Important Backup Center Kalifa Sakho Is Close To Returning For Houston, Kelvin Sampson Reveals — a PaperCity Exclusive

Valuable University of Houston backup center Kalifa Sakho is on track to return soon, Kelvin Sampson tells PaperCity. Sakho could be back by 11-1 UH’s next game — a December 29 home game matchup with Middle Tennessee. If not, the Cougars’ first game of the Big 12 conference season — January 3 at Cincinnati — looms as Sakho’s probable return.

“I think we have a chance to have him back for the 29th,” Sampson tells PaperCity. “We’ll see. . . Like (former Cougar player) Kyler (Edwards) had a grade three ankle sprain. Kalifa has the same kind of thing. Grade three knee sprain.”

Sakho has been out since he crumpled to the court with a knee injury in Houston’s December 10 romp over Jackson State and had to be helped back to the locker room. He’s missed two games since then with the Cougars in a stretch that saw them have a week off before Saturday’s showcase national CBS game win over Arkansas. PaperCity first reported on December 11 that Sakho was projected to miss a matter of weeks, with the 6-foot-11 center avoiding the type of catastrophic knee injury that could have ended his season.

If he comes back against Middle Tennessee, Sakho would have been out 19 days. If he comes back against Cincinnati, it will be 24 days between games for Sakho. A return in just over three weeks would have to be considered a major win.

Some might look at Sakho’s overall base statistics — 1.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.5 blocks per game — and think it’s not an important loss. But the Houston coaches and anyone who really understands basketball knows better. Sakho gives Houston an athletic shot blocking, lob finisher and rebounding presence behind reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year JoJo Tugler.

“I think we have a chance to have him back for the 29th. We’ll see. . . Like (former Cougar player) Kyler (Edwards) had a grade three ankle sprain. Kalifa has the same kind of thing. Grade three knee sprain.” — UH coach Kelvin Sampson

UH’s expert talent evaluators specifically targeted Kalifa Sahko in the transfer portal out of Sam Houston State for good reason. August back surgery (first reported by PaperCity) set the tall man back at the start of the season, putting him behind. But Sakho had been coming on before he sprained his knee. He blocked Auburn’s potential game-winning shot in the final possession of that Houston win, making an impact after Tugler fouled out. He finished with authority a few times in UH’s win over Notre Dame in Las Vegas.

“There’s a lot there,” Houston assistant coach K.C. Beard tells PaperCity of Sakho. “Sometimes the only person limiting Kalifa is Kalifa.”

Raising the Ceiling

Before the knee injury, Kelvin Sampson and Beard both regularly challenged Sakho to raise his expectations. “There’s a lot there,” Beard says. ” ‘You’re a good player. You can play at a high level. You’ve just got to surrender yourself to get there.’ ”

This is the UH coaching staff that identified the potential of Marcus Sasser and Jamal Shead — two lightly regarded three star recruits — before almost any other major schools did. The track record screams they know what they’re doing with Sakho, who plenty of teams coveted in the portal. Sakho’s shown his talents in flashes.

“He’s just had bad luck with injuries,” Sampson says.

Expecting Sakho to take a leap immediately on returning from this knee injury is unrealistic. This is another interruption in a run of interruptions since he arrived at Houston. But this guard-blessed team is going to need him as the Big 12 season heats up and March starts to loom.

He needs to make his talented teammates start believing too.

“I think the key will actually be our guys gaining more confidence giving him the ball,” Beard says. “When he finishes. If he can give us something offensively too — two, three, four baskets a game, dump offs, post-ups, whatever. But he certainly has that ability.”

Kalifa Sakho’s latest injury comeback is bigger than many realize. Sampson says he will lean on associate AD for sports medicine John Houston to determine whether that December 29 game is the right date or if Sakho would benefit more from a little more recovery time.

Either way Kalifa Sakho is close. And Houston will be a better team for having him back.