Inside Houston’s Sweet NCAA Tournament Runaway — How a Tense Prep and the Best Scout Dogs In College Hoops Set Kingston Flemings & Milos Uzan Up To Roll A&M

OKLAHOMA CITY — Milos Uzan found himself frustrated. Kingston Flemings could not believe all the turnovers piling up. Not during the game. No, this NCAA Tournament game turned into a University of Houston romp, a clinic in how to turn a full-court press to pure mush. During the intense practice prep for the game. That is when Houston’s White scout team effectively terrorized one of the best starting lineups in all of college basketball, made life absolutely miserable for Kelvin Sampson’s elite back court.

“If you put Kordel Jefferson and Ramon Walker on the prep team, it’s gonna be intense,” UH lead assistant Kellen Sampson tells PaperCity with a grin. “We had a lot of guys today that stood tall. But I thought without question, I thought our MVP today was our White team yesterday (in practice). And their ability to — nobody mimics Bucky Ball, it’s its own entity all in of itself — but I thought our White Team really gave the Red Team (starters) a real quality look of what they would see.”

Houston bound. Two Toyota Center wins from another Final Four. By the power of the best scout team in college basketball.

This is how you roll to another Sweet 16, how you turn an often dangerous Round of 32 game into a 31-point romp. Houston 88, Texas A&M 57. With how damn difficult UH’s White (jersey) scout team — Jefferson, Walker, Isiah Harwell, Bryce Jackson and Ced Lath — make life for Houston’s immensely talented starters.

“They were frustrated,” Kellen Sampson says of the starters. “A little tense at times. That’s good. The way it’s supposed to be. When you’re preparing for the ultimate fights, you’ve got to prepare the right way. Again, you put two uber competitors in Ramon and Kordel in there, it’s gonna get testy. And that’s exactly what our guys needed.”

Uzan and Flemings both note how the crazy intensity of those prep practices make the actual game seem easier by comparison. They are just that prepared for the press.

“We were composed in the trap,” UH freshman point guard Kingston Flemings says. “I think I had the only turnover in the trap. E(manuel Sharp) had one. We were just composed. And playing four on three is a way easier than five on five. We talked about it in practice. Beating the press and going out there and just scoring.

“Being aggressive.”

“If you put Kordel Jefferson and Ramon Walker on the prep team, it’s gonna be intense. We had a lot of guys today that stood tall. But I thought without question, I thought our MVP today was our White team yesterday (in practice).” — UH assistant coach Kellen Sampson

Houston gets open shot after open shot, starting with a JoJo Tugler missed dunk just 82 seconds into the game where he seems to try and throw it down from the Paycom Center rafters. It’s not a make and it draws a Kelvin Sampson scowl and muttering turn away, but it sets a tone nonetheless. UH’s unicorn big man gets his highlight dunk later to his teammates’ delight, adds three blocks that make A&M coach Bucky McMillan almost rethink his entire view of roster building and four offensive rebounds.

“You look at Houston, they have length,” McMillan says. “They blocked seven shots. We blocked zero. A lot of times we’re blocking out, trying to get a rebound and we’re doing everything we’re supposed to do and they jump up and tip it out.”

On a night when four different Cougars score in double digits (Emanuel Sharp, Chris Cenac Jr., Milos Uzan and Mercy Miller), five different UH players get a block (Tugler, Cenac, Chase McCarty, Kalifa Sakho and Flemings, the point guard).

Houston bound. Two Toyota Center wins from another Final Four. A priceless Sweet 16 game with No. 3 seed Illinois on Thursday night that’s only three miles from UH’s campus.

Set up by a scout team that made the Cougars’ stars more than full-court press ready.

“Ced Lath was awesome (in the prep practices),” Kellen Sampson says. “He bumps and bullies and pesters. And just makes life miserable for Chris (Cenac) and Jo. They get so frustrated. As the White Team coach, it’s a special group to coach every day and they’re willingness to stay locked in even though some of them aren’t getting minutes — Isiah Harwell was awesome in (the prep).

“To stay locked in and be selfless is a big reason our team keeps improving as we head towards the finish line.”

Kellen Sampson put together the scouting report for this A&M game, a report which Flemings and Uzan both praise. The assistant almost sounds like a proud dad talking about how well the White Team he coaches every day brought what Texas A&M does best to life. Gave such an intensely perfect prep fight that the game itself turned into a runaway.

“While it was certainly frustrating at times (for the starters), by the end there was a lot of confidence and resolve that we’ve got a really good clear plan forward in how we can be successful,” Kellen Sampson says.

The Practice Fight

Houston won this game, moved into its seventh straight Sweet 16 at 30-6, by what it did when nobody was watching in the 41 hours between the end of its first round win over Idaho and the tip of the Texas A&M showdown. In the closed door (or in this case, sometimes literally blue curtained off) practices that sometimes made Kingston Flemings want to boot the basketball.

Sticking a pit bull on you would be much more pleasant than a quick-handed, always-yapping Kordel Jefferson in many cases. At least, you can pet the pit bull. There is no calming down Jefferson when Kellen Sampson unleashes him to create havoc.

“Coach Kell with an amazing scouting report,” Chris Cenac Jr., the freshman big man who’s raised his game in this NCAA Tournament, tells PaperCity. “We didn’t have much time. But he gave us a lot of information that was very useful. And those guys brought it in practice.”

Then Kelvin Sampson’s team absolutely punished Texas A&M in the game (with 11 offensive rebounds in the first half alone and 19 for the game) and rendered the Aggies’ vaunted full-court press little more than a speed bump. Pick your play, any play, and it has the Sampson Houston DNA all over it. The three offensive rebounds on one possession that had Sampson pumping his fist like a vintage Tiger Woods at The Masters at half court? Check. Chase McCarty throwing his already injured body across the floor to somehow flip a loose basketball back to Emanuel Sharp, hurting himself again in the process (this time a banged knee)? Double Check. Kingston Flemings flinging a one-handed three-quarters court pass under pressure to a streaking Chris Cenac Jr. and hitting him in stride? Triple check.

That last one is a press smasher, the kind of outlet Kordel Jefferson, Ramon Walker, Bryce Jackson, Isiah Harwell and Ced Lath made crazy hard to get in the prep practices.

“We made eye contact,” Cenac, wearing a Nike Hoop Summit T-shirt that harkens back to his high school days (last year in his case), says of the play. “And I know King. We kind of got a little chemistry so I knew he was going to end up finding me.”

This is how you sprint into the Sweet 16. How you earn your way back home. By playing like one of the most dominant teams in the NCAA Tournament. UH won its two March Madness games in Oklahoma City by a combined 62 points.

Houston bound. Two Toyota Center wins from another Final Four. By the power of a crazed scout team.

“Shoot, those guys were on us,” Milos Uzan says, shaking his head. “They made us ready.”