Closers In Training — With Clutch Shot Jamal Shead In the NBA, Kelvin Sampson’s Houston Team Searches For Its Next Finisher In Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Kelvin Sampson will say (rightly so) after the games are over that none of these November showdowns decide anything. But it sure doesn’t feel like that in the moment. Not in this proud University of Houston basketball program where winning,  winning and more winning is a way of life. Every loss feels like a sucker punch to the kidneys and the overtime L to Alabama stings even more. You can see it in associate head coach Quannas White’s face as he sits outside the team lounge before the Cougars’ second game in Sin City.

“We need to do something together as a team here first,” White says when the subject turns to the team’s Thanksgiving plans.

UH does, putting away a game Notre Dame team 65-54 in the early hours of Thanksgiving morning back in Houston. It’s not a pretty win, but Sampson’s team regains some of its defensive identity in a suffocating stretch that sees J’Wan Roberts, Emanuel Sharp, Terrance Arceneaux and Co. hold Notre Dame to one point in a seven minute and 41 second span in the second half.

That’s how you take the fight out of the Irish and save Thanksgiving. You don’t want to be eating your turkey with Kelvin Sampson coming off two straight losses, something this UH program almost never does.

“Just trying to get back to ourselves mentally and how we usually play,” Roberts, the graduate senior power forward who’s now won as much as any player in UH basketball’s storied history (tying former teammate Fabian White Jr.), tells PaperCity. “We were kind of getting frustrated because we don’t really let teams score that much points.

“So when that do happen it’s kind of like — different.”

This UH program doesn’t like Different. Not this Different. Not letting Alabama score 85 points in an overtime win. Just  a few weeks after allowing Auburn to shoot 57 percent in the second half of another close Top 10 showdown loss. No matter what happens between now No. 6 Houston (4-2) and San Diego State (3-3) in the third place game of this unique $9 million Players Era Festival NIL tournament on Saturday night, these Coogs will be leaving Las Vegas knowing there is plenty of work to do.

The idea that even this beyond elite Houston program could replace Jamal Shead, one of the best closers in all of college basketball, without missing a beat always probably rang overly optimistic. Besides all his wonderful leadership and on-court gifts, Shead almost made buzzer beaters seem routine. This UH team is still learning how to close out tough games, but Vegas showed two closers could be emerging.

LJ Cryer absolutely carries the Cougars offensively in a razor’s edge of a high level Top 10 showdown with Alabama, pouring in 30 points before running out of gas in overtime after being forced to be the primary ball handler too with starting point guard Milos Uzan mired in foul trouble. Then, Emanuel Sharp scores 14 points in the second half against Notre Dame when everyone else is struggling, hitting two deeper than deep threes, including one from the logo that kisses in off the glass, putting the Irish to bed.

“All his shots are degree of difficulty,” Sampson says when I ask about Sharp’s Steph Curry imitation. “Emanuel’s better at those than wide open threes. But you know Emanuel, missing shots doesn’t bother him. He will never ever worry about a miss.

“And either will I.”

Kelvin Sampson At The Grand Garden After Midnight

With Cryer, Sharp and Kelvin Sampson’s skill at calling sets that get his best players open looks, this Houston team should grow into a good closing group. UH outscores Notre Dame 20-10 over the final 13 minutes of this game. That’s a start, a step forward.

“I probably had to be more of an offensive coordinator (against Notre Dame),” Sampson says. “We kept dialing stuff up and it kept working so we stayed with it.”

This Notre Dame game tips off at 10:14 pm Las Vegas time on Kelvin Sampson’s watch, after midnight back in Houston. UH assistant coach Kellen Sampson wonders if Starbucks is one of the sponsors of this Players Era Festival because of the tip times.

But college kids adjust and so does the most energized 69-year-old future Hall of Famer you’ll ever come across.

“Just trying to get back to ourselves mentally and how we usually play. We were kind of getting frustrated because we don’t really let teams score that much points.” — UH forward J’Wan Roberts

Kelvin Sampson has a knack for making the pieces fit together, finding ways to get the most out of the talent he has. And there is a lot of talent on this UH roster. Including Terrance Arceneaux, the baby faced sophomore who pulls off an NBA-level spin and pull-up on the way to his 13-point first half with Celtics president Brad Stevens in the arena. Sampson starts Arceneaux in the second half in place of center Ja’Vier Francis in part to try to keep Arceneaux’s repaired right Achilles warm.

“Terrance carried us the first half, but second half it’s always tricky with his Achilles,” Sampson says. “It’s not to the point where he can go sit down for 15 minutes and come back out and do what he did.”

UH’s regular starting center Ja’Vier Francis is not fully himself yet either with groin and left leg injuries limiting his effectiveness. Francis only plays seven minutes against Notre Dame after logging only three minutes combined in the second half and overtime against Alabama.

“Right now this is October for Javier,” Sampson says. “We’re in November, but he didn’t do anything for 19 days. He’s not going to be where he left off last March. You’ve got to start over. I see flashes in practice, but he just doesn’t have the consistency yet. He got banged up (against Alabama). But he’ll be there fine.

“I’m not worried about Ja’Vier.”

JoJo Tugler shows some giant flashes of how defensively game changing the three headed wingspan monsters of Tugler, Francis and Roberts can be in Vegas. Tugler blocks eight shots by himself against Alabama despite fighting foul trouble, seemingly living above the rim.

“We’re going to be all right,” Tugler tells PaperCity. “I ain’t worried. We know what this team can do when we’re all together.”

UH is together in Las Vegas for a whole week, staying at the casino hotel that is connected to the MGM Grand Garden Arena where they’re playing the games, doing outings like a Topgolf event. It’s a way for a close team to get even closer as this group gets the game reps together they desperately need. For J’Wan Roberts,  the sixth year senior, this time is precious and a sign of the ticking clock on his last run at Houston.

“Every game that we play shortens the season,” Roberts tells PaperCity. “But it’s about making memories. We in Vegas right now, away from home. Great place, MGM. We’re trying to make the best out of it. We already gave away one game. But in November, it’s more of a learning.

“When we get to January, February, March, we should be playing our best basketball by then.”

When you have talent and Kelvin Sampson, there is a lot of confidence. It’s a proven formula. Cryer comes one missed baseline runner in the closing 10 seconds of regulation from closing out a Top 10 Alabama team. Sharp does close out Notre Dame a night later. New starting point guard Milos Uzan racks up seven assists in the first half against the Irish, including three in the final minute of the half. It’s progress, a step towards making things right against the next Top 10 team (those matchups will come fairly regularly for UH once the Big 12 season starts).

“You’ve got to find a way to win those games,” UH assistant coach K.C. Beard tells PaperCity. “You’re there. Two games — Auburn, Alabama — we’re there. Just got to finish. You’ve just got to find a way to finish.”

Closing isn’t for everyone. Not everyone is closer worthy. But this Houston team is starting to find who is.