Kelvin Sampson calls out Duke-centric pregame coverage: 'Don't sleep on Houston'

Duke may have been the most discussed team heading into the Final Four. Between their dominant NCAA Tournament run to that point and having freshman phenom Cooper Flagg, avoiding the Blue Devils was difficult.

Houston certainly was running with a little more motivation because of it, though. Kelvin Sampson called out the media in his postgame interview over the Final Four game’s coverage. He wants to make sure nobody is sleeping on his team, even giving out some credit to their league mates in the Big 12.

“I hear what people say,” Sampson said to CBS’ Tracy Wolfson. “‘Duke this, Duke that.’ Duke’s great. Jon Scheyer is awesome. But don’t sleep on Houston, don’t sleep on Houston. We weren’t 34-4 playing in the toy poodle league. We were 19-1 in the Big 12. Playing in the Big 12 helped us.”

Sampson’s postgame interview does not occur if not for a miraculous comeback in the final seconds of the game. Duke seemingly had the game under control for around 39.5 minutes. Houston went on an incredible run, aided by turnovers and made free throws, to earn a spot in the national championship.

Playing in the Big 12 may have helped Houston push through the final moments, at least in their head coach’s eyes. Many questioned whether or not UH would continue to dominate after joining the high-major conference from the AAC. All the Cougars have done is prove doubters wrong.

Saturday night was another example. Houston now heads into the national championship game against Florida with a little extra juice. Sampson will have just under 48 hours to consume all the media coverage, likely hearing a little more conversation about his team.

Houston comes back to beat Duke, earns national title spot

Houston was seemingly left for dead in the Final Four. Kelvin Sampson‘s bunch was not playing at an elite level on the offensive end. Duke‘s length was just too much to handle in San Antonio, almost ending the Cougars’ run in the Final Four with a heartbreaking result.

But in the final moments, Houston went on an incredible run. Trademark effort in a full-court press overwhelmed Duke inbounders to cause turnovers. A controversial call on a free throw blockout was what put Houston in the lead, 68-67 at the time.

Jon Scheyer then called up a play for Cooper Flagg, hoping his star true freshman would win Duke the game. Coming up short off the rim, Houston snagged a rebound, burned a few seconds, made both free throws, and secured the 70-67 win.

Nine unanswered points wound up being the difference as the overall run was 11-1 over the final 1:15 of the game. Just an incredible comeback from Houston, locking their spot in the national championship game Monday night.