How Ja’Vier Francis, Houston’s Wingspan Obsession & Jamal Shead’s Leadership Create a Next Level Defense — And Kelvin Sampson Knows These Coogs Are Still Improving

Ja’Vier Francis is an optical illusion come to life, as baffling to opposing players and coaches as one of those vortex paintings that seem to be spinning. For Francis is listed as being 6-foot-8 — and when you stand next to the University of Houston basketball team’s starting center he indeed appears to be a 6-foot-8 tall man. Until he raises his arms. Then, Francis transforms into a 7-foot-plus terror.

His arms extend and extend — and just getting a real look at the basket (let alone a good shot) becomes a puzzle of its own.

“Even though they say he’s 6-8, he looks he’s seven feet out there to me,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins says of Francis with a chuckle. “His length. He plays bigger than 6-8 for sure.”

That’s because Ja’Vier Francis is Kelvin Sampson’s lead wingspan warrior. Francis may only stand 6-foot-8, but his wingspan measures in at 7-foot-5.  That’s the distance between Francis’ fingertips with both arms fully extended out to his sides, an elite number that matches NBA all-timer Kevin Durant’s wingspan. But Francis’ wingspan isn’t the highest on this UH team. True freshman forward JoJo Tugler outdoes Francis with a 7-foot-6 wingspan of his own, even though he only stands six feet, seven inches tall. And veteran forward J’Wan Roberts possesses a 7-foot-2 wingspan as a 6-foot-7 tall man himself.

All these long arms are no Houston coincidence. Things happen for a reason in Sampson’s Top 10 program.

“All of our guys really have good wingspans,” UH assistant coach Kellen Sampson tells PaperCity. “It’s something we highlight and recruit. It’s something we target. Especially with the bigs. It’s probably the first thing we look at when we get them here for visits.

“What’s their wingspan? Because it impacts everything we want to do defensively. From how we trap to rebounding to being able to rim protect. Everything.”

Francis is now the backline anchor of what’s looking more and more like the best defense that Kelvin Sampson has ever coached. I first broached the notion of this Houston team playing to be Sampson’s best defense ever back in December — and these Cougars have somehow gotten even better defensively since then. The latest near flawless defensive exhibit comes in Saturday’s 57-42 strangulation of Dawkins’ UCF team that put up 77 points at Texas just three days earlier.

The Knights score 35 points less against Houston, shoot a Big 12 record low 16 percent from the field and need a late flurry to get to that 42 point mark.

“Our defense keeps getting better,” Kelvin Sampson says. “Because we keep working on it. This time of year, you’re not who you are. Unless you quit. I think the only teams that have lost anything (this season) are the ones who quit. And every day we come down to the gym, we work on these new guys.”

Houston’s next level defense is spearheaded by its experienced lifeline point guard Jamal Shead and Baylor transfer LJ Cryer, who account for eight of the Cougars’ 11 steals against UCF. Shead and Cryer often disrupt offenses before they even get into running the play they want with Cryer transforming from an oft-criticized defensive liability at Baylor into a surprise defensive difference maker for the Coogs.

“LJ since he’s been here, he’s bought in completely,” UH associate head coach Quannas White tells PaperCity. “He wanted to come in and become a better defender. And the great thing about this team is they don’t care who scores. They all are committed to wanting to win.

“That’s why you see games like this. Defensively, they just don’t stop coming. That’s what makes this team really special.”

This special team — and defense — is back lined by Francis and Tugler, whose sometimes short stints could become longer with veteran J’Wan Roberts having to sit out all but one minute of the second half against UCF due to more knee issues. While Shead (10 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals) and Cryer (16 points, four threes and four steals) set the tone, Francis and Tugler use their wingspans and their own defensive knowledge t0 clean up anything that gets past the guards. Francis (three blocks in 23 minutes) and Tugler (two blocks in 15 minutes) combine for five of Houston’s seven shot rejections in this 42-point defensive masterpiece.

And they alter even more shots. Good shot blockers can make shooters as hesitant as a student driver trying to enter the highway for the first time.

“All of our guys really have good wingspans. It’s something we highlight and recruit. It’s something we target. Especially with the bigs. It’s probably the first thing we look at when we get them here for visits.” — UH assistant coach Kellen Sampson

For Francis, his transformation into one of the more important players on a now 16-2 team is a testament to the UH’s coaching staff’s steadfast belief in his potential and his own sweat equity. Shead raves about how hard Francis has been working this season.

“A big part of it is just myself wanting to become a better defender,” Francis says. “I know I got be out there for my guys, to help them on the defensive end. Sometimes they’re going to be able to blow by. So I’ve got to be that second line of defense.”

“Defensively, they just don’t stop coming. That’s what makes this team really special.” — UH associate head coach Quannas White

UH’s Wingspan Warriors Ja’Vier Francis and JoJo Tugler

Erasing mistakes is easier when you have an otherworldly wingspan. Francis really started to realize his is special when he saw the wingspan chart on a wall of the remodeled Guy V. Lewis practice facility that includes life-sized Hakeem Olajuwon and Elvin Hayes renderings of the two greatest UH basketball players of all time — and two of the NBA’s all-time best big men. No one would ever compare Francis to either Hall of Famer in a million years. No one can compare to Hakeem and Elvin. But Ja’Vier Francis beats them both in wingspan.

And Tugler, the 18-year-old freshman, beats Francis.

“I have never seen someone with a 7-6 (wingspan),” Kellen Sampson says of Tugler. “Not on a 6-7 player.”

Once Kellen Sampson took a closer look at JoJo Tugler’s mom, he understood the mystery of JoJo’s Plastic Man worthy arms much better. Brenda Tugler, a former basketball standout at Southern University herself, stands 6-foot-1. With a 6-foot-7 wingspan. Kellen Sampson knows this because he asked Brenda Tugler if she’d mind getting her own wingspan measured during her son’s visit. Brenda Tugler happily complied and her son got a kick out of it too.

And you don’t think this UH coaching staff is next level with its player evaluations? There are no accidents in Kelvin Sampson’s program. This Houston team challenging to be the best defensive team Sampson’s ever coached is certainly not one either.

“I’ve played against them a number of years and I’ve seen some terrific defensive teams by Houston,” says Johnny Dawkins, who coached against Sampson in the American Athletic Conference and almost ended Zion Williamson’s one NCAA Tournament run at Duke very early. “But I don’t think I’ve seen one defend as well as I’ve seen this team right here defend for 40 minutes.

“They did a terrific job of taking us out of the things that we wanted to do.”

With uber talented wing Terrance Arceneaux already out for the season with a torn Achilles and Roberts’ knee injury looming large, this increasingly challenged UH team could need to be Sampson’s best defensive team ever to reach its goals. Great defense can hide other faults. So can great desire.

“It’s just their will to want to win,” White says of his Houston team’s defense. “They do a great job of being receptive to what Coach Sampson preaches day in and day out. And the rest of our staff. We’ve got high character kids. We’ve got a great leader in Jamal Shead.”

And they have the wingspan warriors.