Big Shot Jamal Shead and Super Expectations — UH Fans Taking a Win Over a Talented Big 12 Team For Granted Shows Just How High Kelvin Sampson Has Pushed His Program

FORT WORTH — Jamal Shead is not really a 3-pointer shooter. In a sport where it seems like everyone wants to be Steph Curry or Trae Young these days, Shead’s game can be refreshingly old school, built around throwback floaters in the lane. He took only 21 triples in the University of Houston’s first 11 games of the season, less than two attempts a game, a miniscule number for a starting point guard. Which is why Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton certainly isn’t worried about Jamal Shead beating him with threes.

Knowing they have to give up something, Oklahoma State dares Shead to shoot at times. With the game on the line and Fort Worth’s jewel of an arena as loud as it’s been all night, Shead takes the Cowboys up on that offer. Shead hits the two biggest threes of the game in the final three minutes — the second off of a sweet fake, where Shead feigns making the pass Oklahoma State expects and then rises up to shoot.

With confidence.

“I think I was most impressed with him having the courage to take them,” UH coach Kelvin Sampson says when I ask him about Shead’s late game threes. “On a night when we didn’t play very well.”

A night that ends with a 72-61 win over future Big 12 rival Oklahoma State in this Hoop Hype XL College Basketball Showcase. This is how high Kelvin Sampson has raised expectations for this Houston program. Everyone expects UH to beat an upper level talent Big 12 team — Boynton’s group was picked to finish fourth in a power packed conference that includes No. 1 Baylor, No. 7 Kansas and No. 17 Texas by ESPN, CBS Sports and most other prognosticators in the preseason.

And when Houston beats that talented Big 12 team by “only” 11, there is some disappointment — and UH message boards are filled with fans mostly lamenting UH’s free throw shooting (17 for 30 in this win). If that is not a sign of just how rarefied an air UH’s basketball program now resides in, nothing is.

When you’re one of the top programs in the country, even your wins over major conference foes are dissected. And often completely picked apart. Not matter the circumstances — and UH is dealing with a lot of circumstances right now.

Tramon Mark, arguably Houston’s most naturally talented player, did not even make the trip with a shoulder injury that could completely alter his sophomore season. Another key wing (Taze Moore) did not travel either because he wasn’t feeling good in these renewed COVID times. And one of Sampson’s best rebounders (J’Wan Roberts) took a hard fall on his back while already dealing with pain in both ankles, limiting him to five minutes.

Still an Oklahoma State team (7-4) desperate for a signature non conference win only led for 41 seconds in the entire second half. And you thought Houston was frustrated?

“You know what you’re getting when you play against them,” Boynton says. “Some games, coaches try to outsmart you. Coach Sampson builds his teams to out tough you.”

No matter who is on the floor. Though, if it is crunch time, you pretty much know that Jamal Shead is going to be there these days. Shead may not be a gunner, but he is a winner. So maybe it’s no surprise that Shead, who came into this season projected to be a backup, continued his meteoric rise by hitting those mammoth threes.

UH’s leading scorer Marcus Sasser could see this kind of moment coming for his backcourt partner. Shead’s been building towards it. Day by day. Shot after shot.

“Him working every day,” Sasser says when I ask him about Shead’s big shot moments. “I see him every day after practice. During practice. The coaching staff we have. The guard coaches — Coach Quan(nas White), they work for countless hours.

“Now it’s paying off in a game. It wasn’t no surprise to me. Because he puts in the work.”

Jamal Shead and Clutch Confidence

This was not one of Shead’s better floor games as Kelvin Sampson points out. Oklahoma State’s press bothered him at times as the Cowboys used their athleticism and long limbs to force 19 turnovers and get 19 fast break points, the same number Alabama had in its controversial one point win over Houston. Yet Shead still put up 18 points, eight assists and two steals in 27 minutes.

More importantly, he still had the confidence to take those threes when it mattered most.

So No. 14 UH moves to 10-2 — with its two losses coming by a combined three points — despite playing another game when its team is anything but whole. Sasser — who did not practice at all this week until participating briefly on Friday night after sitting out Tuesday’s win over Louisiana-Lafayette with what Sampson described as “turf toe times two” — logs 36 minutes against Oklahoma State. He finds all kinds of ways to still contribute, but he also looks like a guy who’s been off his feet at times.

“I’m fine physically,” Sasser tells PaperCity.

In Kelvin Sampson’s program, you play through pain. And when Sasser knocks his hurting toe and has to leave the game briefly he never considers not going back in.

This is that kind of game. A future Big 12 worthy drag out battle where Fabian White Jr. and Josh Carlton grab a combined 21 rebounds — 12 offensive with eight of those coming from Carlton, the former UConn big man who the UH coaches targeted early in the transfer portal. And Oklahoma State is still almost right there, only losing the rebound battle by four — which qualifies as a category win against a Kelvin Sampson team. But not an actual W.

“Now it’s paying off in a game. It wasn’t no surprise to me. Because he puts in the work.” — Marcus Sasser on Jamal Shead’s clutch threes.

“It was a real physical game,” Oklahoma State guard Isaac Likekele says. “We battled on the glass. And I believe it was close on the glass. But if you want to win these type of games, just coming close is not going to handle it.”

Instead, the Cougars move to 5-0 over the last two seasons at the still relatively new Dickies Arena, their second Texas home. University of Houston athletic director Chris Pezman found himself walking around the arena, impressed by the new faces in red he kept running into.

“You know what’s really cool?” Pezman tells PaperCity. “There’s a bunch of Houston fans I’ve never seen before here. And that’s what’s exciting about everything going on. That continued maturation across the board also goes into our fans and our alumni base.

“It’s cool to see a bunch of people I hadn’t seen before.”

It’s suddenly cool to be a University of Houston fan. And why not? When fans can almost be disappointed by a double digit win over a talented Big 12 team, despite UH not even having anything close to its full roster, you’re operating on another plane.

This is where the Cougars find themselves. To players like Fabian White, losing is not even an option. So with Mark and Moore missing and Marcus Sasser not quite Marcus Sasser, White finds a way to put up 15 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and three steals in 36 minutes.

“When we ran stuff for Fab tonight, something good happened,” Sampson says. “. . . He was our best player tonight. No question — he was our best player.”

If Oklahoma State wants a physical battle, Fabian White is ready for it.

“We’ve had to step up a little bit more since Taze was ailing and with T-Mark out,” White says. “We’re just a little shorthanded.”

And still winning. Including against a team whose conference Houston will be joining as early as 2023. Big 12 teams haven’t wowed Kelvin Sampson’s program for a while. But beating a potential rival of the near future still matters.

“To get the chance to play Oklahoma State up here and start building hopefully the rivalries to come, it’s pretty cool,” Pezman says. “. . . Just doing more of this as we prepare for where we’re going, it’s just another reflection of the growth of our department and our program.”

There is no big celebration after this win. Not in the stands. Certainly not in UH’s locker room. University of Houston fans taking a win over a gifted Big 12 team for granted? That’s another screaming sign of just how high Kelvin Sampson is raising this UH bar.