Kelvin Sampson calls Houston being favored at Kansas 'sacrilegious'

The Houston Cougars entered Saturday afternoon’s top-10 matchup with the Kansas Jayhawks as 1.5-point favorites but left the game with a 13-point road defeat. And according to Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson, Kansas should have never been underdogs in the game.

In Saturday’s contest between the top two ranked Big 12 programs, the Jayhawks laid into the Cougars, picking up the 78-65 home victory. And the dominance that they displayed in the game definitely gave credence to Sampson’s take.

“That’s sacrilegious,” said Sampson. “You challenged the Jayhawk pride telling them they’re not favored.”

The way Kansas handled Houston on the court would suggest that they took things personally and wanted to send a message to the No. 3 ranked Cougars regarding who the top dog is in the conference.

Kansas utilized their size and strength on the inside, with a slight blend of perimeter shooting, 42 points inside the paint compared to Houston’s 24. The Jayhawks finished the game shooting 68.9 percent from the field and connecting on six of their 13 three-point attempts. Outside of those 13 shots from beyond the arc, only four of their 28 two-point field goal attempts came from outside the paint.

The Jayhawks also showed some serious muscle on the boards. The Jayhawks finish Saturday’s contest with 40 rebounds to the Cougars 24. The majority of that work was done on the defensive boards, limiting Houston to just one shot as Kansas collected 34 defensive rebounds.

Although the game can be classified as a complete victory for Kansas, there were some bright spots for Sampson and Houston. The Cougars were able to force the Jayhawks into committing 18 turnovers while committing just three of their own. And those 18 Kansas turnovers resulted in 20 points off turnovers for Houston, with 16 coming on fast breaks.

Up next for the No. 8 ranked Jayhawks is an in-state showdown with arch-rival Kansas State. The Jayhawks will travel to Manhattan, KS, to take on the Wildcats who currently sits two games behind them in the Big 12 standings.

As for Houston, their next competition will be against the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who have been struggling this year. The Cowboys currently sit at the bottom of the Big 12 conference with a 2-7 conference record and are 10-12 overall.