Kelvin Sampson Expects LJ Cryer to Make a Quentin Grimes Leap Next Season — This University of Houston Return Is About Doing Something Special
This Elite Shooter Coming Off Foot Surgery Thinks He Can Do Even More When Fully Healthy
BY Chris Baldwin // 04.26.24University of Houston guard LJ Cryer is a natural scorer who's learned to do more after transferring from Baylor. (Photo by F. Carter Smith)
To University of Houston basketball coach Kelvin Sampson, it’s the simplest of equations. Nothing that would tax a capable fifth grader, let alone the crew from Oppenheimer. Of course LJ Cryer is going to make a major leap next season, Sampson will tell you.
Just look to the successful equations from the past, the Quentin Grimes solution in particular.
“Look at Quentin’s third year,” Sampson tells PaperCity. “. . . LJ probably spent from June until September trying to not get hollered at (last season). Or with me getting on him so much.
“So next year, when we start in June or July — he’ll be back (from injury) in July — he’s going to be helping with the new guys. With Mercy (Miller) and Chase (McCarty), the new point guard. And Jacob (McFarland), Kordel (Jefferson), all those guys. He’ll be in there being one of the leaders. He’ll go from being a kid in the back of the room to being a guy in the front row.
“And that’s usually when they make their biggest strides.”
Cryer already led a Top 3 nationally ranked Coogs team in scoring last season, coming in as a transfer from Baylor. What would a Quentin Grimes leap look like for him? Well, it would center around pushing UH to the Final Four like Grimes did, turning himself into a first round NBA Draft pick in the process.
Some thought Grimes should turn pro after his sophomore season, his first season at Houston after transferring in from Kansas. Instead Grimes became one of the Sampson players who stayed and vastly improved his game and his NBA draft stock. Now Grimes is an established NBA player who will enter his fourth pro season next fall with his all-important second contract opportunity looming.
Those who stay usually shine in Sampson’s program.
“The guy that I thought could have come back and probably should have was Kyler Edwards,” Kelvin Sampson tells PaperCity of the Texas Tech transfer who went pro after playing just one season at Houston. “Kyler Edwards would have been a monster that next year. Armoni Brooks would have been a monster (had he stayed for his senior season).”
Cryer is staying, running it back for one more season along with three other starters from last season’s 32-5 team (Emanuel Sharp, J’Wan Roberts and Ja’Vier Francis being the others). Needing surgery on his left foot (which he underwent a few weeks ago) made LJ Cryer’s decision to return easier in some ways. Marcus Sasser returned for one more season in a similar injury situation — and turned himself into a first round NBA Draft pick, like Grimes, too.
“I felt like I played well this year,” Cryer says. “Especially coming in and not knowing how things were going to go. And not being real comfortable. And then not being fully healthy. I don’t think anyone’s ever really fully healthy playing basketball. It’s a grind.
“But I feel like getting my feet fully healthy will help me prepare better. I’ll probably have some aches and bruises next year too. But hopefully it’s just not the feet.”
“He’ll go from being a kid in the back of the room to being a guy in the front row. And that’s usually when they make their biggest strides.” — UH coach Kelvin Sampson on returning guard LJ Cryer
LJ Cryer and The Power of a Second Take at Houston
Cryer, who’s now had two surgeries on his left foot and two surgeries on his right foot in his basketball career, is productive whenever he is on the floor. No matter how he feels. He’s averaged 13.5 points, 15.0 points and 15.5 points per game over the last three seasons — and there are few better shooters in college basketball.
“With this being like a complete turnaround from where I was at and how they did things to here, I think going through this the second time around, I’ll be able to handle it even better. And I feel like that will show on the court as well.” — UH guard LJ Cryer

Now LJ Cryer gets another year in University of Houston basketball’s next level developmental program. As a smaller guard (listed at 6-foot-1), Cryer could need to show more playmaking to attract NBA teams’ interest and he’ll have more chances to do that this season. Oklahoma transfer Milos Uzan is coming in to be Kelvin Sampson’s next starting point guard, but Cryer will get more chances to initiate the offense too.
“I definitely can,” Cryer says when I ask him about taking on more playmaking. “That wasn’t really asked of me this year because of how good Jamal (Shead) was. We didn’t need that from me. We needed me to score the ball and let him do his thing. And I kind of stayed in my own lane.”
Cryer will be creating his own lane this next season, now more than used to (and comfortable) with what it means to play for the relentlessly demanding Sampson.
“At this point, I know what to expect out of him,” Cryer says. “I mean, he’s not going to change. I feel like this year I handled it really well. You know, it was hard at times. But with this being like a complete turnaround from where I was at and how they did things to here, I think going through this the second time around, I’ll be able to handle it even better.
“And I feel like that will show on the court as well.”
Kelvin Sampson is sure it will. This 68-year-old basketball lifer of a coach is as good a guard guru as you’ll find in basketball. Associate head coach Quannas White is building his own rep in that regard too, having helped shepherd Grimes and Sasser into becoming NBA regulars.
“Most of our guys that come back, come back for the right reasons,” Sampson says. “Because I make sure they do. Marcus (Sasser) came back for the right reasons. As long as you put the team first and worry about winning and the culture that we’ve established here, things will usually work out for you.
“If you came back here for individual reasons, it’s not going to work out. For you.”
LJ Cryer is coming back to have his best brought out by Kelvin Sampson, fully aware of what’s coming. And what’s possible.