Kelvin Sampson Articles - Page 2

Ahead of Florida’s matchup with Houston in the National Championship Game, Todd Golden is not concerned with the basketball coaching experience gap between himself and Kelvin Sampson. While recognizing the 30-year age difference between them, Golden simply believes his team is the best in the NCAA Tournament. Neither team has much time to prepare for […]

Houston basketball waited since April 2, 1984 to see the Cougars return to the national championship game. UH now gets the chance to bring back the program’s first-ever title Monday night in San Antonio. But a deep Florida teams awaits them inside the Alamo Dome. Houston is far different looking from its famed Phi Slamma […]

National semifinal day at the 2025 Final Four in San Antonio will go down in the history books as one of the best ever. A chalk bracket through the first two weekends of March Madness left us with all four No. 1 seeds — Florida, Auburn, Houston and Duke — in the Final Four, but […]

For much of Saturday night’s second semifinal between top seeds Duke basketball and Houston, it was the Blue Devils who found themselves in control. Duke got the better shots, generated the better possessions, and held a comfortable lead even in what was a game that was being played at Houston’s pace and style. Unfortunately for […]

SAN ANTONIO — Down by 14 points with 8:17 remaining in the second half of the Final Four, Houston appeared to be winding down the final minutes of their last game of this college basketball season. The consensus top player in college basketball, Cooper Flagg, and a Blue Devils team that might’ve been the best […]

Houston basketball refused to waver against the monster known as Duke. The Cougars erased a six-point deficit with under 1:15 left and stunned the Blue Devils 70-67 Saturday. Fans went wild after, as UH brought down a popular pick to win the national title. Even the Final Four account shared an excited reaction. WHAT. A. […]

Houston basketball head coach Kelvin Sampson ended the night in a celebratory and fiery mood. His Cougars completed the epic comeback over the monstrous Duke Blue Devils. Houston took down a goliath in March Madness, leading Sampson to take down critics after. “I hear what people say. Duke this, Duke that. Duke’s great. Jon Scheyer […]

The Final Four in San Antonio features four of college basketball’s best going head-to-head for the national title. After Auburn and Florida go at it in the first national semifinal at the Alamodome, top seeds Duke and Houston will clash in a battle between two of the best programs in college hoops. Unlike the first […]

Houston basketball is back witnessing the bright lights of the Final Four stage of March Madness. L.J. Cryer has lots to do with UH’s round of four return as they prepare for Duke. The guard dropped 17 points in 38 minutes to lead the Cougars over Tennessee in the Elite Eight. Cryer even got hilariously […]

March hasn’t exactly been full of madness this year, as a very chalky bracket through the first two weekends has left the NCAA Tournament in a spot it has been in only once before. All four No. 1 seeds have navigated their respective regions, and now they will battle it out for the national title […]

For the second time in the last five seasons, Kelvin Sampson has led Houston back to the Final Four. While the Cougars have a crucial NCAA Tournament matchup with Duke on the horizon, that did not stop them from celebrating for the time being. Sampson made sure to open the celebration up to everyone involved, […]

Houston basketball head coach Kelvin Sampson broke down the shocking, game-winning inbounds play against Purdue. The last matchup of the Sweet 16 was a classic, and just when it looked like the Cougars were pulling away, the Boilermakers launched a furious rally to tie the game in the last minute. Fortunately, with 2.8 seconds left […]

It took until the final game of the Sweet 16 for March Madness to deliver a truly classic, last-second finish in the third round of the tournament, but the last game on Friday night lived up to the hype. Top-seed Houston basketball stunned Purdue in the final seconds with a sweet inbounds play to get […]

Throughout the season, Purdue basketball guard Braden Smith has set records upon records. The All-American guard is one of the top point guards in the country. Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson feels the same way. Ahead of their Sweet 16 clash, Sampson raved about how elite Smith is. “Basketball IQ off the charts,” Sampson said […]

One of the biggest upset scares on day three of the NCAA Tournament came late on Saturday night when No. 8 seed Gonzaga pushed top-seed Houston to the final buzzer. The Bulldogs didn’t have quite enough to pull off the stunner, as Khalif Battle’s 3-pointer in the final seconds was blocked and the Cougars escaped […]

Houston basketball punched its ticket into the Sweet 16 of March Madness Saturday. They escaped a traditional NCAA Tournament heavyweight in Gonzaga by winning 81-76. But the talk postgame wasn’t on the Cougars avoiding elimination, but a tender moment involving Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson. The Cougars head coach noticed Gonzaga star Khalif Battle losing […]

Houston Cougars basketball coach Kelvin Sampson is a little prickly when it comes to mispronouncing names, which seems to stem from his childhood trauma of having his name mispronounced. So, when a reporter slipped up and (slightly) mispronounced Houston’s upcoming March Madness opponent, Gonzaga, Sampson jumped all over him. “Didn’t you try to get a […]

March Madness brings a loaded Midwest regional filled with multiple Final Four contenders. Houston basketball stands as the top seed. But the Cougars drew a bracket that features teams known for making national title runs. Heavyweights like Gonzaga, UCLA, Tennessee, Clemson, Purdue and Kentucky help comprise this field. Can’t forget about the potential Cinderella teams […]

Heading into the NCAA Tournament, Houston basketball is clearly one of the favorites to win the national championship. Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars swept the regular season and conference tournament titles in the Big 12 and earned the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region. However, an ankle injury to star big man J’Wan Roberts has been […]

