Houston’s finest likelihood at a NCAA championship slips away in loss to Florida in nationwide title recreation

SAN ANTONIO – Forty-one minutes after Houston left the ground following their first loss in 66 days, its lockerroom was opened to the media. Within the church-like quiet Monday night time, you could possibly have heard a chin drop. 

“I am sorry,” guard Terrance Arceneaux mentioned by way of tears dealing with the ground, towel draped over his head. “I can not do that proper now.”

“F—,” a disembodied voice roared from a again room. 

That voice was by no means recognized. Possibly it did not matter. Houston had been on such a roll it was nearly laborious to ascertain what the Cougars could be like after a loss. As you’d count on, it was not good or nice or notably enlightening. 

Most of these 41 minutes have been spent with Cougars crying their eyes out after dropping to Florida 65-63 within the nationwide championship recreation.  

“It was very emotional,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson mentioned. “Going into tonight this staff was 35-4. We’ve not misplaced a recreation since I do not know what month it was.”

It was Feb. 1 and since then Houston had received a nation-leading 18 in a row underneath each form of situation. Late Monday night time, the Cougars appeared destined. They hadn’t misplaced in regulation for the reason that third recreation of the season 5 months in the past. 

That future was hammered residence within the Remaining 4 with the inspiring comeback Saturday in opposition to Duke. However the merciless irony was Monday’s outcome was the direct reverse of that outcome. 

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Towards Duke, the Cougars trailed by 14 with lower than 12 minutes to play. Within the NCAA Event closing , Houston was up by 12 with lower than 16 ½ minutes to play. Then, like Duke, the underside fell out of the Cougars. From that time on the Cougars made solely seven discipline objectives, none within the final 2:29.

The truth is, the Cougars have been capable of get off solely two pictures within the closing 2 ½ minutes.  

The Cougars who often managed the paint, the tempo and the sport noticed their season finish. Florida took benefit and Cougars all over the place wept. 

The coach who turns 70 in six months thought his staff may win if it held Florida to lower than 70. It did that, holding the Gators to their second-lowest complete of the season. However Florida received a nationwide championship in a recreation it led for all of 64 seconds. 

Now it’s a must to marvel if Sampson will ever recover from the nationwide championship hurdle. Age might be the largest issue. Sampson is 69 and made it clear earlier than the sport that if the Cougars received, this would not be a walk-off to retirement. 

However Sampson has been to a few Remaining Fours and one championship recreation that ultimately ripped the soul from his staff and perhaps the person himself. 

“Not me. I by no means make it about me …,” Sampson informed CBS Sports activities. “You hope you will get again, there is not any ensures. I respect having this chance with this staff. Simply disappointing we did not play higher down the stretch. I am extra pissed off about that proper now.”

Sampson has devised the protection that’s yearly the perfect within the nation. Sampson was the creator of a recreation plan that held Kahman Maluach,  Duke’s 7-foot-2 freshman NBA Draft lottery decide, to no rebounds for the primary time in his profession within the Remaining 4. Sampson was the coach who made the strategic determination to not foul Duke, down six late in Saturday’s semifinal. That basically was the distinction within the recreation when the Blue Devils could not work out get the ball in. 

He was the person who overruled the dialogue within the huddle after Purdue had rallied from 10 down within the Midwest Regional semifinal in entrance of a pro-Boiler crowd in Indianapolis.

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The play is known as “51”. That night time in opposition to Purdue it was price 1,000,000 bucks. 

He was the coach who devised the scheme that held Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. to 11 factors, considered one of his lowest outputs of the season. Had Florida misplaced, Clayton would have been the goat. As a substitute, he was the Remaining 4’s Most Excellent Participant. Go determine. 

We already informed you what Sampson walked into when he took the job in 2014. We additionally informed you the explanation why Houston could have been one of many few jobs accessible to him. 

Possibly a nationwide championship ought to have been destined when you think about how the Cougars acquired right here. They’re 34-5 of their first two seasons within the Large 12. 

However the irritating endings are actually piling up for Sampson. There was the 2021 nationwide semifinal loss to Baylor within the COVID-19 bubble. 

In 2022, a yr after Marcus Sasser helped lead this system to its first Remaining 4 in 37 years, he and teammate Tramon Mark missed many of the season with accidents. With an opportunity to return to the Remaining 4, the Cougars misplaced within the Elite Eight to Villanova.

In 2023, Sasser harm his groin within the American Athletic Convention Event. The Cougars misplaced within the Candy 16.

Final season, Jamal Shead, the Large 12 Participant of the Yr, famously suffered an ankle damage in a Candy 16 loss to Duke. 

Will Sampson ever get to the promised land?

“This was the yr proper right here,” Houston ahead J’Wan Roberts mentioned. “Shit, I really feel like he had an opportunity to do it however we did not. How a lot ever longer that he’s right here I pray that he has one other alternative, an opportunity to get again to Monday night time once more.”

The field rating did not make sense from a Houston perspective. Within the match, Houston held opponents to a mixed 125 factors beneath their scoring common. Florida scored 25 lower than its 85.3-point common on Monday. The Gators turned the ball over a minimum of 12 occasions in all six match video games. 

The Cougars’ fabled protection compelled Florida into 13 turnovers on Monday. The Gators’ guards, Clayton and Alijah Martin, shot a mixed 5 for 20. 

Clayton shot solely 3 of 10 from the sector, but in addition made the largest defensive play of the sport forcing Emanuel Sharp to double clutch on what would have been a game-winning 3-pointer with the ultimate seconds ticking away. Sharp was compelled to drop the ball after Clayton rose to dam his shot. As a substitute of selecting up the ball and being referred to as for touring, Sharp let the ball bounce away. The Gators lunged for the unfastened ball and the clock ran out on Houston’s season.  

Clayton made it a degree to congratulate Sampson. 

“The most important message [to the team] was, be disillusioned that you just misplaced,” Sampson mentioned, “and it was very emotional for everyone — however don’t be disillusioned in your effort.”

Sharp by no means did come out to talk to reporters. 

“We needed to soak in what simply occurred and notice that the season was over,” Roberts mentioned. 

Ultimately, there have been a whole lot of glassy eyes in that unhappy, unhappy lockerroom. They have been both about to cry or have been recovering from doing simply that. 

A person who was one victory shy of 800 in his 36-year profession may solely shake his head. The one message written on Houston’s whiteboard  was the ultimate report. 

“35-5”.

The Cougars did not should be reminded.