Tennessee @ Houston Game Overview

Sampson and Houston beat Purdue in the last of eight regional semifinal games in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, advancing 62-60 on Milos Uzan's layup in the final second to send the Cougars into Sunday's duel of top seeds in the Midwest Region final with No. 2 Tennessee.

With only so much time to prepare on the fast-forward turnaround, Houston didn't give much thought to preparing for the Vols.

"I didn't prepare last night. I prepared for bed," Sampson said Saturday afternoon after a light practice and shootaround. "That's the only preparation I had. Biggest decision was how many melatonin because it's hard to sleep. When you get out of something like that, it's really difficult for me to go to sleep. I was up early this morning with Kellen."

UH assistant coach Kellen Sampson brought days of his pre-scout work with him to Indianapolis. In waves, the rest of the Cougars staff and players got in on what they hope is a running start to their road to San Antonio and the Final Four next week.

The unsurprising consensus from the Sampsons was that the Cougars have their hands full with another playmaking point guard in Zakai Zeigler, who had 18 points and 10 assists in Tennessee's win Friday.

Zeigler is the latest in a recent run of lead guard challenges for the Cougars that included Gonzaga's Ryan Nembhard, one of the nation's leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio, and Purdue's Braden Smith, who had 15 assists -- including all 11 of the Boilermakers' field goals -- in the second half Friday night.

"Zeigler presents a different kind of front because he uses ball screens probably less than the other two," Sampson said. "But he impacts the game probably more dynamically with his athleticism and his speed and the different ways that he can get a basket. He can get a rebound and go get a layup. He can get a steal, go get a layup. He can use a ball screen, curl it, force the big to help and throw it behind for a dunk or throw it over for a dunk.

"And I remember when he was a freshman. I don't know him, but I'm proud of him because of how far he's come from his freshman year. He's smart. He's a veteran. He's tough. He's a winner. He's everything you want your point guard to be. We just lost one last year that reminds me of him, and we have one this year that's on his way to being that guy, too."

Sampson is more familiar with Tennessee's coach, Rick Barnes, a former conference foe when Barnes was coaching at Texas. At that time, Sampson was coaching Oklahoma, a classic archrival of the Longhorns, but their history predates their professional lives. Barnes and Sampson played against each other on the court in college, when Sampson was at Pembroke State University and Barnes played at Lenoir-Rhyne.

"He's a prankster, jokester, funny as all-get-out. Country boy, little Ricky from Hickory," Sampson said in a winding retrospective that touched on their time together on Nike coaching junkets and OU-UT golf fundraising outings. "Used to have long hair. We actually played against each other in college. That's a long time ago. They actually did have seams on the basketball, but not very indented."

Barnes also looked back at their shared memories fondly on Saturday but in a moment of seriousness, he cautioned that Sampson's trademark intensity is still there.

"Just as I have gotten to know Kelvin, and through the years, we competed, Texas-Oklahoma, everybody knows what that rivalry is about," Barnes said Saturday, less than 24 hours after the Vols dispatched Kentucky in a game that was never closer than 12 points in the second half. "But we've never let any of that get in the way of our friendship. What makes him -- if you knew his pedigree and who he is, he hasn't changed a bit. He's the same guy. Highly competitive. Beautiful family. Yesterday it warmed my heart to see him holding his grandson."

Zeigler enters Sunday in the spotlight matchup with Houston's floor general, L.J. Cryer, who might've dreamt of a few shots going through the net after a 2-of-13 Friday night. Zeigler is one of two Vols -- Jahmai Mashack is the other -- who are among the four national defensive player of the year finalists.

Mashack figures to see a lot of Milos Uzan, Houston's junior guard who scored the game-winner and hit a career-best six 3-pointers on the same rims Cryer couldn't solve.

Zeigler picked up a scouting report after Tennessee beat its SEC rival and immediately recognized the competitiveness in Houston's defense.

"I would say how aggressive they are and one-on-one defense and ball coverage," Zeigler said of what stands out about the Cougars. "We hang our hat on defense and so do they. They're one of the best defenses in the country, but every possession is super aggressive. They feed off of turnovers and feed off of how good they play defense."

Cryer won a national championship with Baylor as a freshman on this court, and Houston's leading scorer this season was coming into the regional semifinal after tying a career high with 30 points against Gonzaga.

Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier is right next to Zeigler on Houston's hard copy of the Vols' scouting report for Sunday, an All-SEC scorer averaging 22 points in his three NCAA Tournament games.

"He's tough. He makes tough twos and tough 3s," Sampson said of Lanier. "He stretches you. He does a great job of ducking in and out of those screens. If you try to shoot the gap, he fades. If you chase him over, he gets in the paint. He's 6-5 and can shoot over you. He's a tough matchup."

Points won't come easily Sunday.

Houston is No. 1 in Division I with a 38.4 opponent's field goal percentage; Tennessee is tied for second (38.5) with Duke and George Mason. The Cougars are No. 1 in points allowed per game -- 58.5 -- and Tennessee is No. 6 (62.9).

As the clock ticks toward Sunday's afternoon tip-off, Sampson wants the main message to his players to be: Just play -- and don't play like you are trying to get to the Final Four for the first time since 2021.

"These guys are smart, really smart. High basketball IQs and really, really smart people," Sampson said. "L.J. was the Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. What's your GPA, L.J.? 3.84 or something like that? These guys are -- they can do the scout report probably better than I could. But the big thing here is just stay within yourself.

"We're not going to play harder because it's the Final Four. I think our kids play as hard as they can anyway. I don't think I'm going to try to coach better. I try to coach every game to the best of my ability anyway."

Zeigler, Mashack and Tennessee's heavily experienced roster remain honed in on Houston. But the Vols have already said their mission is rooted in a goal of getting Tennessee to the Final Four for the first time in program history.

Barnes, who guided Texas to the Final Four in 2023, would be thrilled to get back.

"I think most teams start every year with a goal of getting to this tournament and know that you get here," Barnes said. "We have seen some of the craziest things happen throughout the history of it, but you all come into it, knowing that you would like to be the last team standing on Monday night.

"I'm proud of these guys because I know how hard they've worked. Do we want it all? Yeah, we do. But we're no different than any other teams left right now. We all put a lot of work in to get there, but every team, we're going after the same thing. As much as we want it, other teams want it. We realize that and we hope we can be at our best."

Houston may be without guard Mylik Wilson, who did not practice on Saturday after taking a hard fall in the second half against Purdue. Sampson said medical personnel had no update on Wilson, who averaged 5.7 points and 4.1 rebounds this season. He's considered a game-time decision for the regional final.

--Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media