What Kelvin Sampson said after Houston's loss to Auburn
As Kelvin Sampson pointed out after Houston's 74-69 loss to Auburn on Saturday, it's a long season. And Sampson purposely scheduled Auburn to get an early look at how battle-tested his team is.
"I'm so glad we played this game," Sampson said. "This is a great learning tool for us."
Houston (1-1) is still not at full strength, with senior forward Ja'Vier Francis getting back into game shape after missing three weeks with a groin injury.
"Ja'Vier's not ready to play," Sampson said. "I think his injury is getting better, he's just not in game shape. He hasn't done anything since October 11. I think he missed 20-something days. So it'll take him awhile to get in shape. And Auburn's not an ideal opponent when you've been off for three weeks,; your first game back having to play one of the best team's in the country."
Francis started, but played only nine minutes vs. Auburn. His presence would have helped the Cougars better defend Auburn big man Johni Broome down the stretch. Broome finished with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 5 blocks, 3 assists and 2 steals.
"Broome shows you why he's a first team All-American," Sampson said. "He's going to do that to a lot of teams. The way Broome was scoring .... he had 20 points. He's going to have a lot of games this year with 20."
Here are the highlights of what Sampson said after Houston's loss to Auburn:
Sampson on Auburn's Tahaad Pettiford
"The kid I thought that went in and changed the game for them was Pettiford. I thought he was really, really good. He changed the game. And he did it in transition. A big point of emphasis to prepare for this game was transition defense because Auburn's so good at it. And we were awesome. First half ... we were up five because of our rebounding and transition defense.
"The second half, still playing good, I wouldn't say anything better than that. Solid, maybe. But Pettiford, when he came in the game, the game changed. He really shot it well. ... That's a talented little dude."
Sampson on Why He Scheduled Auburn
"Bruce [Pearl] has a really good team. There is no shame on our side. Had we won the game, this was not going to be any kind of bad loss for Auburn. It's certainly not a bad loss for us. It's a loss that we hope we can learn from. We lost to a really good team. But this is why we scheduled this game. We could've went and played one of those other games and be 2-0 and people would be running around here slapping us on the back telling us how good we are, knowing damn well we're not. Tonight we got exposed on some areas that we've got to go back and figure out how we can get better and clear up some things."
Sampson on Houston's Offense
"We weren't very good offensive tonight in a lot of ways, but their defense had a lot to do with that ... you're offense is always going to look great against bad defensive teams. Against good defensive teams, you've got to get to a point where you can execute against that level and that takes. I have no doubt that our kids will get there."
Next up for the Cougars is a home game vs. Louisiana on Wednesday at the Fertitta Center.
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Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.