Kelvin Sampson Explains The Biggest Issue for Houston Cougars
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The Houston Cougars are currently navigating the toughest stretch of their Big 12 gauntlet schedule, and are coming off a convincing seven-point home loss to Arizona on Saturday. It was the first top-five home matchup in Houston history, and it did not end well.
The Cougars’ 18-game home win streak came to an end. Nobody has beaten Houston the way the Wildcats did at Fertitta Center, a place where Houston had won 51 out of their last 52 games.
Houston also lost to Iowa State on the road on Monday in what was a disappointing defeat. The Cougars have now lost two games in a row for the first time since January 2024, when the program first joined the conference and started Big 12 play. UH lost at TCU and also at Iowa State at that time.
It’s such a tough stretch that adversity was expected, but the Cougars have not faced something like this in quite some time. There clearly is a lot of work to be done before taking on Kansas on Big Monday at Allen Fieldhouse.
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson explained in his post-game press conference what the main problem is.
Getting Back to the Houston Way
In most of Houston’s wins, the points off turnovers, steals, and second-chance points are the critical statistics to see. It did not look the same against Arizona.
“What we’ve been all year is a jump shot shooting team. And that’s okay, you can win a lot of games doing that, but at some point you’ve got to get transition points. The last two games, that has been our biggest bugaboo because we’re having to play way too much in the half court. Way too much,” Sampson said. “We’re not scoring off our defense as much.”
Sampson mentioned that they held Arizona to 34% shooting in the second half and how that’s not easy to do.
“The problem is if you’re not going to turn them over, we’ve got to turn their misses into transition points," Sampson said.
Sampson named a particular example during the game, and that was the 3-pointer from Kingston Flemings late off a rebound, and it kept them out of half court.
“Just got stuck playing way too much half court today and weren’t converting their missed shots into transition opportunities,” Sampson said.
Houston just doesn’t rely on their half-court offense sets to primarily score, and places a great deal of influence on fast break points. That allows its guards to get out and run, something that Flemings is particularly electric at in the open court. It can also result in open threes from either of the senior guards in Emanuel Sharp or Milos Uzan.
It seemed like Arizona’s defense had a beat on what Houston was looking for during key stretches of the game.
Houston only had seven fast break points compared to 12 for Arizona. The Cougars only got two steals and forced five turnovers, but did not capitalize on the rebounding part of that equation.
Sometimes luck has to go your way in order to make that happen and the ball just didn’t bounce Houston’s way. Sampson also mentioned the team may not have had the right mindset.
“We took the lead, and had two or three possessions to extend the lead. Just didn’t get it done,” Sampson said.
Maanav Gupta is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He graduated from the University of Houston in the summer of 2025 with his bachelor’s in journalism and a minor in Spanish. Gupta spent three years at the student newspaper, The Daily Cougar, and also covered the 2025 Final Four and National Championship as Houston beat writer for College Basketball Review. He also has his own YouTube channel, Maanav’s Sports Talk, where he has interviewed professional athletes and broadcasters like Jim Nantz, Jose Altuve, J.J. Watt, Rich Eisen, and Alperen Sengun. Gupta was also a contributor to the Houston athletic program as a student. You can find Gupta on X, Instagram and TikTok @MGSportsTalk.