NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL - PURDUE VS HOUSTON

March 28, 2025

Kelvin Sampson

J'Wan Roberts

Milos Uzan

Lucas Oil Stadium

Houston Cougars

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

Houston 62, Purdue 60

THE MODERATOR: We will begin with an opening statement from Coach Sampson and we'll go to anyone up here on the dais. Coach?

KELVIN SAMPSON: First of all, congratulations to Coach Painter and his team, program. Ton of respect for those guys. But tough game. We went up 10 with a couple opportunities to maybe extend it. Tough night for us, our main guys, Cryer and Sharp. But I thought Purdue played really tough defensively too. A lot of times coaches talk about what they didn't do. Sometimes you have to give the other team credit. I thought Purdue played hard. I thought their crowd was tremendous, so for us, just finding a way to win. It's what we've been pretty good at all year.

Last two or three minutes, we really executed on different possessions to get the shot we wanted. The last play on out of bounds, we call that a three read where they took away the first option, but our discipline allowed us to get to the second option, and then the read allowed us to get to the third option.

So credit our guys for executing when they needed to. They've done that three or four times this year at the end of games. Helped bail us out, so we move on. You get to the Sweet 16, every game is a fistfight. Very fortunate to win that game and look forward to playing on Sunday.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Kelvin, to clarify on that inbounds, is the read basically what the inbounder is reading after he lets go of the pass what he's reading when he's -- when he lets go of the pass when he comes into the play, is that essentially -- so it was both the option and then the read after that?

KELVIN SAMPSON: Well, if the guy guarding the inbounder takes the roller, then the guy that threw the ball in is going to be open, and that's what we read. JoJo set a great screen, and I think L dragged two guys with him, which means we were four on three. They were two on one, which means we're four on three, and we're always talking to our guys about hunting numbers advantages. Once you have the number advantage, now it becomes the right read.

We had a numbers advantage. Once JoJo rolled down, I don't remember who it was that... that was guarding the inbounder, who was that? Smith was guarding the inbounder, so he had to take JoJo. That means there was no one there to take Milos, but just great execution at a time when we needed that.

That's why you work on that stuff day after day after day, you never know when you're going to need it. We had that same situation on a side out of bounds where we had to make a play to win a game during conference season, but our baseline out of bounds execution has been pretty good all year.

Q. Milos, can you take us through what you saw from the play? We heard the Xs and Os of it, but what you saw and how you reacted?

MILOS UZAN: Yeah, I mean, the play originally is two options. I was trying to hit L, and then JoJo just made a great read, set a great read. He was able to draw two, and he slipped, and he just made a great play to hit me back, so.

Q. Kelvin, next year there's a regional in Houston which may be a benefit to you, but this year you were playing in Indy and Purdue is right down the road. Was it as big an advantage for them as expected?

KELVIN SAMPSON: It was an advantage, but not nearly as bad as playing at Kansas or playing at Arizona or playing at Iowa State or playing at West Virginia. Those places are tougher. That's why I didn't make a big deal out of it.

MODERATOR: Questions, please? If we're not going to send any questions, we'll conclude. Thank you, Coach.