Master P Is Proud His Son Mercy Miller Is No Spoiled Rich Kid — Embracing the Hard Of Houston Gives This Fighter a Chance to Build On Historic Moment
UH's Bench Truths Can Raise the Ceiling Of Kelvin Sampson's Team
BY Chris Baldwin //
University of Houston guard Mercy Miller can get cooking off the bench. (Photo by F. Carter Smith)
Mercy Miller knows what people think of him, what strangers who don’t know him assume. When you’re the son of a famous music mogul everyone imagines your life’s been one gilded easy street after another. “A lot of people think I have a certain path, but I have to earn everything,” Miller tells PaperCity. “Have to just work twice as hard sometimes.”
When people think you’re a spoiled rich kid, they want to test you even more. Miller’s experienced this throughout his life, which is why his dad Master P is so proud of his son’s basketball path.
“I’m just watching his growth and the way he’s going,” Master P tells PaperCity. “I feel like the sky’s the limit for him. Nothing came easy for him.”
Miller having a breakout game (a career-high 15 points on perfect 5-for-5 shooting from the field and 4-for-4 work at the free throw line with two steals) against the University of New Orleans team that his father is the president of basketball operations and an assistant coach for is no coincidence. University of Houston coach Kelvin Sampson is adept at recognizing potential moments for his players and he gave Mercy Miller every chance to make this one happen on Saturday. And Miller took it from there.
“I know it was probably nerve racking for both of ’em,” UH assistant coach Hollis Price says. “But I’m glad we got the inside of this battle. You don’t see too many players go against their dads. Usually they’re on the same team.
“And Coach brought it to fruition.”
Fathers and sons in college basketball are often partnerships. Think Homer Drew and Bryce Drew. Greg McDermott and Doug McDermott. Mike Davis and Antonio Davis.Wade Houston and Allan Houston. Press Maravich and Pete Maravich. Master P, whose real name is Percy Miller, touts “the history” of Mercy and he being on opposite sides in a college basketball game.
That’s a moment worth embracing — and Sampson does by it by putting Mercy Miller in with 12:44 left in the first half, an earlier than usual sub in for the reserve guard. Sampson likes to get Miller into games and see what type of energy and attention to detail he’s bringing that game. In this one, there is no doubt. Miller gets into the lane and hits a step-back jumper less than a minute after entering. Then he follows it with a steal he turns into a breakaway slam.
Master P talks to @PaperCityMag about emotions after seeing his son Mercy Miller score career-high 15 points against Percy’s New Orleans team. “Mercy is just doing his thing… Nothing’s come easy for him.” Notes how historic it is. Says Kelvin Sampson told him to win conference. pic.twitter.com/KuBVx1lhgi
— Chris Baldwin (@ChrisYBaldwin) December 13, 2025
Now it’s about turning this performance into more than one of the coolest father-son moments you’ll see in sports all year. Mercy Miller needs to build on it, to keep the impact plays coming in the games where points don’t come as easy for Houston as they do in this 99-57 wipeout of New Orleans. This now 10-1 UH team gets an 8-2 Arkansas team that’s already played No. 3 Duke (loss), No. 9 Michigan State (loss), No. 11 Louisville (win) and No. 19 Texas Tech (win) in Newark, New Jersey on one of the biggest Saturdays of college basketball’s non-conference season next.
“A lot of people think I have a certain path, but I have to earn everything. Have to just work twice as hard sometimes.” — UH guard Mercy Miller
The days of Sampson’s team putting up 88 bench points — as Houston has in its last two runaway wins — are over. But Miller and small ball four Chase McCarty, who combined for 30 points against Master P’s team, can still help swing games for the Cougars. It’s about making the most of their moments, about seizing the minutes they get.
“I feel like I just got to carry that mindset into every practice and every game,” McCarty says. “Don’t really worry about what happens on the offensive end. As long as I play my hardest, best effort, something good is going to happen.”
