UH’s Rebound Masterpiece — Kelvin Sampson’s Quietly Built the Toughest Team in College Basketball Through All the Injuries

Fabian White Jr., J’Wan Roberts and Josh Carlton just keep going to the offensive glass, chasing every shot, showing the crazed persistence of Kanye West (without any of the creepiness). White, Roberts and Carlton are not just refusing to lose. They’re refusing to let SMU get a single damn rebound.

SMU coach Tim Jankovich keeps screaming at his team to rebound. Just grab. . .  one. Jankovich is convinced his desperate team can come back and stun Kelvin Sampson’s University of Houston squad again. Just like it did 18 days ago in Dallas with former President George W. Bush watching from the front row.

Jankovich is convinced. . . until White, Roberts and Carlton yank that belief away. Rebound after rebound after rebound. Can we just get one rebound? Pretty please.

“It felt much the same,” Jankovich says of the two games. “Except when it became apparent we’re not going to — we just can’t — get a defensive rebound. . . The game was rebounding. They dominated the boards. Every timeout — the last nine timeouts — that’s all we were begging (get a rebound). And we couldn’t get it done.”

Everyone’s heard of scoring runs. The University of Houston basketball team went on an epic rebounding run that almost defies belief. The Cougars out rebounded SMU 15-0 in a crucial seven minute stretch in the second half. That’s right. . . the Mustangs went seven minutes of game time without being able to grab a single rebound. Not one.

It adds up to an emphatic bully ball of a 75-61 win over a 20 win SMU team and all but delivers Houston’s third regular season conference championship in the last four seasons. UH (24-4, 13-2 AAC) only needs to win one of its last three games (home vs. Cincinnati on Tuesday, home vs. Temple on Thursday or on the road at uber talented Memphis next Sunday) to have the AAC crown all to itself. With only two games remaining, SMU (11-4 AAC) can only get to 13 conference wins. One more Cougar W and the Mustangs are reduced to playing for second place — and their NCAA Tournament lives.

This win is about much more than that for a Houston program that is hunting much bigger goals beyond a conference title though. In many ways, this win is a Kelvin Sampson program masterpiece — and a sign of the level that this depth challenged UH team can still reach.

“Nobody will want to play Houston in the NCAA Tournament.” — SMU coach Tim Jankovich

To go 13-2 in an underrated conference without Marcus Sasser, one of the best guards in America, and Tramon Mark, arguably UH’s single most talented player, playing a single minute in any of those games is a testament to these Cougars’ inextinguishable will. And indomitable fight.

“Marcus left — leading scorer,” Houston forward J’Wan Roberts tells PaperCity. “Tramon left — dynamic scorer. But we’re in first place. We could have lost two more people and I feel like we’d still be in first place.”

Roberts reaches down and knocks on the Fertitta Center’s hardwood court as he says this. When you’ve endured as many injuries as this Houston team has, you know better than to tempt fate.

“. . . Everybody’s got everybody’s back on this team,” Roberts continues. “Even though we lost some big pieces, we’ve still got pieces too. We’ve still got Josh. We’ve still got Fabian. We’ve still got Kyler (Edwards), Jamal (Shead), Reggie (Chaney), Ja (Francis), Ramon (Walker).”

And Houston still has one of the best coaches in basketball — on any level of the game. Kelvin Sampson tries to downplay the UH coaching staff’s defensive adjustments after this one. But if you think SMU going from putting up 85 points in the first meeting to struggling (and needing a late surge) to break 60 points in this one is some happy happenstance, you haven’t been paying attention.

The Cougars use their long arms and quick closeouts to turn SMU’s staple 3-point shooting into a horror show (Jankovich’s team misses 17 of the 21 triples it hoists), refuse to let Mustangs star Kendric Davis become a distributor and roll. As follow ups go, this is UH’s version of The Godfather Part II.

About as perfect as it can get. Built on grabbing offensive rebounds and sapping SMU’s very will with second shot after second shot. Just a few games ago, UH opponents were talking confidently about being able to wear this Cougars team down. Several subtle Sampson rotation tweaks later and the 14th ranked team in America is suddenly playing like the freshest team, absolutely dominating SMU with its hustle in that second half rebounding streak.