Houston basketball enters the NCAA Tournament, coming off another terrific season under head coach Kelvin Sampson. The Cougars have seamlessly transitioned from dominating the American Athletic Conference to running through the Big 12 in consecutive seasons. However, this year’s team completed the double, winning the regular season title and the conference tournament. And with this […]

There are a lot of teams playing very well heading into the NCAA Tournament, but perhaps none of them are as hot as Houston basketball. The Cougars rolled through the Big 12 regular season, running away with the outright title with a 19-1 record, before winning three games in three days in Kansas City to […]

Ever since joining the Big 12, Houston basketball has absolutely dominated. Kelvin Sampson and the Cougars have absolutely owned the rest of the conference over the last two seasons, winning the regular season title in both years. In 2024-25, Houston took it to a new level. It finished the conference slate 19-1, with its only […]

After wrapping up a relatively comfortable Big 12 championship in the regular season, Houston basketball is looking to back that up and cement a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament with a conference tournament title in Kansas City. On Friday night, the Cougars were dominant on the defensive end of the floor from the […]

Houston basketball forward J’Wan Roberts got honest about how serious his ankle injury was after leaving mid-game against Colorado. While the Cougars advanced to the Big 12 Tournament semifinals, but all eyes will be on the health of their All-Big 12 star for the rest of the week. Houston basketball is having another fantastic season […]

Many people did’t think that Houston basketball would be able to continue dominating season after season after moving to the Big 12, but Kelvin Sampson and company have proven everybody wrong. Houston secured its second straight Big 12 regular season title this season and capped it off with a gritty 65-61 win over Baylor on […]

The Houston basketball team picked up another impressive win on Monday night as they took down Kansas at home. The Jayhawks did not go down easy as this game ended up going right down to the wire, but the Cougars found a way to get it done on senior night. At the end of the […]

The Houston basketball team had their final home game of the regular season on Monday night as they hosted Kansas. The Cougars honored all of their seniors before the game, and head coach Kelvin Sampson shared a special moment with forward J’Wan Roberts, who is in his fifth season with Houston. Roberts came up and […]

It wasn’t too long ago that there were concerns about how the Houston Cougars basketball program would adjust to life in the Big 12 Conference. Sure, the Coogs had won five consecutive regular season titles while playing in the American Athletic Conference, but a step up in competition, where the likes of the Kansas Jayhawks, […]

Houston basketball achieved a historic feat with its 69-61 victory over No. 10 Texas Tech on Monday. The No. 4 Cougars picked up another signature win on Monday in Lubbock, continuing their dominance in Big 12 play. Head coach Kelvin Sampson and company had another efficient offensive performance, shooting 50% from three-point range. With this […]

The Houston basketball team has now won back-to-back Big 12 regular season titles as the Cougars clinched a share of this year’s championship on Monday night. Houston had a tough road matchup against Texas Tech, but they took care of business to earn a 69-61 win over the 10th ranked Red Raiders. Cougars head coach […]

Since making their move to the Big 12 official last season, Kelvin Sampson and the Houston Cougars are 32-5 in conference play, proving that the leaps from Conference USA to AAC to Big 12 were not too big for them to handle. On Saturday afternoon, Houston took one more step toward a second consecutive regular […]

Houston basketball coach Kelvin Sampson and his squad got a big win Saturday over the Arizona Wildcats. Following the victory, Sampson gave tribute to Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd. He also thought about Arizona’s legendary coach Lute Olson. “But I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that I didn’t have a thought of the […]

Houston basketball got an absolutely thrilling win over Kansas on Saturday. Following the game, coach Kelvin Sampson got to spend some time with his family. Sampson spent a special moment with his wife and daughter in Lawrence, giving them hugs. That moment was captured on camera, following a 92-86 double overtime victory for the Cougars. […]

Since taking over as the head coach of the Houston Cougars back in 2014, longtime coaching veteran Kelvin Sampson has transformed Houston into one of the preeminent basketball programs in the country. In that ten year span, Houston has won 77 percent of their games, gone dancing in the NCAA Tournament six consecutive times, and […]

For 33 years, Jim Nantz served as the lead play-by-play announcer for CBS during the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, meaning that the University of Houston alum could never express his rooting interest in the Cougars, at least publicly. That changed last year, when Nantz stepped away from his longtime role at CBS and spent the […]

The Houston basketball team fell short of a Final Four run once again. The Cougars saw their season end against Duke in the Sweet 16 in a hard-fought game that was overshadowed by the injury to Jamal Shead. But, despite the unfortunate turn of events in March Madness, the future looks bright for Kelvin Sampson […]

The Houston basketball team had a terrific first season in the Big 12 this year as they won the regular-season title, and they earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Their run unfortunately ended earlier than they were expecting as they lost to No. 4 seed Duke in the Sweet 16. Houston star […]

45 years ago, Kelvin Sampson got his first crack at coaching as a graduate assistant at Michigan State. From there, Sampson’s coaching career took him to Montana Tech, Washington State, Oklahoma, and Indiana before he took half a decade detour as an assistant coach in the NBA following allegations of NCAA recruiting violations. In 2014, […]

The No. 1-seed Houston Cougars entered the 2024 NCAA Tournament with many believing the program could go deep in the Big Dance. Houston basketball’s run nearly came to a crushing end Sunday night when they had to sweat it out against the No. 9 Texas A&M Aggies in what ultimately resulted in a 100-95 overtime […]