Houston coach Kelvin Sampson praises BYU after win over Cougars – Deseret News

Kelvin Sampson loves beating BYU. He’s done it four times in the past three years without losing once.

But Houston’s head coach has plenty of respect for Kevin Young’s Cougars, which he made clear after his team’s 77-66 conquest Saturday night in Provo.

“BYU is not an easy team to play against, especially in this building. You know, they’ve got something special here,” Sampson told reporters after the game.

“Unbelievable student group. It’s our second time playing them here, and the crowd is one of the best home court advantages, I think, in the country. Obviously, we play a lot of places, and this is tough as it comes, which is why I’m really proud of our group.

“… BYU, outstanding players, outstanding coaching staff, outstanding home court advantage. So it’s a good win for us.”

Despite the loss, BYU freshman phenom AJ Dybantsa scored 28 points on 9 of 14 shooting, adding five rebounds and four assists as well.

“The Dybantsa kid is special. You’re not going to stop him. I mean, that question should never be asked of any coach, ‘How do you stop him?’ I don’t know how. We just made him earn the shots he got, and he made some tough ones,” Sampson said.

Richie Saunders, however, struggled mightily against Houston’s famed defense, finishing the night with a meager seven points on 1 of 8 shooting.

“I thought we did an awesome job on Saunders,” Sampson said. “… We didn’t want Saunders getting to the rim. We didn’t want him getting to the free throw line. We loaded and took away his driving lanes pretty good.”

With the win, Houston moves to 21-2 on the season and 9-1 in Big 12 play, continuing its pursuit of another conference championship and No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

“We’ve always been able to stay true to our culture and how we do things on the road. I think that’s a byproduct of how we practice and prepare.

“… All our kids graduate, you know, it starts there. They’re all going to be college graduates, except the ones that will go to the NBA early. They’re all high character kids, and that’s why my job is easy, because I don’t have to deal with any discipline problems. That’s a blessing. In this day and age, it’s a blessing to have high character kids.”