College basketball fans can’t believe Kelvin Sampson’s genius inbounds play

Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson drew up an incredible inbounds play to set up veteran point guard Milos Uzan for the Sweet 16 game-winner against Purdue.
Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson
Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Kelvin Sampson has been a college basketball head coach for 32 years and has made the NCAA Tournament 21 times, yet he’s reached the Final Four just twice and not since a memorable 2021 run with Houston. Without a National Title on his resume, Sampson has become one of the most overlooked head coaches in the sport. Then, on Friday night in Indianapolis, he reminded everyone why his teams have been so successful for so many years. 

With Houston’s Midwest Regional Semifinal matchup against No. 4 seed Purdue tied at 60 with 2.2 seconds remaining and a chance for the Cougars to inbound the ball under the Boilermakers’ basket, Sampson drew up a beautiful in-bounds play that worked to perfection and secured the two-point victory. 

On a play that Sampson revealed to CBS’s Evan Washburn in the postgame interview, Milos Uzan inbounded the ball to Joseph Tugler, who gave it right back to Uzan for a layup after he stepped in bounds. Though Sampson admitted it was a play with multiple reads and Uzan told Washburn it was drawn up for LJ Cryer to touch the ball, it reflected the genius of a coaching legend and how well-prepared his team was for the crucial moments in the NCAA Tournament. 

College basketball media and fans could hardly contain their excitement as the Cougars advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2022. 

The basket capped off a brilliant 22-point performance from Uzan, a transfer from Oklahoma, the lone transfer in Sampson’s rotation. The veteran point guard has led the Cougars to a dominant season which now sits at 33 wins, another masterful move from Sampson last offseason, plucking the perfect point guard out of the portal. 

To make the moment even better, Sampson’s team pulled off the win against a hostile crowd at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, just 65 miles from Purdue’s campus. Nearly every fan in attendance was stunned by the former Indiana head coach. 

Houston is on to the Elite Eight and the play that sent them there will forever be a part of a legendary head coach’s legacy.