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University of Houston Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: Houston 81, UConn 71
3/4/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
UCONN HUSKIES (14-17 • 7-11 American)
at #25/25 HOUSTON COUGARS (24-6 • 14-4 American)
Sunday, March 4, 2018 • Health & PE Arena • Houston
HOUSTON HEAD COACH Kelvin Sampson
Opening Statement
"I was really worried about this game today, because of all the senior celebrations and everything leading up to it. I felt like I had to really work hard to get their attention. I think it's because these kids love each other and have a sincere passion for each other. The last couple of days I saw some tears flowing. I heard them say that it's their last time doing this. I told them to re-live some memories in late April or May.
We came out with a lot of energy, but emotions drain energy. You could tell once we lost our emotion, here comes Connecticut playing well. Their length bothered us there for a while. Adams is an elite player. He's going to play in another league eventually. Larrier is their 6'9 small forward and my man is 6'5, that's a tough matchup. It was one of those games we just had to keep putting band aids on everything. It never felt like we got into a flow after the first five or six minutes, and I felt that was a good thing. Had we come in here and won by thirty, everyone would be slapping us on the back. This was reality and what tournament basketball is like. Rob missed a lot of free throws. Corey Davis and Armoni Brooks missed wide open three-pointers. If you do that in the tournament, you go home. This game was a good lesson. We shot the ball particularly well and passed it well."
On the team going to the NCAA tournament
"I want to focus more on the conference tournament right now. When I was the head coach at Washington State, some of the guys wanted to do away with the Pac-10 tournament. They felt like the conference tournament was a distraction to the NCAA tournament. One of them said we are better off losing the first game of the conference tournament, so we can rest for the NCAA tournament. You aren't judged on what you do in the conference tournament if you're an NCAA tournament team. I want our guys to enjoy this week of preparation and playing in our conference tournament. We had a great conference season this year. For this team to finish second after we were picked to finish sixth, is a great accomplishment. The NCAA tournament is going to be a great experience and we will cross that bridge when we get to it."
On if you expected to be in this position when you got hired at UH
"Yeah, I really did. I think it's because I've seen this movie before. I remember when I was at Washington State, Oklahoma had gone to two straight NIT tournaments and the attendance needed to be buffed up. The two biggest things we fought here was facilities and apathy. That isn't enough to make you want to run away. Everything came down to the administration. I knew that I would sit here one day and say this. We are doing this because our administration made a commitment. Basketball coaches win games, administrations win championships."
On the timing of having a successful season and the new facility being built
"The timing couldn't be better. I knew how good Devin Davis was and how good we would've been last year if he had been healthy. He missed 15 games, the guys that played last year didn't give us depth and we still finished third in the conference. I don't think people realize how close we were. We went 6-3 on the road two straight years. I knew how good Corey could be, I knew how good Fabian could be and Corey Davis was a first team junior college All-American. His team was ranked first in the nation. I saw him play against the best junior college players in the country and he was the best player on the floor. We built depth and what makes great teams is their depth. Our first year I almost called Daryl Morey three weeks in to see if I could come back. We got through that year and the next year we won 22 games. After that we won 21 games and we got better and better. I didn't realize that we would be 24-6 this season."
On the basketball energy in Houston
"I have so many connections to the Rockets. I was walking up to my office this morning and got a call from James Harden. He said he wants to come to the game today with Eric Gordon. Eric called me Friday and said he wanted to come to the game. There's a relationship with those guys and they are around our guys. The relationship I have with the Rockets makes our guys feel comfortable with them and they pull for them."
On Rob Gray's day
"The good players have another level to them. Rob changed the game for us. He looked like he was re-living some memories in his mind early. I didn't like his pace and I know him so well after being with him for three years. At one of the timeouts I told him that I wanted him to take the game over. I told the referees if you're going to call hand checking on one side of the court that they need to be consistent with the call. Rob has another level, the special ones do."
On being a lock for the NCAA tournament
"I usually am good about picking something to talk about with the team. I won't bring up the NCAA tournament and I don't know why I would. I have no idea where we would be seeded, who we would play, or where they would send us. I've been in fourteen of these tournaments and have been a lot of different seeds. It doesn't make a lot of sense to bring it up."
On Eric Gordon saying that you should be a hall of fame coach
"I remember when Eric's father called me and asked me to coach his son. That was an honor. Everybody gets treated the same with me. I knew Eric was going to be one and done, but there is no different in coaching him than coaching Wes VanBeck. Wes deserves my heart and soul. I gave him everything I got and I did the same for Eric. I treat everybody fairly and players respect that. I was hard on Eric, but he responded."
