Kelvin Sampson spells out Houston's game plan that contained Walter Clayton Jr. amid massive praise for Florida star
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson led his team to the national title game this year, but the Cougars ended up losing 65-63 to Florida in the final on Monday. While the game was a tight affair, Sampson highlighted that he was proud of his team in the post-game press conference.
Sampson also spilled the beans on Houston's game plan to defend Florida star Walter Clayton Jr. in the final and praised the guard as well.
"Our defense was so good in the first half," Sampson said (14:03). "And of course the big part of our defensive plan was Clayton, cause he's elite. He really is. You know, we missed an assignment when he came off. Our goal was to not give him a full-court layup. He gets that a lot, watching the SEC games."
"So, we took that away, and we didn't want him to get a shot going to his left," the Cougars' coach added. "If he was going to shoot a 3, we wanted him to be going to his right. And we did an awesome job on that except for one (time), when he made a big one, late (in the game). ... I'm proud of our guys for how they guarded tonight. That was a tough ball game."
Houston did well to keep the Florida star quiet. The star guard had 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds in the finale. Will Richard led the scoring for the Gators with 18 points, while Alex Condon added 12 points.
For the Cougars, LJ Cryer scored a game-high 19 points to go along with six rebounds and two assists. He did not get much support from his teammates as no other Houston Cougar recorded double-digit points.
Kelvin Sampson led Houston to its first national title game since 1984
Although Kelvin Sampson fell short of winning Houston its first national title, he became the first coach to lead the Cougars to the championship game since 1984. They made it to the national championship game twice in consecutive seasons in 1983 and 1984.
Sampson took over as Houston coach in 2014. He has led the team to seven NCAA Tournament appearances, including two Final Fours. Sampson has a 299–84 record with the Cougars at the end of his 11th year with the program.
Prior to taking the Houston job, Sampson coached the Indiana Hoosiers, Oklahoma Sooners and the Washington State Cougars. His best finish in all those years came when he led the Sooners to the Final Four in the 2001-02 season.