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PLAYERS ERA POWER COLLEGE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT


November 27, 2024


Terrance Arceneaux

J'Wan Roberts

Kelvin Sampson


Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

MGM Grand Garden Arena

Houston Cougars

Postgame Press Conference


Houston - 65, Notre Dame - 54

Q. What made the difference for you guys defensively in the first few minutes?

KELVIN SAMPSON: Having the right guys on the floor, getting in our stance, not making any mistakes. That was the key.

I thought we did a great job guarding last night. Came within -- probably we're an inch away from winning the game. We got the ball. We led by four the last four minutes. We were up four most of the last four minutes. Sears hit a tough 3 with a hand in his face. Went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line. That was the difference in the game.

Even then, we still had the ball and the chance of winning it at the end. So the difference in Alabama and Houston is minuscule. Not much difference in the two teams.

I knew that tonight was going to be a tougher game than last night because -- I would say Nate would probably say the same thing -- because of how much we both invested in that game.

These kids aren't robots. Having to bounce back and play a game like that tonight, and Terrance carried us the first half. The second half, always tricky with his Achilles. He's not to the point where he can sit down for 15 minutes and come back out and do what he did. But I thought J'Wan Roberts, he's a special kid, a special player, probably not going to be on anybody's draft list, like really good college players -- played 121 games in his career, that tells you all you need to know about him. He's a winner. He'd be the first to tell you he hasn't played great thus far. But I trust him and when we need him.

Notre Dame is a team to defend. And L.J. didn't have his legs tonight, was 2-for-11. Emanuel -- we had so many good looks, we just didn't make them.

But Notre Dame, good guard, extremely well coached. They've got really good guards that can really shoot. And Micah found something with No. 7, what's his name, the Davis kid, he found something with him. Like a good coach, he kept going at it. And we did great job defending him the second half, got on his right hand, and we were right there to help.

But our defense won the game. Good teams win games on nights when the ball won't go in. We had a lot of opportunities tonight, but we're getting them. Credit to Notre Dame. They had a tough game last night, too. They lost their point guard. That should be mentioned. He was their best player. They played without him.

Their kids played their hearts out. I'm not going to be one of them dudes that sit up here and act like we just conquered the world. My hat's off to Notre Dame and their staff and their team for fighting like they did tonight.

It's not easy losing a kid of that stature. I think he's preseason all-ACC; is that right? He's a good player. Hats off to Notre Dame. Hopefully they'll get that kid back. With him, they're good.

Q. On nights when L.J.'s legs aren't there and you have Emanuel scoring, how important is it to have a third guy like Terrance to be able to maybe pick up some of that load?

KELVIN SAMPSON: Terrance would be the first to tell you this, success in games is a product of learning how to practice. Our practice was Rosetta Stone for that kid. He had no idea what -- he was so far ready from being ready to compete.

This is a message to parents, don't ever think that a high school all-star equals college success right away. It just doesn't. We're not playing against those high school teams. Not Carmel, Ecclesiastes, Tech. Some of the names of these schools; we don't play them. We play Alabama and Kansas and Iowa State. He's never played against that.

And the level of that versus high school where he's had great success, you think, well, he's going to be an impact player as a freshman. He's going to impact a lot as a freshman but he's going to get impacted way more.

Q. Kept going into today's game, you were averaging 83 points per game. The only time this season you guys scored under 70 was the Auburn game. What did Notre Dame maybe do defensively to kind of keep you guys out of rhythm. Obviously you guys battled and won the game.

KELVIN SAMPSON: What did Notre Dame average coming into this game?

Q. Not sure off the top of my head.

KELVIN SAMPSON: I think both of us playing to -- they got out of here at midnight last night. I think last night impacted both of us. It impacted their legs and our legs.

Don't ever look at the second or third game and compare it to a game and then five days later you've got another game. You're playing as hard as these teams are playing. We get Alabama tonight.

Two games in two days against this caliber, some teams that aren't very good, won't look good on the second night no matter what, but this was a good team. We're a good team. Rutgers is a good team. Alabama is a good team. Something's got to give.

And for us, tonight, it was making shots. We didn't have problem with shot selection. We just didn't make them. But Notre Dame deserves a lot of credit for competing. They really competed tonight.

Q. I think the game started about 10:00 p.m. local time, about midnight.

KELVIN SAMPSON: 10:14.

Q. 12:14 Central Time, how does that impact preparation and how you compete in a game like this?

KELVIN SAMPSON: We have practice time, so you have to build the day around the time that they have allotted for you.

We don't do any pre-prep for the next game. Our kids were ready to beat Alabama. We were in position to do that going into the last 10 seconds. But the first time we looked at Notre Dame -- I didn't even look at them last night. I was so upset we lost. I was more focused on us.

But we watched Notre Dame. I actually watched them play Rutgers a little bit when I got back to my room. So I knew Shrewsberry, and I think that's the first time I've ever coached against Notre Dame. But I knew Micah, and I know his background with Brad and all that stuff.

But Shrewsberry and Davis, Njie, Allocco, they're tough kids, they're well-coached. We had to go through a lot of stuff today. A lot of teams, you just go over their out-of-bounds plays and it's a wrap. You don't do a whole lot. But this team forced you to really prepare.

I don't know what they shot the last 10 minutes, but we sat down, and our stance and our communication, it was on point. I don't know how many points they had with 10 minutes left in the half, but our defense was the story of that game. Not their offense. We couldn't make shots -- and our defense...

Q. Terrance, the first half, how did you feel and secondly, shoeless here, how is the foot? How has that been?

TERRANCE ARCENEAUX: I feel good the first half coming into the game. I was just ready to play. But the second half, like Coach said, it's still kind of difficult for me to get back to that level after sitting that long and trying to get back that fast. But still a learning process for me and I'm still getting better with it.

Today I feel like I could finish the game. I just got out whenever I felt I was getting tired, and they put me in when I was ready.

Q. What does it mean for you (indiscernible) as the winningest player, and what did you see defensively in the last two minutes, was there a point when you guys came together? What made the switch then?

J'WAN ROBERTS: I mean, I won't take all the credit for being the winningest player. I've been on a lot of good teams especially between 2019 to now. So being with a lot of group of guys that play hard and I learned from them and surrender to the culture. I give all the credit to them and the coaches for developing me while I was here.

I just feel like them last two minutes, just having the urge to win the game. We've been in big games before where we had leads late, and it's mental breakdowns caused us to lose the game.

Coming down the stretch against Notre Dame, being up five, six points, knowing that free throws can extend the lead and just being locked in, knowing like every position counts. Just trying to be ready for whatever action they throw at us, especially at crunch time, and just being able to end this game moving forward. Because we let two games go away just at the end. So just trying to learn from that and going into games being prepared to finish them.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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