After losing to Illinois, Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson responded to a question on what keeps him coaching as long as he has.
The No. 2 seed's surge to return to the championship game was shut down by the No. 3 seed Illinois Fighting Illini, 65-55. In a low-scoring matchup, Illinois received double-doubles from David Mirkovic and Keaton Wagler, who combined for 27 points and 22 rebounds.
The Cougars’ poor shooting and inability to grab rebounds likely cost them the win, despite a valiant effort to fight back from a second-half deficit. Emanuel Sharp finished with 17 points on 7-for-16 shooting, for a Houston team that shot 34 percent from the floor. Following the game, Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson was asked at a press conference what keeps him coachingSean Miller Delivers Powerful Speech to Texas Players After Purdue Loss“I mean, I still like it, but we all have our time, you know? But I think coaches have to understand when their time is. I mean, we all know this is a young man’s game. I mean, I still like, but we’re all gonna step away eventually. I haven’t really thought about that to the point where I can share anything,” he said. “But I’m not gonna get in anybody’s way, though. If I’m in somebody’s way or I’m overstaying my welcome, I’ll be the first one to leave,”Sampson, 70, has been involved in college basketball coaching since the early 1980’s at Michigan State and Montana Tech. He’s previously coached Oklahoma and Indiana, then worked for six years as an assistant in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets. He returned to coach college basketball with the Houston Cougars in 2014. In his 12 seasons, he’s brought Houston to theTournament eight times, including last season’s runner-up performance in the National Championship Game against the Florida Gators. Sampson's winning ways are evidenced by a strong record, including his turning around a losing program in his first season into one that has had winning seasons ever since. The landscape has certainly shifted over his many years in the game with the NIL, and that has been a popular question for many coaches this week in the Sweet 16, including 71-year-old coaching legend Tom Izzo at Michigan State. Based on Sampson's remarks, he will retire when the time is right, but hasn't considered that yet, and may still be driven by helping to develop young players for winning teams at Houston.
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