What Kelvin Sampson said after Houston had its 13-game winning streak snapped

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson was understandably disappointed following the Cougars’ 82-81 overtime loss to Texas Tech on Saturday.

Houston falls to Texas Tech in OT: Live updates, score of Big 12 Conference showdown

It was a loss that snapped the Cougars’ 13-game winning streak, their 33-game win streak at the Fertitta Center - which had been the longest active streak in the nation - and an 18-game Big 12 Conference win streak.

However, Sampson remarked in his postgame press conference that, essentially, the sun will come out the next day. And he reminded media members that the Cougars have still won nine out of 10 Big 12 games and 13 of their last 14 ballgames.

Here are some of Sampson’s postgame thoughts after Saturday’s loss:

On not calling a time out during Houston’s final possession

(The Cougars trailed by a point with 16 seconds left after Texas Tech’s Chance McMillian hit two foul shots. Sampson elected not to call a time out as Houston pushed the ball down the court, seeking a potential game-winning shot. But while attempting to go toward the basket, the Cougars’ J’Wan Roberts was called for a traveling violation with more than a second remaining.)

“No (regrets), I could have called a time out easily, but we’re going to run the same play. We like that action; we thought J’wan could get to the free throw line again. We were down one. But that wasn’t the story of the game.

“The story of the game was Texas Tech, they were awesome; I mean, they were awesome. Give them a little credit. They lose their best big (JT Toppin, who was ejected in the game’s first few minutes after committing a Flagrant 2 foul), they come into this gym and go to the free throw line 34 times and make 12 3’s and play great.

“We’re at the free throw line to go up five, they come down and knock down a 3 to tie it and go to overtime. Every time they needed a big basket, they got it, and we were guarding them. (Kerwin) Walton made two 3’s, I thought we had fouled him on the shot, that’s how good he was. But that’s going to happen in this league.”

On putting Saturday’s loss in perspective

“So, let me get this right. We played 10 conference games and what is our record? We won nine out of 10 conference games, OK? We just had a 13-game winning streak, right? So, how many have we won out of the last 14?

“OK, I told our guys, ‘You’re going to lose games, especially when a team plays as good as that team did (Saturday), you’re going to lose games. Everybody is. What are we, the team of the century? We’re not going to lose games? It ain’t going to be our last loss, we’re going to lose another game. I’ve been doing this stuff for 40-something years, people, we’re going to lose games.

“We may lose another game here, we won one we probably shouldn’t have (at Kansas last weekend). … That’s what happens, so I’m not disappointed we lost, I’m not disappointed we lost, I’m disappointed that we didn’t fight harder or compete harder. That was one of the few times where I thought the other team out-competed us, and that’s why I say give Texas Tech credit.”

On what Texas Tech did to eventually pull off the win

(Houston was up by six, 66-60, with less than four minutes left in regulation. The Cougars later were ahead by three with 49 seconds left before Milos Uzan missed the front end of a one-and-one. Texas Tech got the rebound, and a 3 from Darrion Williams eventually forced overtime.)

“They ran basically the same play the whole second half, ISO. They ISO’d (Christian) Anderson, they tried to post up Williams, we stopped that a couple of times and then they went right back to the screen and then just played one-on-one. … They hit some hard, hard, hard shots, but again, we lost a game; it’s not the end of the world.

“We shouldn’t walk around here thinking we own the basketball universe and we’re never going to lose a game. But we’re going to keep playing the Big 12 and you play 20 games, you’re going to get nicked. Texas Tech’s lost two home games; they lost to Central Florida and they lost to Iowa State, but they haven’t lost on the road yet. They’re 5-0 on the road. We were 5-0 on the road and we lost a home game.

“Every team in this league’s going to go through the same thing. If you want to play in this league, you’re going to face teams that are good enough to beat you. We were fortunate; we could have lost the Central Florida game, but we didn’t. We could have lost to Kansas, but we didn’t. And we could have won this one, but we didn’t, so when you play 30-something games, some nights, you’re going to be the statue and some nights, you’re going to be the pigeon.”

On Texas Tech being able to overcome some early adversity

(Texas Tech sophomore forward JT Toppin was ejected after committing a Flagrant 2 foul on Joseph Tugler nearly four minutes into the game. Red Raider coach Grant McCasland vociferously argued the call and eventually was hit with two technical fouls, leading to his automatic ejection.)

Texas Tech's leading scorer, head coach ejected early in team's game vs. Houston

“When their coach got kicked out and when Toppin got kicked out, I think that sent a lightning bolt through their team. And kudos to them, they’ve got a great culture, too. We’ve got a great culture; I wouldn’t trade our culture with anybody in America. There’s a reason we’ve averaged 30 wins a year here in four years, we’ve got a great culture here.

“But when you play a team that was as desperate as that team was (Saturday), and they got a lot of breaks, but you know what, they earned those breaks. They had a lot of things that went their way (Saturday), that could have went either way, that went their way. When I was shaking the Texas Tech kids’ hands after the game, I told every single kid that I shook their hand, I said ‘You deserved to win this game.’ And they did, they deserved to win the game.”

On the difference between losing by a point as opposed to winning by a point or more

“We had our chance to win the game. Make a free throw, the game’s probably over, and we’re up here (at the press conference) all with a different mentality and a different attitude, and I’m not getting asked about free throws or people don’t think we’re the worst team in the history of the game and let’s fire the coaching staff and all that dumb (malarkey).

“You don’t have to worry about that when you win, all that comes out when you lose.”