How Milos Uzan Made His Houston Teammates Believe When Everyone Else Doubted — “He’s Our Point Guard”
Embracing Kelvin Sampson's Four to One Turnover Ratio Demands and an Offense Adjusted For Him
BY Chris Baldwin // 01.31.25"New" University of Houston point guard Milos Uzan is creating open shots for his teammates and himself. (Photo by F. Carter Smith)
Milos Uzan heard the chatter, but the voices of his own University of Houston teammates spoke louder to him. Uzan felt the confidence of Emanuel Sharp, LJ Cryer, J’Wan Roberts and the rest of the Cougars. When you’re being doubted, a little belief around you can go a long way.
Uzan has grown into the elite point guard of a 17-3 (9-0 Big 12) Houston team in front of a once dubious college basketball world. A unique force capable of putting up 17 points, nine assists and nine rebounds while playing 41 minutes without committing a single turnover at Kansas. And following that up by committing only two turnovers in 38 minutes and posting a game-high plus 18 plus-minus rating in a wild setting at West Virginia. Kelvin Sampson’s team has won 13 straight games heading into Saturday’s festive Fertitta Center showdown with Texas Tech (5 pm, ESPN2) in no small part because Milos Uzan is now in full command.
Of this UH offense. Of his own game. Or his confidence.
“We always knew that’s how he was,” Sharp tells PaperCity of the Oklahoma transfer. “He just had to get comfortable. Get used to the way we play, how we play. And it shows. He’s a great point guard. Everybody is always talking about how he was supposed to replace Jamal (Shead) and that’s not the case.
“Milos is his own person. He does it his own way. You can see that. He’s great by himself. He’s great however he does it. We don’t need another Jamal. We have Milos. We follow Milos.”
Uzan is following the treating-every-turnover-like-an-abomination mantra of Kelvin Sampson. Playing point guard, Uzan’s heard coaches preach about not turning over the ball most of his hoops life. But he’s never heard it put it in such stark ways with specific expectations like Sampson does it. A four to one turnover ratio — four assists to every turnover — is what Sampson told Uzan would be good. Four to one would work.
“Not at all,” Uzan tells PaperCity when asked if another coach ever instructed him to shoot for a four to one turnover ratio. “I’ve heard others say two to one or three to one is pretty good. But he sets you to a high standard. He’s trying to push you to be the best you can be. I respect that.”
It turns out those demands manifest. Milos Uzan ranks third in the entire country in assist to turnover ratio at 4.26 assists per turnover, the new guy taking on Sampson’s demands like a challenge. Uzan didn’t know it at first, but it turns out you can be careful with the basketball and still be creative. Uzan is getting better and better at using his floater in the lane, darting in and pulling up to either pass or float up his own shot.
Kansas had few answers for it late in regulation and the two overtimes. Uzan scored 12 of his 17 points after halftime, hitting four of his seven shots and finishing the last 30 minutes of UH’s signature victory this season with a plus 15 plus-minus rating. That is a Kevin Sampson approved level of efficiency. Even Severance’s Lumon Industries would be happy with that type of production.
“We don’t need another Jamal. We have Milos. We follow Milos.” — UH guard Emanuel Sharp

It’s the sign of a point guard in complete control. One who’s grown to regard turnovers as almost as much of a pox as Kelvin Sampson does.
“I think it just keeps you sharp,” Uzan says of Sampson’s demands. “To win games, you’ve got to limit your mistakes. I think it just helps with your decision making, trying to make the right play. I’m not trying to have careless turnovers.
“I think it definitely just helps you focus on winning more than making mistakes.”
“He sets you to a high standard. He’s trying to push you to be the best you can be. I respect that.” — Milos Uzan on Kelvin Sampson
The Milos Uzan Floater
Sampson’s pushed Uzan to be more aggressive looking for his own shot at times this season. This 69-year-old basketball lifer of a coach has also found more and more creative ways to get Uzan the best shots for him. Which are not the same as the best shots for Jamal Shead, In that Kansas game, Sampson called plays that put the ball in Uzan’s with lanes to attack, allowing him to penetrate and either dish to a teammate or pull-up for one of those increasingly effective floaters.
“A lot of teams with bigger post guys will drop their center,” Sampson notes. “Which gives Milos a lot of room. We have stuff we work on that allows him to get downhill, I think all the way back to the Auburn game we started really focusing on that. . .
“Milos has a good speed to him. He gets to his spots pretty good. The thing that helps him is our spacing. Especially with LJ (Cryer) and Emanuel. Very few teams are helping off those guys in the corners. So if Milos gets downhill, it’s usually one-on-one with a defender.
“Now it comes down to making the right decision. He’s gotten better at that.”

Uzan isn’t overpassing as much anymore. He’s not reaching to commit fouls as frequently, having come to understand how to play the stifling suffocating defense that Kelvin Sampson demands without picking up nonsensical fouls. It is all much different from what was expected of Uzan at Oklahoma the last two seasons.
The jump from Milos Uzan in November to Milos Uzan as the calendar flips to February is the single biggest difference in this now sixth-ranked nationally Houston team.
“You can see how much No. 7’s grown at Houston,” University of Utah coach Craig Smith says. “We recruited him.” Utah’s coach utters that last part rather wistfully.
Sure, this powerhouse Houston program, and specifically Kelvin Sampson, handpicked Uzan to be the next Cougars point guard, following Big 12 Player of the Year Jamal Shead and DeJon Jarreau and Galen Robinson Jr. before him, continuing an 11-year line with few names and a lot of excellence. But Sampson is quick to remind that Uzan picked Houston too when he could have gone a lot of other places. Including schools and teams where he could have been the No. 1 option with everything flowing through him.
Uzan wanted to be part of one of the very best teams in the country though, to have a real chance to win a national championship. And he quickly won his equally titled-obsessed teammates over.
“He’s our point guard,” Emanuel Sharp says firmly. “We’re great with him.”
Defense and The Quest
Uzan has been more vocal in taking on head of the snake defensive role, asking to guard the best guard on the other team more than once already. Uzan hounded BYU point guard Egor Demin, a projected NBA lottery pick, into 1-for-6 shooting, limiting him to three points, in a Houston romp.
“I take pride in my defense,” Uzan tells PaperCity. “I want to guard the best guard on the other team. If that’s what this team needs from me that’s what I’m going to do.”
Uzan helped hold West Virginia guard Javon Small, one of the Big 12 Player of the Year favorites and the conference’s leading scorer, to a combined 21 points in two UH wins as the primary defender, essentially limiting one of the nation’s most explosive guards to half his season average. Building the belief.
“I think we’re a national championship team,” Uzan says. “And right now we’re kind of being a sleeper.
“We like that. Stay on that side.”
Uzan is staying on that side, working on his game in UH’s hoops lab. This is a program driven by the idea that everything can be refined, added to, improved on. And with Houston associate head coach Quannas White, who’s become something of a guard whisperer, Uzan is all in. So are his teammates.
“We never worried about Milos,” LJ Cryer says. “We always saw what he could do, how good he is. He always stays calm. He never freaked out about anything.”
No doubts. No wavering. Now the rest of the college basketball world is catching on.
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