UH freshman guard Jamal Shead dribbles past an Our Lady of the Lake defender on Saturday at Fertitta Center. After the game, Shead said Kelvin Sampson told him to cut down on the turnovers. | Andy Yanez/The Cougar
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson got a rare opportunity to take a step back on Saturday afternoon when the Cougars’ bench took center stage against Our Lady of the Lake.
Occasionally, he would get the urge to step in and want to point something out, but Kellen Sampson, UH’s head coach-in-waiting, was quick to remind his father that it was his show to run against the Saints.
“Those guys respect him,” said the elder Sampson, who had no problem letting Kellen take the reins. “They look up to him. He is a part of the development process in every one of those kids.”
UH (16-2, 10-2 American Athletic Conference) jumped out to an early lead against the NAIA school, but on this day, the score was not significant for the Cougars.
The emphasis was on the playing time for everyone outside of the usual starting lineup.
Freshman guard Tramon Mark started off hot early, scoring 14 of UH’s first 21 points, but it was redshirt sophomore guard Cameron Tyson and freshman guard Jamal Shead who stole the show as the game progressed.
While Shead had 10 points and four assists at halftime, he also committed four turnovers, which is something that Kelvin Sampson got on him about during the break.
Once the second 20-minute timer started rolling, however, Shead had managed to flip the switch and clean up his mistakes.
He served out dishes left and right, a good portion of the time to Tyson, who had caught fire again from behind the arc.
During timeouts and breaks, Shead was sure to let Tyson know he was going to get him the ball, so he could shoot more threes.
In Tyson’s mind, Shead’s words signaled that he was close to breaking the program’s all-time record in 3-pointers made in a game. A feat he fell short of a week prior.
For the Manor native, however, his plan was for Tyson to shatter the record and leave it in the dust. His goal was to get Tyson to 14 or 15 threes.
Tyson eventually broke Robert McKiver’s 3-point record as Shead assisted on the 10th long-distance shot, which sent the UH bench into a frenzy.
The attention then turned solely on Shead, who had accumulated 20 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds and eight steals. He was a stones-throw away from a quadruple-double and even closer to a triple-double.
As the seconds trickled down, the UH bench grew louder again, this time emploring its fellow teammates, and even OLLU players, to keep shooting the ball so Shead could track down the 10th rebound, which he was not able to get.
“It’s crazy,” Tyson told reporters after the game. “It just shows you how good (Shead) can be. It goes for everybody though. All the freshmen and how good they can be. They can all be special, but Jamal is going to be a special player in this program.”
When the final buzzer sounded, Kelvin Sampson walked off the court of Fertitta Center satisfied. His plan had worked out perfectly. He chose to play against the Saints, so that his bench players, or the white team as they are called in practice, could play heavy minutes.
“There was never a chance that the starters were going to play,” Kelvin said. “This game was to reward those guys that come to practice every day and work so hard, and they (needed) to play.
“These guys are the future of our program,” he added.
