The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - UH Head Coach Kelvin Sampson Joins the Show

Episode Date: February 20, 2026

UH Head Coach Kelvin Sampson Joins the Show

is 132 on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. I'm here in New York City for the Rockets and the Knicks tomorrow night. If you are a basketball junkie, you're going to want to watch Rockets in nighttime, but during the daytime, you're going to want to be on ABC watching Arizona versus Houston, or better yet, inside the Fertita Center for the afternoon tilt. And Coach Samson with us here on the show. Coach, it only feels like a decade plus ago. you and I are sitting in Hoffeyons Pavilion.

We're getting ready for a game with Tulane, about 2,000 of our closest friends, maybe. And now you've got people trying to sell your tickets for $500, $600 and the open market. Congratulations on making this the hottest ticket in town tomorrow afternoon. Well, thank you, Matt. I think one of the great things for our university than getting into the Big 12.

You got a good team in the Big 12. You're probably one of the best teams. nationally, but you're also playing the best teams in the nation. Arizona certainly fits the bills to that. That is for sure. Did you, look, you knew how good the conference was when you first jumped into it, but this year, it just, I mean, Kevin, I'll be really honest. I'm watching a lot of basketball in my life.

Sometimes I needed some time away, but if there's a BYU game on or an Arizona game on or a Kansas or an Iowa State, my goodness, I mean, this, competition is going to get you ready for March Madness for sure. No, it's going to test you. Great coaches, great fan bases, great home court advantages. But that's what you sign up for. That's why I'm so proud of what we've been able to create at the Partita Center. Our fan base has been awesome, not just this year,

but for a long time. So it's going to be a, just a great test. Arizona, Arizona has great size. They've got an elite senior point guard. And Bradley, they've got one of the best freshmen in America

that nobody talks enough about in Braden Burry's. And then the two big guys inside, Kreebus, 7-2, 250 and then Oaxa, who's 69-260. Their size, their girl, they're extremely well coached. They run their stuff. They've got a clear identity on who they are. But, you know, it's like playing Iowa State or Texas Tech, BYU.

We haven't played Arizona yet. We haven't played Kansas yet. But it's going to be a gauntlet. If you're fortunate enough to win a game, you take it and move on. But even if you lose the game, you've got to find a way to learn something from it so you can get better next time out. Kevin, you've obviously had two of the most amazing freshmen that the campus has had in a long period of time, and there certainly get a lot of run.

Take me through what the Uzanne and Sharp season's been like in your mind, because those are the quote-unquote salty veterans, been there and done that. Are they enjoying this right as much as all of us are as well? probably more so i think they take pride in their leadership um you know our team is uh very inclusive on how we do do um anything whether it's off the court on the court uh over to my house and night before every home game to film um uh uno games uh sit around watching jamal or jeras or marcus or quentin uh one of the many Cougars we have in the NBA. We love watching them play together. But Emmanuel's had a

awesome year. And so has Milos. I think it took Milos a little bit to adjust to a new role instead of being B-point guard. We're playing a two-point guard system, and I think he's struggled early trying to figure out how to make it fit for him and ultimately for us. But since we got to conference play, he's been awesome. His defense has improved. He had five defensive rebounds, the other nine of Ames. So he's having a great year, Emmanuel is. And more importantly, Matt, they take responsibility for the way our team plays.

and they're a great help to the freshmen. They're always coaching them and giving them little pointers on what to do here, what to do there on the court. So we have a good team. I don't know that we have a great team, but we have a really good basketball team. Calvin Sampson with us here on the Matt Thomas show, Ross getting ready for tomorrow's game with the Arizona Wildcats.

I think I've asked you this a few times over the years. how many games does it take for freshmen who do play, especially as much as CNAC has played and as much as Fulnings, to get that freshman tag off? I know they're still learning on the job, but they're about to hit an incredible stretch with, again, this game tomorrow, Big Monday in Kansas, the tournament's coming up soon.

What do they need to experience yet, or do you think they've got a pretty good feel of what it was like going to Vegas early in the year, the non-conference games, the playing on the Big Monday at Iowa State, playing a tech stick. Is there anything yet that they are yet to experience that you want them to see before?

It really gets down to that announcement time. Well, I think the first road game was their biggest test. And that was we played Auburn in Birmingham. And they were a top 25 team at the time. It was very much like a road game, even though it's Birmingham because they had 16,000 Auburn fans there. playing Arkansas in New Jersey National TV. I think all those were good building blocks for them.

