so difficult to be number one this year in college basketball? Any thought or belief on that? I just don't think there's any senior dominated teams.

You know, and a lot of it has to do with the schedule you play. You know, if you play a tough schedule, you're going to get beat. You know, Michigan State plays the toughest schedule in the country. And they may be the best team, but they already have five losses or six. I don't know, five, whatever it is. Yeah. You know, and sometimes who you play in your next game, you know, if you're right, number 10 and you have three or four soft games and you went three or four in a row,

and the people ahead of you play three or four tough games, they're going to move down and you're going to move up, and that doesn't mean you're number one. You just kind of inherited that spot for this week. And your next game may be at Maryland or at Cincinnati, and you lose that. That doesn't mean you're, when you're number one, you weren't really number one. And when you're lost, that doesn't mean you're any worse team. It's just the way it is.

Well, hopefully you keep moving up these charts in the top 25. You've got Yukon coming up this Thursday at Fortita Center at 8 o'clock. Wrap things up. Neil is to say, Coach, I'm assuming that a new arena of yours has done a world of wonders when it comes to bringing kids to come visit our great campus. And the Guy V. Lewis Development Center, the resources we have in place has really helped. And we have great fan support, beautiful, beautiful arena, great atmosphere.

And we have tremendous kids. You know, character means so much, so much in sports. When you have kids that do things the right way on and off the court, it really matters when game time comes. And that will be next up on Thursday, and then you've got the game coming up this weekend against USA. It's always a pleasure to visit with you. Congratulations on the great season.

Look forward to visiting with you again before we get things going here too soon. Okay, thanks for having me on. You got it. Calvin Sampson, head basketball coach, University of Houston with us here on the Matt Thomas show. And his conversation is brought to you by our friends at the joint chiropractic, the official chiropractor of the Houston Cougars.