What Kelvin Sampson said after Houston shut down Iowa State in Top 10 matchup
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In Houston’s inaugural season of Big 12 Conference play a year ago, the Cougars claimed the regular-season championship.
However, in the conference tournament title game, they were throttled by Iowa State. No doubt that revenge was on the Cougars’ minds when the two teams faced off Saturday afternoon at the Fertitta Center.
In front of a national ESPN audience, and with “College GameDay” on hand that morning, the No. 5 ranked Cougars continued their roll through the conference. Houston guards LJ Cryer, Milos Uzan and Emanuel Sharp combined to score 58 points and the Cougars held the No. 8 ranked Cyclones to six first-half field goals in a 68-59 win.
Final stats, analysis: Valiant Iowa State effort comes up short at No. 5 Houston
Houston (23-4, 15-1), which has now won 19 of its last 20 ballgames, owns at least a two-game lead in the conference with four regular-season games remaining. The Cougars get another shot at revenge on Monday as they play at Texas Tech, the lone team to beat Houston in conference action thus far.
But back to Saturday, the Cougars’ talented guards put on a show. Cryer finished with 28 points and also had five 3-pointers, while Uzan had 19 points with three treys and Sharp scored 11.
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Iowa State (21-6, 11-5) was dealt a bad hand prior to Saturday’s game, as the Cyclones were without their top two scorers in guards Curtis Jones (illness) and Keshon Gilbert (muscle strain). Houston took full advantage, especially in the first half, when the Cougars held Iowa State to 27.3 percent shooting (6-of-22) in building a 34-22 halftime lead.
Here are some thoughts from Houston coach Kelvin Sampson on his team’s latest win:
On LJ Cryer being able to make his shots
(Cryer was 11-of-17 from the field and went 5-of-7 from 3-point range in Saturday’s win.)
“As far as I’m concerned, he can’t take a bad shot because of his maturity. He was getting into the paint and then he was spraying it, just get it on the rim. It’s OK.
“If it goes in, fine. If not, we have a chance to rebound and if we don’t, so what? They’re not going to make every shot they shoot, and we’re not going to make every shot we shoot.”
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On the play of Houston’s guards in general
(Uzan was 7-of-10 shooting and Sharp went 3-for-5, including 2-of-4 from beyond the arc.)
“Some nights, those balls go in and some nights, they do not. Emanauel does seem to have an act for doing that.
“We try to play to our guys’ strength and Milos (Saturday) played with a swagger. He started to own his game, and our players have a ton of respect for him. We have a lot of high character guys, and they are always going to improve.”
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On dealing with Iowa State’s size
(Houston out-rebounded the Cyclones, 29-22, and forwards Joshua Jefferson and Milan Momcilovic were held to a combined nine boards.)
“We had a good game plan on their bigs. Jefferson has been awesome. Some people may say Jefferson is their best player, and he went 1-for-9 (Saturday).
“Momcilovic scored 16 points and took one shot. (Tamin) Lipsey is a three-year Big 12 starter, and was in the Sweet 16 last year.
“You got two really good teams. They had two players missing, but the players that were here started last year. They have a really good team and so do we.”
The energy today >>>>#ForTheCity x #GoCoogs pic.twitter.com/zAnN6NhZnF
— Houston Men's Hoops 🏀 🐾 (@UHCougarMBK) February 22, 2025
On playing a shorthanded Iowa State team
“Hopefully, they get Jones and Gilbert back soon because both of them are all-conference caliber players. (Iowa State coach) T.J. (Otzelberger) and I are good friends and I told him I wished he had all of his guys (Saturday).
"When you play good teams, you want all their guys there, but hopefully they’ll be back for the next game.”
On having played several ranked teams in Big 12 play
“We had more ranked teams last year and the year before. We were not here a year before, but I know they did because I watched them. Houston, Arizona, Texas Tech, Iowa Satate and Kansas are all ranked. They’ve always done what needs to be done.
“This is my 14th year coaching in the Big 12. I don’t see it any different than it always has been. It’s always good, it always has outstanding coaches, great fanbases and great tradition-rich programs.”
