Inside Kelvin Sampson’s Baylor Blitz — Quiet No. 6 Houston Is Showing It’s a Different Offensive Animal This Season and Maybe Even More March Dangerous

The ball keeps moving, finding the open man. Milos Uzan swings it to Emanuel Sharp for a wing three. Sharp hits LJ Cryer for another three. Uzan gets into the lane and finds J’Wan Roberts for an auto hook. Roberts, the 6-foot-8 power forward who sometimes seems to have eyes in the back of his head, flicks a perfect bounce pass to a cutting Terrance Arceneaux for an easy bucket. As the assists pile up, it surely becomes apparent to Baylor coach Scott Drew that he and the rest of the Big 12 are dealing with a different kind of University of Houston animal now.

This is the most diverse offensive team that Kelvin Sampson’s had in his 11 seasons at Houston, opening up new possibilities for a Hall of Fame worthy coach to scheme on the side of the ball he usually doesn’t get credit for impacting. But make no mistake, No. 6 Houston runs away from Baylor in a Big Monday showdown with its pretty offense as much as its signature relentless defense.

UH will build a 71-46 lead with less than six minutes remaining before cruising to a deceptive 76-65 final margin. By racking up 17 assists (with eight different players getting at least one) on its 27 made baskets. Shooting 51 percent for the game, 42 percent (10 for 24 ) from three. By playing ruthlessly efficient on offense. This isn’t one of Kelvin Sampson’s vintage defensive UH teams (at least not yet, certainly not as suffocating as last season) and it might not matter. Because Houston still plays some of the best defense in the country with an offense with many more options. And good shooters.

With Tank Dell (making his first public appearance since suffering that gruesome leg injury, continuing to vibe with Kelvin Sampson), Case Keenum, Greg Ward Jr., Tyus Bowser, Calvin Murphy, Carl Lewis and seemingly everyone else in an energized (and seemingly extra hot) Fertitta Center for this Big Monday Big 12 showcase, UH would play one of its most promising games of the entire season. Flexing its possibilities.

“In a lot of ways, this year’s team is like our 2022 team,” University of Houston assistant coach Kellen Sampson tells PaperCity. “Where I thought we started five best players. Josh (Carton), Fabian (White Jr.), Taze (Moore), Kyler (Edwards) with Jamal (Shead). Any of those guys depending on the matchup could have been our best player on the court any night. Our team is shaping up to be something similar.

“We can move our compass around a little bit. Point it to the guy who has the best matchup. They’re all unselfish enough to make the right play whatever it is. And that’s the way the 2022 team evolved.”

With a force of multiples. Not leaning on one.

Kelvin Sampson has lamented before that the 2021-22 team is the one he felt really could have made a run to the Monday night national championship game. Those Cougars would fall to Villanova 50-44 in the Elite Eight when they shot an unfathomable 1-for-20 from three. It’s no coincidence that UH’s sought out better and better shooters ever since to the point where this year’s team now has the Never Neverland range Emanuel Sharp (44 percent from three), LJ Cryer (41 percent from deep playing with an injured shooting hand), new point guard Milos Uzan (39 percent from three), sixth man Terrance Arceneaux (39 percent from 3-point range) and even a drastically improved Mylik Wilson (44 percent from three on 25 attempts).

Hitting Them With Multiples, Leaving Baylor Spinning

That shooting — and J’Wan Roberts’ passing from the four spot — open up all kinds of avenues for Sampson, one of the best in-game coaches in America, to play with. To find the best matchup. And exploit it. Until it stops working and he goes to the next one.

“I think it’s one of our strengths,” Kelvin Sampson says. “The other one is mistakes. We average single digit turnovers. We had seven turnovers tonight and we ran as much as we can. . .

“But eliminating mistakes is what this great game’s about. It’s not about great plays. It’s about eliminating mistakes. Our ability to have multiple options is good for us.”

It is certainly much different from last year’s Houston team which ran almost everything through Big 12 Player of the Year Jamal Shead (for good reason). Shead put together one of the greatest single seasons in UH basketball’s long storied history, the Elvin Hayes and Phi Slama Jama eras included, making much of what Houston did on offense and defense work.

