How JoJo Tugler’s Beautiful Mind and Kelvin Sampson’s Relentless Preparation Made March Magic For Houston — Inside a Game-Winning Inbounds Play For The Ages

INDIANAPOLIS — JoJo Tugler sees the angles on a basketball court that others miss, just knows where the ball needs to go. Asking him to explain it is like asking Picasso to talk about what he pictures on a canvas. Or Jimi Hendrix to analyze a riff. You can’t explain natural genius. But in the cauldron of a Sweet 16 game that feels like a true road game, Tugler’s unique gifts, Kelvin Sampson’s relentless preparation and Milos Uzan’s moment combine to create the most perfectly imperfect inbounds play ever.

One that pushes Houston right into the Elite Eight, one win from the second Final Four of Sampson’s beyond remarkable University of Houston tenure. When Tugler takes an inbounds pass from Uzan about eight feet from the basket and immediately throws a textbook bounce pass to a cutting Uzan, all joy breaks loose. Lost by the Purdue defense as he comes inbounds, Uzan finds himself with a wide open baseline path to the hoop. He drops the ball in at the rim with 0.9 seconds remaining.

Houston 62, Purdue 60. Beyond Elite. Keeping UH’s never-give-in national championship pursuit alive. By the grace of JoJo Tugler’s beautiful basketball mind.

“Instinctively instinctive,” Kelvin Sampson says when I ask him about Tugler. “He really is. He’s instinctively instinctive. There’s some guys — like Milos has a really high basketball IQ. Marcus Sasser had an elite basketball IQ. Jamal Shead’s basketball IQ is off the charts. (Purdue point guard) Braden Smith’s IQ is off the charts. Chris Paul.

“There’s some guys, their IQ is just off the charts. I wouldn’t compare JoJo’s IQ to Chris Paul’s. But I would compare his instincts. Those are two different categories there. JoJo is a baller. He knows how to play.”

He knows how to facilitate winning. Tugler, whose broken foot late in the regular season derailed last year’s UH team almost as much as Jamal Shead’s injury against Duke in that Sweet 16 loss did, runs a play that Sampson’s had his team practice again and again to perfection. By not fixating on the first option. Or the second option. Which are all shut off. By seeing what is actually unfolding on the court and instantly reacting to it.

“It’s incredible,” UH assistant coach K.C. Beard tells PaperCity of Tugler. “I remember telling Coach a year ago, ‘Coach he may be the most instinctual player I’ve ever seen.’ He just knows how to play. His feel for when to pass — you just can’t teach it.”

Like Sampson, Beard spent several years in the NBA. He’s been around the best basketball players in the world. And he’s never come across a player quite like JoJo Tugler, a 6-foot-8 shot blocking savant with the wingspan of a condor who also just knows where the ball needs to go.

Purdue loses track of Uzan after Houston’s point guard inbounds the ball, with Matt Painter’s team fixating on UH All-American guard LJ Cryer (the first option on the inbounds play Sampson draws up) zigging and zagging, long range bomber Emanuel Sharp lurking beyond the arc and power forward J’Wan Roberts working to get free. But JoJo sees him. Even before Uzan gets inbounds, JoJo Tugler sees what is unfolding.

In an instant. In the moment. With an entire arena, the majority of it pulling for home-state Purdue to pull the upset, screaming or praying. With so many others feeling the chaos.

“Game time Los, get back inbounds,” Tugler says of what goes through his basketball mind. “He could have shot the floater though. I thought he was going to shoot. I like it though.”

How can you not like it? No. 1 seed Houston avoids the overtime where anything could have happened. It wins the game with less than a second remaining. Game. Beyond Elite. And so alive.

Three wins downs, halfway to completing the national championship mission that’s been driving this program ever since that shorthanded loss to Duke last March. And really for years and years before that. Two wins from getting to play in the Monday night national championship game, which is all Kelvin Sampson’s ever asked for.

