NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - CLEVELAND STATE VS HOUSTON

March 19, 2021

Kelvin Sampson

Houston Cougars

Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall

Postgame Media Conference

Houston 87, Cleveland State 56

KELVIN SAMPSON: Our kids were a little bit nervy, maybe staggered even when Dejon Jarreau went down. He's not only our starting point guard, but he's also our leader, emotional leader, leader on the floor. Does a lot of things for this team. He was tremendous over on the sideline in support of his teammates.

Marcus and Quentin have been the recipients of a lot of Dejon's assists. Now they've become the primary ball handlers. They've had to kind of switch midstream, change things up. I thought once we got to halftime, we came out a lot more organized.

During the course of the game, the first half, I didn't feel like we were as organized as we needed to be. But Tramon getting two fouls, we basically lost two starters. Dejon went down with an injury, Tramon got the second foul so early, then we're playing with guys that haven't played many minutes all year.

Once we got to halftime, we said, Okay, here is what we're going to do defensively, here is what we're going to do offensively. Our four big guys, Brison Gresham, Reggie Chaney, Fabian White, and Justin Gorham, I thought they did a great job of controlling the backboards.

You can tell Coach Gates had really prepared his team well to block us out. They were blocking us out almost too good because they were fouling us a lot, they kept putting us on the line. So even though we were missing a lot of balls, we would get offensive rebounds, we were still maintaining possession because of the fouls.

We were plus 14 on the boards tonight, 16 offensive rebounds. That's our identity. Quentin and Marcus started making some shots. A good win. This tournament is about win and advance. We're very fortunate. Very proud of my team for living to fight another day.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You just mentioned the team really kicking in. It's a 31-point win, and you had six players in double figures. What did you see from this team tonight where you were able to rely on a lot of different guys to get a 30-plus point win in the NCAA tournament?

KELVIN SAMPSON: Well, we talked a lot at halftime about getting to the third side. Teams that play on one side of the floor usually take the shots the defense wants you to take. If you get to the second side and third side, you can spread them and gash them, then create shots. Second half we were good at that.

Quentin, Marcus, we were moving them around. We were hitting them with Fabian and Justin. When they went zone, they were sticking on our shooters, which allowed us to play down the middle. When they went man-to-man, we got to the third side.

I just thought our ball movement was really good. Shot 53% from the field in the second half, but that was because of the way we moved the ball. The ball started moving, we get to the third side.

But you're right, you said the key word: team. Dejon arguably, not arguably, he's been our most valuable player. I think Quentin has been our best player. Our most valuable player in the last month for sure has been Dejon. Doing that without him I think will give these kids some confidence going forward.

Our team tonight was good. Everybody had a role to play. I thought our kids did a great job of playing their role.

Q. After the game Dejon gathered the team around. What does that say about him? Do you have an idea of how long he will be out, what the status is?

KELVIN SAMPSON: I do know that he has a hip pointer. Dejon is not a real meaty guy anyway, bony. Hip pointer for him is going to be a little bit more severe than, say, me or you.

The leadership. This team respects him so much. This is a very close-knit team. Great kids. I love coaching this team. It's one of the great things about this tournament, is that you know everybody's season's going to end here in a little while, whether it's this weekend, next weekend or the following weekend. You're not going to be able to do this much longer.

Every day we get together and practice is a blessing for me and our staff. But what you saw with Dejon tells you a little bit about the respect he has for his teammates and vice versa. Dejon has no ego. I think that's one of the great attributes about this group, they don't really care much about who gets the glory, who scores the points. They've become a really good team. That's why I enjoy being around them. It's a blessing for me just to be able to coach this group.

Q. After Tramon got the two fouls in the first half, the bounceback he had in the second half playing in his first NCAA tournament, can you talk about what he was able to do there.

KELVIN SAMPSON: A lot of people haven't seen him play, so he's going to be a surprise to them. But we're fortunate that when Dejon went down, we had a guy that could go get us 15 points.

We spent the whole halftime, at least I did when I went in to see the team, I was with the coaches, we talked about some of the -- I knew kind of what we needed to do as I walked into the back.

But part of what we needed to do, and our staff does a great job of this, too, is we needed to get -- sometimes it's easier to motivate the kids with the highest self-esteem. We need to get him going. He's a good player.

As soon as we started the second half, we started calling (indiscernible) for him. We'd set him up on the right side so he could get back to his left hand. If they try to cut him off, he's got a great pullup game. But he also gets it around to the finish. He's not the shooter he's going to be. He doesn't shoot it like Marcus or Cam or Quentin, but he's going to be a good shooter.

Remember, he's going to be a freshman next year. Marcus is going to be a sophomore next year. Jamal didn't look great tonight, but he's a really good player. We've got to lot of good, young players on this team.

When Dejon went down, we went from being a veteran team to a young team. But Quentin played like Quentin in the second half. Marcus. But the key was that Tramon played to his level. He's a really good player.

Q. Could I ask about maybe the intensity and the scrap that your big men exhibited for you. Looked like they did it all night long.

KELVIN SAMPSON: No, I'm glad you said that. We spent this week -- I spent an inordinate amount of time in practice with those guys. J'Wan Roberts, Kiyron Powell, those two guys were guinea pigs a lot. They got the crap beat out of them a lot. Justin, Fabian, Reggie and Brison, I don't think we had much letup.

We've always had depth at our up-front positions going all the way back to Chris and (indiscernible), Breaon Brady, Devin Davis and Fabian. That's five really good players. Now we have four. Actually we're down one.

J'Wan is capable. He dislocated his right thumb, so he's been out for a while. But tough. We have our kids convinced that we're not going to beat many teams with our first shot. We have to be a second, third shot team. I think over time that wears teams down. It can be demoralizing, especially in the second half.

But when we're offensive rebounding, getting out in transition, with defensive rebounds, I think that's when we're at our best. Our bigs obviously are the catalyst for that.

Q. How strange has it been the way the building has changed, seeing what's different from so many years ago, and what isn't different with this specific arena, shooting lines, the court setup?

KELVIN SAMPSON: I think the biggest difference is (indiscernible) Hall. Last time I was here, that was a chain link fence. Now it's a beautiful, beautiful facility.

As far as sight line, I don't think we talked about that. Didn't talk about any of that. We go into a lot of gyms over the course of a season. Our kids don't know any difference from one gym to the next. Whether we play here or at Purdue, for our freshmen, every gym we go into is a new gym for them. So I don't think that mattered.

The renovation that they've done here is beautiful.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.