“In a lot of ways, this year’s team is like our 2022 team. . . Any of those guys depending on the matchup could have been our best player on the court any night. Our team is shaping up to be something similar.” — UH assistant coach Kellen Sampson

This season’s University of Houston team is much more diverse in how it attacks teams on offense. Running things through the passing of J’Wan Roberts, with LJ Cryer bringing the ball up sometimes, through Emanuel Sharp on the wings, with Uzan getting into the lane.

It’s the difference between having the world’s best vanilla ice cream and having access to all 31 flavors.

“My goodness, we were right to run everything through Jamal last year,” Kellen Sampson says. “He was so damn good as a decision maker. He could get us in a great flow last year on his own.

“This year is more like that 2022 team. It was Kyler. It was Jamal. It became a lot of Taze. And then it was Josh by the end. This year’s team is really just kind of going through that. We’re seeing how teams are defending us. And once we’ve identified what the other team’s game plan is, then we know who we’re going to throw the ball to.”

With a force of multiples. Not leaning on one.

Scott Drew, one of the better coaches in college basketball, a proven national championship builder, decided to concentrate on limiting J’Wan Roberts. UH responds by going to other matchups to confound shorthanded Baylor, getting four other players in double figures to go with Robets’ 10 points on seven total shots. Cryer gets 14 points, Uzan 12 (plus six assists against zero turnovers as the rock-line point guard), Emanuel Sharp 10 and Terrance Arceneaux 11 in 22 minutes off the bench. And backup point guard Mylik Wilson scores nine points.

There is no head of the snake to chop off with this Houston offense. Instead, there are multiple heads all snapping around, taking their turns, getting in their bites. Call it the Medusa offense. It certainly will be haunting Baylor in the film review to come.

All the options in this UH offense gives Kelvin Sampson and his point guard on the floor the ability to hunt matchups, almost more like what an NBA team does regularly.

“That’s definitely something you want to do,” Milos Uzan tells PaperCity. “You want to exploit the matchups. Try to get a guard on a big. Or a big on a guard. That’s what we do and we take advantage of it.”

That’s how Baylor finds itself down 71-46 with arguably the most talented player on the floor in its freshman guard VJ Edgecombe, an expected NBA Lottery pick, hitting every shot he manages to get up and the Bears shooting 60 percent from three for the game overall. Rushing to try and get into its offense before UH’s defense can get set up, Baylor commits 15 turnovers even playing with an all guard lineup at times. And Houston’s relentless matchup hunting helps turn those 15 turnovers into 28 points.

There is no head of the snake to chop off with this Houston offense. Instead, there are multiple heads all snapping around, taking their turns, getting in their bites. Call it the Medusa offense.

Top 10 And Underrated?

Watching from his prime court side seat, ESPN Big Monday analyst Fran Fraschilla sees a University of Houston team that is taking the next step even as it runs its record to 20-4 and 12-1 in the Big 12.

“There’s no doubt in my mind, that they can be more efficient than the team we saw on the court last year,” Fraschilla tells PaperCity after calling the UH-Baylor game, with the ever entertaining KBO king Jon Sciambi waiting for him to go eat. “They’re deeper. They shoot it better. Their point guard is growing into the role that they all expected for him. And they come out every day and give it their all.

“It’s the quietest sixth ranked team in America. Because people have still kind of put Houston on the back burner when you look at the Top 5, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Duke. But this is absolutely a national championship contender without a doubt.”

“We’re seeing how teams are defending us. And once we’ve identified what the other team’s game plan is, then we know who we’re going to throw the ball to.” — UH assistant Kellen Sampson

One where its adaptable offense gives it another dimension, a potentially higher ceiling than even last season’s 32-5 team. This is a Houston team that can find ways to beat you with offense too.

“As many options as we got, we’ve got a lot of guys who can have their night,” Uzan says. “I think that’s what makes us so good as well. It really just depends on the defense. Whoever’s night it is, it can be their night.

“I feel like a lot of the times we share it.”

The ball is moving and this quiet sixth-ranked team is only shooting up. With a force of multiples. Not leaning on one.