JoJo Tugler and The Power of Three — This Should Be Kelvin Sampson’s Best Shooting Houston Team Ever and No Small March Difference Maker

JoJo Tugler doesn’t hesitate when point guard Milos Uzan passes him the ball just to the right of the top of the key. The big man rises up to fire from three and hits the shot. It’s certainly the most unexpected of the 12 3-pointers Kelvin Sampson’s University of Houston team makes in its season opening 97-40 wipeout of Jackson State.

Well, maybe JoJo expected it.

“I ain’t no big man, no five,” Tugler told PapeCity earlier this fall. “I certainly ain’t no five. I can do everything. I have a step back (jumper) too. Everyone’s going to see.”

As endlessly entertaining as JoJo Tugler is, whether he’s playing, talking or just being JoJo, the reality is he worked hard to give himself the chance to shoot some 3-pointers this season. It may help one of college basketball’s truly unique difference makers fit in with what should be the best shooting team Kelvin Sampson’s had in his 11 seasons at Houston. And one of the best shooting teams he’s ever coached in a lifetime of coaching.

“As long as they keep working,” Sampson says when I ask if this fourth ranked UH team can be one of his best shooting teams ever. “Not going to shoot like this every night. I’ve been around long enough. . . But our kids are unselfish and they know how to run our offense.

“But sometimes the difference in your offense is the ball going in. . . Last year we were not a great shooting team.”

UH ranked 137th in the country in 3-pointers made per game last season at 7.7 per game. If the Cougars can bring that up, even a little, it could help swing things in March when it matters most. When you’re in the rarefied air Kelvin Sampson’s Houston program occupies, clearly one of the 10 best college basketball programs in America, a perennial national championship contender, the margins become ultra slim in the race to win it all. Sometimes it just may be another 3-pointer made, here or there.

In its close Elite Eight loss to Villanova in 2022, Houston shot 1 for 20 from 3-point land. One more made three in the right moment could have swung that game Jamal Shead and Kyler Edwards‘ way. Two almost certainly would have. In last March’s heartbreaking 54-51 loss to Duke in the Sweet 16, a shorthanded Houston team hit only two threes while the Blue Devils made six.

You can be sure that Kelvin Sampson and one of very best coaching staffs in the nations knows the numbers and how shifting them could change everything. Shooting 3-pointers with the mad dash approach of Alabama under diabolical math teacher turned major college coach Nate Oats is certainly not a prerequisite to winning a national championship. UConn ranked 62nd in the country in 3-pointers made per game during its dominant national championship repeat season. The Huskies were 27th in 3-pointers made per game in its Dan Hurley breakthrough 2022-23 national title season.

The makeup of this season’s University of Houston team should help push these Cougars much closer to at least 62nd than 137th. UH made 12 3-pointers in that 57 point opening win, hitting 8 of 10 in the first half when the regular rotation played most of the minutes.

“It’s going to be a good weapon for us going forward. Guys that practice a particular shot over a period of time just need game confidence. They need to see it go in a couple of times.” — UH coach Kelvin Sampson says of Tugler’s 3-point shot 

A True Shooting Backcourt

All-American candidate LJ Cryer (4 of 6 from three against Jackson State) is one of college basketball’s best shooters and he’s had an entire season to adjust to shooting while playing the type of defense Kelvin Sampson demands. That’s no small thing, Cryer admits that his legs often felt tired on his shot early last season as he adapted to how much energy he needs to extend on the defensive end at Houston. Swing guard Emanuel Sharp is a 36 percent career shooter from three in college whose form suggests he can be even better than that. New starting point guard Milos Uzan is the potential 3-point revelation.

Uzan looks much more like the player who shot 41 percent from three as a freshman than the guy who hit treys at a 30 percent clip as a sophomore at Oklahoma with defenses more focused on him. Playing with this talent packed UH team, Uzan hits two of four triples in the season opener.

Which jives with what his teammates have been seeing from the new point guard on the regular in practice.

“Milos always had confidence coming in,” reserve guard Mylik Wilson, who regularly guards Uzan in practice, tells PaperCity. “He just had to get used to how we play and being comfortable with it. Because not everybody play how we play.”

Houston’s relentless defensive intensity remains the backbone of everything the Cougars do. But this is also a UH team with more shooters than ever. Redshirt sophomore guard Terrance Arceneaux’s shot looks smoother than ever and he hit two threes in the scrimmage over Texas A&M and another one in the romp over Jackson State. Ramon Walker Jr. and Mylik Wilson also spent a lot of time working on improving their jumpers in the offseason, knowing they needed to in order to find a path to consistent playing time.

“Man, I’d say Mo’s shot is the biggest improvement,” Emanuel Sharp tells PaperCity of Walker. “He’s a real shooter now. When I first got here, that was kind of his weakness. And he’s made his weakness his strength now.”

This is the way in Kelvin Sampson’s development driven University of Houston program. Get better or get left behind.

“That’s really all I’ve been working on,” Wilson says. “My shot. . . I feel like everybody’s seen the difference with just the time I’ve put in.”

Then there is true freshman guard Mercy Miller, who’s a natural scorer and 3-point shooter. In his first official college game, Miller hits a three too.

“Mercy can shoot,” Tugler says. “When he get rolling, watch out.”

The JoJo Tugler 3-Point Addition

For his part, Tugler works on shooting threes every day after practice with assistant coach Kellen Sampson. This 6-foot-8 forward with a 7-foot-6 wingspan is much too valuable around the rim to shoot a lot of triples in a game. But a few can go a long way. With the potential for more in the months and seasons to come.

“It’s going to be a good weapon for us going forward,” Kelvin Sampson says of Tugler’s 3-point shot. “Guys that practice a particular shot over a period of time just need game confidence. They need to see it go in a couple of times.

“We’ve had days where he’s shot it well. But we’re going to keep working with him on it. (Former Cougars standout) Fabian (White Jr.) went from taking no threes in high school to making 50 his senior year.”

Houston’s best 3-point shooting team is just getting started. March is a long way off, but this is one favorite with more and more of a long shot.

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.