“I’m running out of superlatives,” UH athletic director Chris Pezman tells PaperCity in a side hallway of the Fertitta Center as a few happy VIP fans walk past. “It’s really inspiring. The area that always kinds of goes when you lose your legs is defense. Look I’m not a coach, but I’ve been around sports for a long time. And to see those guys still do so well on defense is something else.

“Even though we’re short guys, and playing way too many minutes, to keep those energy plays going is exciting.”

It’s also game changing. This Houston team may not get the NCAA Tournament seed it deserves because of the injuries to Sasser and Mark. CBS Sports projects UH as a sixth seed in its latest bracket, which is absurd for a 23-4 team from a Final Four proven program. But no matter how much seeding disrespect comes, Tim Jankovich will tell you to beware of these Cougars.

“They could do tremendous damage,” SMU’s coach says. “I don’t know who in the country wants to play ’em. They’re great defensively. They’re obviously a great offensive rebounding team. But they’re also, they can throw five guys at you that every one of them is a high-level offensive player as well.

“Can they be as tough an out as last year? I don’t know. They made the Final Four. . . But nobody will want to play Houston in the NCAA Tournament.”

Especially if UH shares the ball like it does on this Sunday. With Jamal Shead, the young point guard who keeps growing on the job, setting the tone with seven assists in the game’s first six minutes, Houston just keeps whipping the ball around. Often right past a stunned SMU defender.

Jamal Shead, UH’s Share Maestro

Shead finishes with 11 assists, 10 points, three steals and a game-high plus 16 rating in 34 minutes, but he also racks up plenty of hockey assists — the pass that leads to the easy assist pass. One telling second half sequence sees Shead drive baseline, whip a pass to an open J’Wan Roberts, who then flips the ball to an even more wide open Fabian White right at the basket.

The ball never touches the floor after Shead’s first pass. This is basketball symphony, something you might expect to see from Gonzaga’s super hyped offense. With 20 assists on its 29 baskets against SMU, this is also very much something this Houston team can do. There is still some beauty with Kelvin Sampson’s lunch pail warriors.

It’s just often lost amid the constant sweat of a team that is always up for a battle. Fabian White (21 points, nine rebounds, three blocks), Josh Carlton (19 points, eight rebounds) and J’Wan Roberts (six points, eight rebounds — five of those offensive, two assists, a block and a steal in only 17 minutes) grab this game by the throat. The most talented frontline in Kelvin Sampson’s eight seasons at Houston is possessed.

And you can see it right from the opening tip.

Everyone’s heard of scoring runs. The University of Houston basketball team went on an epic rebounding run that almost defies belief.

“You could say it’s extra motivation because we don’t want to lose to them twice in a row or lose at home,” White says when I ask him about the mindset that produces the rebound win of all rebound wins. “At the end of the day, me, Josh, Taze (Moore) and Kyler don’t have any more tomorrows so we’re playing as hard as we can.

“Always playing as hard as we can.”

White morphs back into low-key Fabian after these games. But during them, the unquestioned player leader of this surprising, never-say-die Houston team is not afraid to get into a teammate’s face and demand more. He does it with Josh Carlton more than once this game, chiding him for not dunking the ball with force before SMU could foul Houston’s mismatch of a 6-foot-11 big man in one early sequence.

This is not Kelvin Sampson’s most talented Houston team. But it has one of the best leaders the program’s ever had.

“When you’ve got a role model or leader like Fabian White,” Sampson says. “I can’t tell from where he came from — Atascocita High School to today — he’s almost become my security blanket. Because I trust him.”

SMU trusts in Kendric Davis, who’s a lock to be the AAC Player of the Year. But the quick guard with a sure jumper  never ever comes close to seizing this game. Davis has to hope he gets another rematch in the conference tournament in Fort Worth. For Sampson’s short-handed band of brother warriors control a game that the Mustangs know they need for their own very questioned NCAA Tournament resume.

It’s a lesson in want-to, working together and refusing to believe what others say you can’t do. Sometimes what even your own body says you can’t do. Somehow, these Cougars are pushing through the massive amount of minutes the team’s injuries are forcing many of them to play — and somehow getting stronger.

“These guys, what they’re doing is remarkable,” UH assistant coach Quannas White tells PaperCity. “Coach Sampson requires our guys to play hard every single second. Every single minute when they’re on the court.

“. . . It’s amazing to see what they’ve been able to do. And to sustain that just tells you how good of a team we have. . . We’ve just got a really, really tough team.”

Maybe even the toughest in the land.