But, you know, there's very little to haven't seen, and they both played well. Chris has had the toughest adjustment because he had to change positions. He's always been five, high school five. He guarded fives. He had an advantage of. over fives outside.

Playing at the four has been in an adjustment for him. Now, Kingston didn't have any adjustments. He's a point guard. He's used to having the ball in his hands. He's used to excel at a high level against the other best players in the country. You know, his at-e-you experience, he's played Darren Peterson or DeBancza or Braden Burry's many times. It was two summers ago. I was in Orlando at the NBA Top 100 camp.

And you go to one court, there's Kingston playing against Chris's team or Chris's team against Bradenbury's team or Kingston against Darren Peterson or AJ DeBancis. So these kids, from the time they're 14 or 15, they're on the national circuit. So they play everybody. It's not regional. It's national. So I think the way the AAU system is set up with the shoe companies sponsoring these major tournaments

and showcasing these kids against each other, I think that's really accelerated their growth and give them confidence to come in in year one and play at a high level. And we could spend a long time, Kelvin, talking about the AAU scene for the pluses and minuses. Help me out. are we, if I'm going to an AAU tournament, am I seeing just incredible athleticism that you're saying, I'm going to take this kid, bring him into my program, we're going to learn some better fundamentals about defense and jump shots, or has the AAU game been refined a little bit where you're not having to do as much of that now that maybe you were 10 or 15 years ago? Well, I will say this. There are some outstanding AAU coaches. There's some outstanding AAU coaches. There's some outstanding AAU. programs. When I first got here, Texas Pro had Jared Allen and Gailen Robinson, Houston Hoops.

They had so many outstanding players. That's who Joe Doug Tuggler played for. And they play everywhere. They play in L.A., Las Vegas, Louisville, Atlanta, Dallas, New York, You name it. I mean, they're flying all over the country, and that's another thing that's helped these kids adjust to college basketball.

But, you know, when you're out in the summer, you're really evaluating. Your cinnamon, some games are rag-tag. Some games they win by 50, but you're watching how they react to just about everything. For instance, Kingston, when I watched him, the thing that jumped out was his maturity, how he handled everything, his leadership, how tied in he was to his coach.

Keyneson went to the same high school for four years. He played in the same AAU team for four years. He had the same coach for both teams. And I think that speaks to his loyalty, his commitment. They also changed a little about his mother and father, how committed they were to their son and their whole family. I mean, his daughter just signed a national, I'm sorry, his sister just signed a national letter in tent with Duke.

So he comes from an awesome, awesome family. His character is beyond reproach. He cares more about winning than he does statistics, and it shows when we're out there playing. Before I let you run, you brought up Jojo. I was down in Florida with the Astros of Spring Training, watching the game. game, the handball, which was the kickball, still infuriates me, but I know that plays don't come down to this, but tell me about Jojo, keeping him out of foul trouble. I know that's

an easier thing said than done. How much does that still weigh on you in terms of not getting that quick second foul, and I'm not trying to put the two plays together, but just thinking about Jojo and his athletic ability is so crazy, but man, sometimes that second whistle comes, it really changes who he is as a ball player. Well, the thing that's really helped us there has been the development of Kalifa Sacco. He's really improved. Sedlock, who's been with us now in his third season of playing four years, he's improved. You can't work on a kid's foul trouble.

You can't teach him how not to foul. A lot of times the same. Same thing he does. One game that's not a foul is a foul the next game. So a lot of it is the inconsistency of the whistle. Jojo's extremely aggressive. He's a lot better at playing smarter with his activity than he was. But, you know, you're not going to take away,

you're not going to take away his aggressiveness. You know, it's like one of those old quarterbacks, like Kenny Stabler, or Jim Plunkett. Those guys always should throw five, six, seven touchdowns certain Sundays, but they also throw three-point receptions. So sometimes if you take away their aggressiveness, you're not going to get his block shots. And he's not perfect. He's a human being. He makes mistakes. Sometimes people don't understand that, but it actually happens.

He makes mistakes. and he does it do it on purpose. Joe's a special kid. We would not be where we are without him. Do I wish he would never foul and could play 30 minutes and never miss a shot? Yeah, we could never lose a game. Yeah, I wish that for that. I know.

It's not reality.