Why Kelvin Sampson Doesn’t Dance After Another Houston Sweet 16 — UH’s Coach Sends a Message To His Team As LJ Cryer, J’Wan Roberts Refuse To Lose

WICHITA, Kansas — Kelvin Sampson doesn’t dance this time, no matter how much part of him may feel like it. There will be no Sampson ripping off his shirt like Kelvin memorably did after that win over Illinois that punched his University of Houston program’s then third straight trip to the Sweet 16 in 2022 either. Number 6 — yes, it’s sixth straight NCAA Tournaments with Houston advancing at least as far as the Sweet 16 now — is still lively in the locker room. But before the music’s really turned up, Sampson delivers a forward looking message to his guys, the team that he says does more for his 69-year-old basketball soul than he does for them.

“Not today,” UH guard Terrance Arceneaux tells PaperCity when asked about Kelvin Sampson NCAA Tourney dance theater, that March tradition like no other. “No dancing. He trying to make a point. We’re not done.

“. . . He was like we’ve got to keep doing what got us here. We can’t get too complacent. We’ve got to stay on people’s necks.”

What got Houston to Sweet 16 Six is having arguably the most complete team in all of college basketball guided by a Hall of Fame worthy coach at the absolute height of his powers. Houston 81, Gonzaga 76 in a second round game that feels like it belonged on the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend is driven by LJ Cryer, J’Wan Roberts and Kelvin Sampson, the three ever battlers who cannot even stomach the thought of seeing this season end most of all.

It’s won on strategy, having the single best player on the court (Cryer) and the guts to refuse to let any doubts in late under those sometimes blinding March lights. This Houston team may wobble, but it’s not about to damn fall.

Not in this Run It Back season, not with this being the last dance of so many of these pillar forever Coogs.

“Just wanting to play with these guys again,” J’Wan Roberts tells PaperCity of what went through his mind. “Wanting to wear these jerseys again. There’s no tomorrow for me, LJ, Mylik (Wilson) and Ja’Vier (Francis). If we were to lose that game tonight, it’s over with.

“Like no more team meetings. There’s no more group chats to be in. To lift (weights together). . . None of that. It’s over.”

It’s not over. Not with LJ Cryer and J’Wan Roberts refusing to let it end against a proud, game Gonzaga team. Instead Roberts and his sometimes merry band dance on to Indianapolis for a Sweet 16 matchup with four seed Purdue Friday night that happens to be just 70 miles from the basketball mad Boilermaker faithful’s campus. Just another extra obstacle the NCAA Tournament selection committee threw in the way of Kelvin Sampson’s UH team.

This is Sweet 16 number six. Just as sweet. But maybe not quite as sparkly. Maybe even more serious.

“There’s no tomorrow for me, LJ, Mylik (Wilson) and Ja’Vier (Francis). If we were to lose that game tonight, it’s over with.” — UH sixth year senior forward J’Wan Roberts

Even Bill Belichick would be happy with how quickly these Cougars are moving on to Purdue. How much their dance is already working on its next step. How much winning occupies their every thought.

“To think if not for a (Michigan Jordan) Poole miracle shot, it would be seven,” UH assistant coach Kellen Sampson says when I ask him about sixth straight Sweet 16s. “I think it speaks to our process. That our year round process works. What we do with these guys starting that first week in June.

“And how we build and build and build and build. . .”

J’Wan Roberts, Future UH Assistant Coach?

Kellen Sampson is leaning against the door of the locker room at Intrust Bank Arena, the sight of that Jordan Poole miracle at the buzzer that ended UH’s breakthrough first NCAAA Tournament run under Sampson way back in 2018. As Kellen leans against the hard door, stories enter his mind of the players filing past, guys he and his family have sweated with, cried with and loved.

None more so than J’Wan Roberts.

“I’ve known J’Wan Roberts since he was 15 years old,” Kellen Sampson says. “And been in a lot of hard days with him. I’ve seen a lot of sunshine with him. And what’s cool is that whenever it’s time for J’Wan’s UH career to end, he and I’s relationship’s just begun.

“J’Wan one day will probably end up on my coaching staff.”

That will have to wait. First Roberts would score eight points in the first two minutes and 44 seconds of the second half, getting to his left hand, not letting the crafty Zags take anything away from him as Houston went to him inside again and again. Six times in seven possessions to start the half. Roberts built the Cougars’ lead up to 12 points, a cushion they’d need late.

Gonzaga’s Graham Ike probably made himself plenty of NBA money by putting up 27 points against Houston’s unforgiving defense. J’Wan Roberts, the 6-foot-8 sixth year senior who’s all self-made muscle and heart, won’t get drafted by anyone. But he sure keeps finding ways to help one of the best basketball team’s in all the land win game after game after game after game after. . .

And his Houston teammates can see it coming.

“You can most definitely tell,” UH center Ja’Vier Francis, one of the Last Run Four, tells PaperCity. “Just by his body language.”

J’Wan Roberts’ want to, his need to, is never hard to notice. And he and unicorn starting five JoJo Tugler (10 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks in only 20 minutes) will combine to score 28 points of their own, while out rebounding Gonzaga’s much more hyped inside duo 19 to 9. Then Ja’Vier Francis, who anchors Houston’s defense down the stretch, uses his 7-foot-5 wingspan to swallow up Gonzaga’s disrupted attempt at a game-tying three in the closing seconds.

Zags guard Khalif Battle will never get the shot off, never even get a prayer at going Jordan Poole. Soon Battle will be crumpling to the court in tears.

“What’s cool is that whenever it’s time for J’Wan’s UH career to end, he and I’s relationship’s just begun. J’Wan one day will probably end up on my coaching staff.” — UH head coach in waiting Kellen Sampson

This is March. The time when every shot, every rebound, every block is magnified. You’d better have some cold-blooded game changers.

Kelvin Sampson’s now 32-4 Houston team does. None more so than LJ Cryer, who hits every big shot his team needs him to on the way to 30 points, coming up with his season high when UH absolutely must have it to keep its national championship mission rolling into the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend. Two wins down, four more to go to make the Madness absolutely magic.

Sweet 16 times six. Just as sweet. Even more serious. By Cryer.

“The best shooting guard in the country,” UH point guard Milos Uzan says. “Honestly. I work out with him every day and his consistency, his preparation is always the same. This is no shocker to me. This is really what he does.”

Terrance Arceneaux is certain Cryer is going to not mess around and get 40. That’s how locked in UH’s closer is. Shot by shot.

“When I was little, I used to shoot until my arms got tired,”Cryer says. “When I got to college I did the same thing.”

There is no time for letting up now. Not even with the first weekend’s mission done.

“I appreciate it more,” Kelvin Sampson says. “I think as you get older, you realize that this is not easy.”

Which doesn’t mean Kelvin Sampson is ready to dance. Not this time. Not yet. Not this Run It Back March. Not in LJ Cryer, J’Wan Roberts, Mylik Wilson and Ja’Vier Francis’ last dance. Not with so much more to grab.