Rob Gray. Galen Robinson. Quentin Grimes. Dejon Jarreau. Fabian White Jr. Marcus Sasser. Jarace Walker.
Great players have come and gone over the past decade, but the Houston Cougars have kept winning. The answer as to why, and how, lies in the culture that head coach Kelvin Sampson has established.
“The identity of our program has not changed in ten years,” Sampson tells Hoops HQ. “We want to be ultra-competitive, our defense, our rebounding, first ones on deflected and loose balls. Our toughness [comes] from our competitiveness. There’s a big difference between playing hard versus competing.”
To understand the identity of the Coogs, one must first understand that distinction.
“When you’re playing hard, there’s a willingness. When you’re competing, there’s a desperation,” explains assistant coach Kellen Sampson, Kelvin’s son. “Playing hard is generating a deflection; competing is getting the loose ball. Playing hard is getting a tip on a rebound; competing is getting a second or third tip that results in a rebound. Playing hard is being in the fight; competing is winning the fight.”
A culture of competing has sparked one of the most dramatic program turnarounds in college basketball history. From 1993 to 2014, the year Kelvin and Kellen Sampson were hired, the Cougars reached the NCAA Tournament just once. Since then, they’ve made it six times, including a run to the 2021 Final Four, and they’ve posted nine 20-win seasons. They’ve done it with a combination of aggressive defense and relentless rebounding that has endured despite changes to the roster. Per KenPom, Houston has ranked in the top 15 in defensive six out of the past seven years and the top 11 in offensive rebounding percentage for five straight seasons. The program has also been among the leaders in block percentage since 2020.
Yes, the identity has remained the same, but every team is different. Tweaks must be made to accentuate its specific strengths. The Cougars joined the Big 12 last year and claimed the conference regular-season title, finishing with a 32-5 record and the top-ranked overall defense. They earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, eventually losing to Duke in the Sweet 16 after point guard Jamal Shead suffered an ankle injury. Shead left for the NBA this summer, but the four other starters from last season — L.J. Cryer, Emanuel Sharp, J’Wan Roberts and Ja’Vier Francis — are back. As the 2024-25 campaign approaches, the Cougars are the No. 1 team in KenPom’s preseason ratings and No. 4 in the AP Top 25.
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Who should you bet on today?Shead, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year and Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, is obviously a considerable loss. For the 2023-24 team to be successful, it relied on Shead to be very ball dominant. “This year’s team will have to win a different way,” Kelvin says. “We still expect to win, it’s just going to be a different way.”
Oklahoma transfer Milos Uzan is the new addition to the starting lineup. The junior averaged 9 points, 4.4 assists and 3.4 rebounds in 2023-24. His efficiency dropped significantly — he shot just 39% from the field and 30% from three on higher volume — but he should have more open looks with the weapons around him on the Cougars. Uzan might not be able to penetrate as well as Shead, but he is “a much more naturally gifted pure passer” who “promotes a little earlier ball movement,” says Kellen.
Cryer, the team’s leading scorer from last season (15.5 ppg on 39% shooting from behind the arc), will have the ball in his hands a lot more. So will Sharp, who had six 20-point games himself, including a 30-point performance in an OT win over Texas A&M in the Round of 32. Both guys will need to step up to fill the playmaking void caused by Shead’s departure.
In the frontcourt, Roberts returns for his sixth year of eligibility. The six-foot-eight forward, who was named to the Preseason All-Big 12 First Team, will continue to clean the glass and control the block. During the offseason, he also worked on adding a 15-foot jump shot to his arsenal.
Most importantly, Roberts will assume an even bigger leadership role in Shead’s absence. Through five seasons, there is little that “the captain,” as Kelvin calls him, hasn’t experienced.
“Don’t look around to wonder whose team this is,” Kellen told Roberts recently. “It’s yours. Because at the end of the day, where you lead, these guys will follow.”
“As the years [have passed], I’ve gotten more confident in myself, more confident in my teammates,” says Roberts. “Getting to that role where I feel like they can count on me and trust me — basically playing that big brother role. Now that this is my sixth year, I’ve kind of seen it all. And I see what Coach Sampson is looking for and what he expects out of me — what he expects out of a leader.”
Roberts has studied NBA dynasties known for their chemistry, like the San Antonio Spurs under Gregg Popovich. “That’s really what I want this team to [be],” Roberts tells Hoops HQ. “A team [with players] who will take a bullet for each other and leave it all on the court for each other and just play for each other.”
Next to Roberts on the interior is Ja’Vier Francis. Shead’s exit will likely hurt the team’s perimeter defense, but Francis is an elite rim protector. Early on, the staff decided not to pursue big men in the portal and instead bet on Francis’ development. By the end of last season, that bet was clearly paying off. Francis became the centerpiece of another stellar Houston defense, leading the entire Big 12 in block percentage (10.3). With his length (7.5-foot wingspan) and athleticism, the senior is a perfect fit to execute Sampson’s pick-and-roll defense, applying pressure on ball screens and then recovering quickly. Francis registered the top individual defensive rating in college basketball (85.8) in 2023-24 and was a major reason that opposing teams shot just 43% on two-point field goals against the Cougars.
“Giving him that opportunity just brought out all of his raw abilities,” Kelvin says. “And he was still raw a lot last year. I think he’s going to take a big step forward this year.”
Off the bench, there are high hopes for guard Terrance Arceneaux, who is easing his way back after tearing his Achilles in December. According to coaches, the redshirt sophomore has transformed his body and improved as a ball-handler. Alongside fifth-year guard Mylik Wilson and sophomore Joseph “JoJo” Tugler, Arceneaux could give Houston’s second unit a major boost.
Kelvin believes this year’s team can play with more pace—upping its number of possessions per 40 minutes from around 64 (below the Division I average, per KenPom) to closer to 70 — and make a leap offensively. Fast-paced games were a recipe for disaster for the Cougars in 2023-24, so they intentionally slowed things down. This season, they are more equipped to handle the track meets.
Houston also added two four-star freshmen to the mix: guard Mercy Miller, son of rapper Master P, and forward Chase McCarty. Playing time will be difficult to come by on such a stacked roster, but both newcomers, as well as Uzan, embody the program’s identity. The staff is very careful to protect that identity during the recruiting process, knowing that, as Kelvin stresses, “one person can screw your program up.”
“We want guys who run to the fight, not from it,” Kellen describes. “Whatever scars we have, we want them on our face, not our back.”
Coaches are transparent with recruits about the challenges that come with being a Cougar.
“They don’t allow you to have bad days,” Roberts says of the coaches. He is talking to Hoops HQ via Zoom from a conference room at the team facility, and the word “CULTURE” is printed in big, bold letters on the wall behind him. “They have a standard every day that you have to reach.”
Ultimately, that is the reason this program has flourished. The 2024-25 team may play a slightly different style, but it will “compete” just like every other Houston squad under Kelvin Sampson.
Since 2014, the Cougars have won 77% percent of their games, secured six AAC titles and one Big 12 regular-season title, been a top 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament four times and made it to the Final Four once, but they haven’t claimed a national championship. In fact, the program has never accomplished that feat in its 75-year history. This might be the team to finally do it.