“We worked so hard to get to this point,” Cryer tells PaperCity. “Started in the summer time. I think back to the Ole Miss scrimmage when we first got together and how much we’ve grown. So it’s definitely special.

“Hopefully we can get this next one so we can get to San Antonio.”

The next one is a pretty quick turnaround 1:20 pm Houston time Sunday showdown (CBS) with No. 2 seed Tennessee out of the hyped SEC. Winner gets to cut down the nets in Lucas Oil Stadium’s cavernous land and jet on to that Final Four in the Alamo City. Loser leaves in tears.

“I remember telling Coach a year ago, ‘Coach he may be the most instinctual player I’ve ever seen.’ He just knows how to play. His feel for when to pass — you just can’t teach it.” — UH assistant K.C. Beard on JoJo Tugler

Deep In The Madness With JoJo Tugler

After this one is over, after Houston gets 22 points and a career-high six 3-pointers from Milos Uzan, 17 points from Emanuel Sharp, eight points off the bench from Ja’Vier Francis and 16 offensive rebounds (with J’Wan Roberts collecting five of those in a 12 rebound night) to outlast Purdue, Kelvin Sampson writes 33-4 on the big whiteboard in the UH locker room, giving the Cougars’ record its due. The time on his Apple watch reads 1:11 am in Indianapolis and Sampson is still talking to reporters. An epic game that started late on Friday night ends early on Saturday morning thanks to an inbounds play named 51 that Sampson had his team practicing just the day before. Or was it two days before?

It’s deep into the Madness now. Who really knows what day it is anymore?

Sampson always seems to know what his team needs though, And in a break before that perfectly imperfect inbounds play that starts with 2.8 seconds on the clock, Houston’s coach rejects his assistants’ ideas to run a different play.

“I told my assistant coaches that when they become head coaches, don’t try to be the smartest guy in the room by drawing up a tricky play at the end of the game,” Sampson says, “Do something that they’ve practiced, that they’ve repped over and over again so they all have confidence.

“You could tell our kids had run that play.”

It is an inbounds play Houston’s practiced all season, one it worked on again in San Antonio after arriving on Wednesday. Now it has Kelvin Sampson’s bunch dancing on to Sunday. To another Elite Eight, the coach’s third at Houston and fifth overall.

There are no do-overs in the NCAA Tournament, the most cruel and unforgiving of the sports championships in this country. But also sometimes the most magical.

“Coach has got a tremendous feel,” Beard tells PaperCity. “And to his credit, he knew exactly the look we’d get. Put it in Jo’s hands and Jo made a play. When you get down to these times, all you can do is put your players in a position to be successful. Coach knows how to do that better than anybody.”

It’s deep into the Madness now. Who really knows what day it is anymore? Kelvin Sampson always seems to know what his team needs though.

These Cougars aren’t just one of the most talented teams in the country. They’re one of the most resilient. They just keep finding a way, forged by a beginning of the season when they just didn’t know how to close. No one closes better than Milos Uzan and Co. now.

“We’re still dancing,” Uzan says.

Every big dance forward brings more and more people into Kelvin Sampson’s unique hoops world. University of Houston president Renu Khator bounces over to celebrate with the Spirit of Houston band after stepping onto the court to turn and clap for the relatively small (especially compared to the Purdue backers who only needed to travel a mere 65 miles to get here) but proud contingent of UH fans all dressed in red.

Kelvin Sampson’s created a community of believers, but as the clock ticks towards 1:30 am, he’s focused on his group in the locker room. “Come on Will,” the 69-year-old basketball lifer of a coach barks to Will Finch, Houston’s associate director of operations, who’s hunched on the floor of the locker room, still caught up in the moment. “What are you going to do? Sleep here. Let’s go.”

With that, Sampson, his wife Karen, his daughter Lauren and the last of his assistant coaches will head down the wide long back corridor of this NFL Stadium, heading for the waiting bus. JoJo Tugler and his beautiful mind, and all the rest of the players are already on it.

From here, any angle looks Sweet and oh so Elite.