Creating Your Own Moment
You need to create your own good in Kelvin Sampson’s relentlessly demanding program. Mercy Miller’s learned this. The smooth hooper who once scored 68 points in a high school game as easy as could be has become a much tougher player at Houston. One his dad marvels at.
“Mercy is a competitor,” Master P tells PaperCity. “He’s just a competitive person. I like the way he handled his business. His mindset. He stayed focused and did what he needed to do. I’m happy for my son.
“It’s going to be an amazing journey for him.”
You never know where a college basketball journey is going to take you these days. Mercy Miller’s already chosen the hard of Houston twice, committing to Sampson early in his high school recruiting process and choosing the demanding life of a Cougar again after last season. Miller enjoys the hardcore hoops laboratory of the developmental program that Sampson and his elite staff have nurtured.
Throughout this season, Mercy Miller has consistently been one of the last players on the court after practices, getting in extra shooting and work in with assistant coaches Anthony Goldwire or Hollis Price, graduate assistant Ryan Elvin and a bevy of team managers.
“If you want to be the best, you’ve got to be part of the best,” Miller tells PaperCity. “Just every day at practice Coach expects a thousand out of me. And everybody else on the team. To just be able to be there, soaking up everything and just learning so much, I think it’s making me better in every single way.
“And not just on the court.”
“Mercy is a competitor. He’s just a competitive person. I like the way he handled his business. His mindset. He stayed focused and did what he needed to do. I’m happy for my son.” — Master P
Master P always has been obsessed with basketball, playing hoops at UH briefly and Merritt College before a later run in the CBA and NBA training camp stints. He’ll tell you the game helped keep him safe growing up in the rough streets of New Orleans. It bonded him with his son too.
“I bought him the little Nerf basketball court from Target when he was 3 years old,” Master P says of Mercy.”Then to watch where he is now. . .”
Miller is finding his way in Houston’s demanding hoops world. Progress does not always come in a straight upward line. This talent-packed UH team’s ultimate fate will not be determined by how well Mercy Miller and Chase McCarty play off the bench. But they could help raise the Cougars’ ceiling even higher.
One good minute at a time.
“He gives us something off the bench that we do need,” Hollis Price tells PaperCity of Miller. “But Coach always preach, his main thing is defense. Keeping the guy in front of him, defending and rebounding like he’s been doing.”
Master P to @PaperCityMag on moment with son Mercy Miller: “To be on both sides of the court in college. I know this is history.. That was an incredible moment for me as a parent. Just enjoy the moment. To have father and son on opposite sides on Division I basketball.” pic.twitter.com/ZpOThtsUzs
— Chris Baldwin (@ChrisYBaldwin) December 13, 2025
Kelvin Sampson still gets on Miller for two second half turnovers in the romp over New Orleans. This Hall of Fame level coach does not believe in free passes. Mercy Miller isn’t seeking one. “Everything I’ve gotten, I’ve had to earn it,” he says. “All my life, even in high school, people doubting how much I’d want it. . .
“It’s the deal. Go out there and just keep proving myself. And proving the work. That it shows up.”
The father-son opposite sides basketball game is historic, heartwarming, a snapshot to treasure. Mercy is as excited to play in front of his grandmother as he is to embrace his dad in the handshake line, two competitors sharing a moment. He seemingly takes photos with all 30 family members and close friends who come to the game.
But he’s already thinking of the next game, of how he can build on this.
“He’s just getting started,” Master P says, flashing a mega-watt smile in front of the New Orleans’ locker room, no one else around. The rapper turned mogul turned basketball builder cannot wait to see what’s next either.
No outlet covers UH basketball throughout the entire calendar year with more consistency and focus than PaperCity Houston. For more of Chris Baldwin’s extensive, detailed and unique insider coverage of UH sports — stories you cannot read anywhere else, stay tuned. Follow Baldwin on the platform formerly known as Twitter here.