Kelvin Sampson on offensive struggles vs. Florida: 'This isn't the middle of January against Sasquatch State'
Both the Houston Cougars and the Florida Gators got off to a sluggish start on the offensive end in Monday night’s NCAA National Championship Game. Both teams were shooting very poorly from beyond-the-arc. And early, Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson didn’t hesitate to joke about it.
Even though his offense might not have started out as hot as he would like, Sampson has to be pleased with the way his players have defended in the first half. With 2:00 left in the first half, the Gators just had 25 points, with the Cougars leading, 29-25.
Florida was carried by Will Richard for the entire first half, with him scoring 14 of the Gators first 28 points. Walter Clayton Jr. was surprisingly quiet, scoring zero points. He was 0-for-4 from beyond-the-arc, with JoJo Tugler giving him plenty of problems on the perimeter. Houston big man J’Wan Roberts had three points, four rebounds, and two blocks in the first half.
Houston led Florida at the end of the first half 31-28, thanks to their dominant defense. The Cougars had five blocked shots and forced five Gator turnovers in the first half. Both teams shot very poorly, Florida connected on just 4 of 14 three-pointers (28.6%), while Houston hit just 2 of 14 shots from beyond-the-arc (14.3%).
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At halftime, Roberts spoke with Tracy Wolfson of CBS. They held Florida star Walter Clayton scoreless in the first half. What did the Cougars do defensively to shut him down? “Just try and get the ball out of his hands as much as possible. And we try not to get him going early. And same thing in second half,” Roberts explained.
What was he going to say to his teammates in the locker room? “We gotta fight. It ain’t gonna be easy. It’s gonna be a game of runs. There’s a reason they’re in the championship game. They’re really good and we’re really good. So, I think moving forward, play defense and rely on that,” Roberts finished.