On how this journey at UH compares to his other jobs
"When I took the Montana Tech job they had never had a winning season. There are hard and bad jobs, and that was both. That was my most fun job of my coaching career. We went from 4-23 to 7-20 and they thought that I did a great job. The next year we went 22-9 and won the conference championship. This one reminds me of that one, because of where the program was when I got here. In April of 2014 when everybody transferred, I had to count how many transfers we had. We had to recruit in May and there weren't a lot of players left on the table."
On why he took the UH job
"I thought it would be special. If they've won before it means you can win again. They fire coaches every four years around here and they didn't do a whole lot to help them. Don't hire a coach and think he's going to win because he's a good coach. You win because there's a connection between the administration and the coaching staff. We have a great development center and we are moving into a $60 million-dollar renovation at the Fertitta Center. Our greatest recruiting class is coming in and that's why next year's team has a chance to be really good. Look at our conference's facilities, our university was way behind everyone in this league and they made a commitment to improve their facilities when I came here."
HOUSTON SENIOR GUARD Rob Gray
On what it felt like to play his last game
"We just wanted to win the game more than anything. We were one of seven teams that could've gone undefeated at home going into this game and we tried to take a lot of pride in that. When we were down in the first half, we went to the locker room and said that we had to dominate the next 20 minutes and finish what we started. "
On what it felt like for Coach Sampson to tell him to take over the game
"Coach Sampson is always demanding the best out of you. He's a great coach, leader and role model, so I appreciate him for that. He just tries to make me the best that I can be. When he tells me to take over the game, he means defensively and offensively. Getting loose balls and giving players like Devin (Davis) and Corey (Davis) open shots. I just try to be the best team player that I can be and that helped get us the win."
On if it was important to get this win because it was a close game
"That's exactly one of the things we were discussing in the huddle late in the game. I believe we were down three or four points with three or four minutes to go. Coach said that it was a perfect situation for us, because we've had a lot of home games and this game is more like a tournament game. It was great preparation for the two tournaments we will be in and we don't want to lose anymore."
On why he missed so many free throws
"I don't know. I was tripping, but I'm over it now. For the next game, I have to go 10 for 10."
On how the conference championship games will help their performances in the NCAA tournament
"We are ring hunting. The only way for us to get one now is in the championship tournament and coming up next is the conference tournament. We want to win three out of our three games and go on a roll into the NCAA tournament.
On the idea of having less stress for the conference tournament
"Same as Devin said, we've got to stay humble and hungry. We're very undersized we have a small margin for erro. We've been fouling a lot, so we have to continue to play smarter and get better as a team. Just understand our identity and play hard each and every game."
On his little brother
"He's probably my biggest fan. We kind of look alike. That's my little brother. If I had an older brother that I could follow and be my role model it'd probably be very similar. I'm just thankful that I'm in a position to be able to influence him in a positive way, and in his hairstyle."
On being compared to other great University of Houston basketball teams
"It definitely feels good to draw those comparisons. It's been so long since the University's been ranked and in the NCAA tournament each and every year. We're just getting started. This is the first year that we're pretty much a lock for the tournament and we just want to make this a trend that's normal for the University and the basketball program."
On giving advice to the next group of leaders
"Just play hard, do what Coach Sampson tells you, listen even though sometimes it seems like you don't understand or you don't agree and just try to hear the information not how it's delivered. Ever since I've been here Galen's been here, so we pretty much know all of the same rule's to play by. Galen's our defensive leader, so I think he'll do a great job next year once we leave. I think it's going to be another round of a great player-coached leader. Who knows what they're ceiling will be, hopefully they'll be better than our team is this year."
On what makes Coach Sampson special
"Mental toughness, heart, want to and caring. If you can do those things and you come with it every day you and Coach Sampson will get along just fine. I think he's successful at a high rate everywhere he goes, because he stays so consistent and that's the key to being good at anything in life. Working hard at it consistently. Coach Sampson doesn't change if we win by 30 or if we lose by 30. He's coming with the same intensity to practice and with the same high standard each and every day to make you better. I'm thankful for that."
HOUSTON SENIOR FORWARD Devin Davis
On the idea of having less stress for the conference tournament
"I don't think we can relax. We've got to stay hungry. Especially with this conference tournament coming up. We believe we can win, so we've got to stay humble and hungry. "
On being compared to other great University of Houston basketball teams
"It's special, just like Rob said earlier it's special to be in this moment. To be able to be a positive influence on everybody. We've just got to keep going. We're not done yet."
On what makes Coach Sampson special
"Tough love with Coach Sampson. He's going to be tough on you, because he knows what he's talking about. He knows how to make guys successful. You just have to be willing to listen to him and play as hard as he wants you to."
