Inside the Kelvin Sampson Education of Milos Uzan — And the Best Advice Houston’s New Point Guard’s Received On “Replacing” Jamal Shead

Shortly after Milos Uzan arrived on the University of Houston campus, Karen Sampson noticed something with the new handpicked transfer point guard. So the Coach’s wife approached Uzan in her mom away from home way. Karen Sampson does not do Xs and Os, though she’s picked up plenty about how to attack a 2-3 zone from being at Kelvin Sampson’s side for more than 44 years. Her area is more emotions and feelings, maybe a little psychology, most of all concerned mom stuff.

“I just told Milos to be himself,” Karen Sampson says. “To not worry about being anyone else. Just be yourself. He wants to please everybody. But we just need him to be himself.”

The someone else that many will want Milos Uzan to be is Jamal Shead of course. Shead won both Big 12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in UH’s first year in the Power 4 conference. He is as beloved as any player in Houston basketball history and is about to start his first season with the Toronto Raptors as the latest Kelvin Sampson NBA player. Attempting to replace Jamal Shead is akin to trying to recast Michael Scott on The Office.

Karen Sampson just urging Milos Uzan to be himself stuck with the 21-year-old.

“Hearing that from Coach Sampson’s wife that’s special for sure,” Uzan tells PaperCity. “That was actually one of the first times I met her too. She told me that. To be myself and know that they picked me. I definitely felt that for sure.”

How do you replace Jamal Shead will be the question Kelvin Sampson gets most early in the season, taking the place of those queries about how UH will adapt to the Big 12 (answer: rather easily) from last season. If No. 4 Houston loses a few of its demanding early season tests — against No. 11 Auburn on November 9 at Toyota Center, versus No. 2 Alabama and No. 25 Rutgers in the NIL Players Era Festival in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving week — those outside point guard concerns will escalate in the national media.

But those who know best, those who’ve played under Sampson, are not concerned about Milos Uzan. They will tell you that he is no weak link. Wes VanBeck, who started his UH career as a walk-on on Kelvin Sampson’s very first Houston team and became a key piece on the coach’s first Houston NCAA Tournament team, played against Uzan in an intense scrimmage this summer. One that had older, experienced professional basketball players such as Rob Gray competing against the current team.

Uzan more than held this own against those pros while distributing the ball to UH’s returning starters. And finding new freshman guard Mercy Miller for open looks.

“They gave us all we could handle,” VanBeck tells PaperCity. “They were leading most of that game. I was impressed by the new transfer in — Milos. I thought he controlled the game really well.”

“Hearing that from Coach Sampson’s wife that’s special for sure. That was actually one of the first times I met her too. She told me that. To be myself and know that they picked me. I definitely felt that for sure.” — new UH point guard Milos Uzan

No Jamal Shead Yearning

Uzan being himself is a long armed 6-foot-4 point guard who’s shown court vision and glimpses of real long-range shooting ability (Uzan shot 40.8 percent from three as a freshman and 29.6 percent from distance as a sophomore on more volume at Oklahoma). His defense needs some work, which is one of the reasons he wanted to learn the ways from Sampson at Houston.

This isn’t Jamal Shead. And Milos Uzan is not trying to be.

“I mean Jamal’s a great player,” Uzan tells PaperCity. “I’m not really here for the comparisons. I’m a new point guard coming in. We’re just going to see his path and then my path. I’m not really into comparing it.”

That’s not quite Theodore Roosevelt’s “Comparison is the thief of joy,” but it’s close enough. Reflective of a University of Houston basketball program that is built around helping players grow into the best versions of themselves rather than forcing them into preset boxes.

“You have to go out there and not try to simulate someone else,” UH associate head coach Quannas White says. “You have to be you. Jamal didn’t try to be (former UH point guard) DeJon (Jarreau). DeJon didn’t try and be (former floor leader) Galen (Robinson).

“All those guys are unique in their own way and they all were successful here. And there’s no doubt in my mind, because of how good a kid Milos is, he’s going to have an outstanding career here.”

Uzan is still adjusting to life with a coach as relentlessly demanding as Sampson and a program where every practice becomes a war. He’s sporting a huge a bandage across his nose and will start this season playing with a mask on to protect the broken nose he suffered after colliding with third year guard Emanuel Sharp while trying to take the ball away during a rebounding drill.

“This is tough coaching right here,” Uzan laughs. “I’ve never really had a coach like Coach Sampson honestly. Somebody who’s going to always push you to be your best and that’s exactly why I came here. I want to be the best version of myself.

“I think he’ll get that out of me.”

The Milos Uzan Game

White, who works with the guards and helped bring Quentin Grimes, Marcus Sasser and Jamal Shead along, sees plenty of upside in Milos Uzan’s game to tap into.

“There’s not one thing offensively he can’t do,” White says. “He comes in as a really good shooter and he’s going to continue to improve. Because he has great habits and a great work ethic. But his skill level is just off the charts. He can make every read in the pick and roll.

“He’s a really good passer. He can pass with either his left or right hand, Now it’s just about making him more aggressive. He’s been doing that this (preseason). . . He’s just got to keep hitting the rock. Keep stacking the days. And he’s going to be fine.”

Kelvin Sampson expects a lot from his point guards and the start of fall practice had the coaching lifer pulling Uzan aside again and again to go over points and correct mistakes. If you’re Kelvin Sampson’s point guard, you’re going to have him in your ear, like a second conscience you never asked for or knew you needed.

“I’m not sure that he would call it good time,” Kelvin Sampson cracks. “Point guards always have a little bit more responsibility. I’ve had a lot of good point guards — and Milos is going to be a good point guard.”

“There’s not one thing offensively he can’t do.He comes in as a really good shooter and he’s going to continue to improve. Because he has great habits and a great work ethic. But his skill level is just off the charts. He can make every read in the pick and roll. He’s a really good passer.” — UH associate head coach Quannas White on Milos Uzan

Karen Sampson has some advice for the new point guard there too. “It’s what I always tell everybody,” she says. “Listen to what he says. Not how he says it. It’s going to be hard for you.

“It’s going to be hard. But that’s the way.”

Milos Uzan is all in on the UH way, the Kelvin Sampson way, now. “I’ve seen all the NBA guys and former players coming back,” Uzan says. “I realized that there’s something good going on over here. I wanted to be a part of it.”

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 — bookmark this page. Follow Baldwin on the platform formerly known as Twitter here.