Cook's house all right Marcus Sasser basketball royalty cougar winner and now record holder you are locked on coogs your daily podcast on the Houston Cougars part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day [Music] welcome to lockdown cougars daily podcast by your Houston Cougars I'm your host Houston born teacher and Coach Parker Angels here to break down all things cougs if you're U of H man or just a hater Kim said bye please be sure to subscribe down below that we have the latest on the coops in your news feed each and every day remember we like to get you by the Kooks news first thing in the morning to make sure you check us out first thing every day I appreciate you making us your first lesson of the day welcome back to the YouTube channel good to see you again oh we're giving away that Galen Robinson themed jacket we're approaching 750 subscribers and when we get there some lucky commenter will get it so make sure you hit subscribe so we get there and comment or like the videos or do both preferably so we know is you're in the contest if after all of this you can't think of anything to say about the Wichita State shock or Victor or the victory over the Wichita State Shockers or Marcus Astro or any of the other seniors from senior nights tell us what letter is silent in the word sent all right so what I want to do here is I want to talk some about Marcus Sasser in the first segment he is not the only singer but he did have a very special senior night uh the second segment I want to recap some more about the game again Houston wins 83-66 but it's a little bit deeper than that and then the third season one kind of continue to look forward some from this big American Athletic Conference Victory and I want to make sure that we all take a moment to look at like what exactly uh let's let's say what exactly happened but first make sure to tell you guys that this episode is brought to you by FanDuel we love our partners FanDuel more on that later but they seem to like the cougs as well all right so let's talk some about Marcus sasser's senior night now statistically speaking he did have a classic Marcus Sasser dominates the box score kind of night uh filled up the statue with 22 points three of seven from behind the arc uh three rebounds four assists two steals uh he was just all over the floor tonight um one of those deals I just like he he sneaks in behind like Wichita State breaks down the court it's a three on Two And he comes in the mind just like steals ball and just like turn like did a full U-turn went down the other direction for a class success or his own Fast Break um it just it's so entertaining to watch him play because he plays so hard um I I should point out we mentioned he's a record holder I and that he shot three of seven from three uh a record that he is now tied for the lead-in and will soon be a record holder on his own right in is he now is tied for the all-time three points three-pointers made in Houston Cougar basketball history um I you know we all know when he came in as a freshman uh as pudgy as Kellan Samson might have called him a few years back uh we all know that he could shoot and we knew he could shoot again basketball royalty he did come from a family of his uncles played at SMU and Texas Tech and then in the NBA his father also played college basketball um he's got an uncle that coaches in South Dallas like they all have this basketball Jean in them um but also uh you know he he's worked his way to this point and last spring he would have if he'd contained it with down the draft path would have been at very least drafted uh probably first round like late first round draft pick in the NBA draft and in the loaded 2023 draft he still projects to be a like middle to like ladder third of the first round if not higher by the end of March all right but on the game as a whole um worth pointing out there were a couple moments uh that stick out I was like oh man that's the last time Marcus does that in the Fertitta Center um but I think the fun the I won't say fun most fun um but truthfully it was like the most heartwarming was as he's coming out for senior night to get his jersey and have his moment with his family at midcourt for the game um who was you know Kelvin Sampson is usually very stoic and he was very very quick um to have to be emotional he was teary-eyed lip was quivering the entire thing um and so as you know that was surprising to me to see happen uh I have to say that like that is how much Marcus's growth has meant to this program we're going to talk later and we'll talk throughout March and all off season about how this program has rapidly grown and the exponential growth of the Kelvin Sampson program but on the whole it rests on guys like Gail Robinson Corey Davis Quentin Grimes and Marcus Sasser guys like that coming back to the program are a big big part of it um now the the post game joke as they are announcing some of these records that Mark assessor earned um was that Kelvin Sampson is going to call the uh NCAA on Friday as I guess as you're listening this and ask them if he can get that kova to get another covet year uh back out of SAS now I I will say that um faster was tremendous in this game uh I I don't know any like particular moments I could say like oh my like he had a couple of Threes they were mostly kick outcome opportunities whenever he drove in the paint he got swarmed but he did have some great creative and crafty finishes on the break including one on a secondary Break um where I I think he honestly his like slow down Euro Step legitimately like guys just ran past him like they weren't ready for him to slow down and kind of go talk a lot about guys and go from like first gear to fourth gear he went from fourth gear back to first gear in a way that's really really impressive But ultimately with the win the other record Mark assasser now has is he has tied Fabian white you remember Fabian from not that long ago um he has tied Fabian white for the best winning record at the Fertitta Center at 49 and 4. so when we talk about like guys that built this program he's literally the winningest guy to play in the building right um Mark assasser is that guy he will continue that guy on Sunday against Memphis he'll continue that guy throughout the American Athletic Conference tournament and March Madness um I I was just it his backcourt Dynamics with Jamal shed were tremendous on this game Saturday 22 Jamal shed had 25. um Jamal shed shot four of eight from three-point line because whenever Sasha got in the lane they collapsed on him he had someone to kick out to um and that certainly added up to those four assists I don't think it was exactly forces to four main threes but it certainly felt like it in the latter third of the basketball game um can't say NFL Mark assasser cannot say enough about the impact he's had on the program but I will say that there are a lot of Kit it might be nil money now that's part of it but there are a lot of kids in the Fertitta Center and around the city of Houston and around the state of Texas because of sasser's ties to Dallas that are wearing red and white number zero t-shirts shout out to Lewis the guy we talked to many episodes ago about his designs um but t-shirts jerseys I saw a backpack the other day I mean people like Sasser people want to be like Sasser his tenacity on both ends of the floor and his grit and frankly how much fun it is to watch him play basketball because of those things make people want to be like him and if Houston can continue to build this program I will talk at a later date of how much I want to bring guys like Jairus Walker interview the five stars the one and done like that's a fun way to do it too but you're gonna always need the sassers the world um it just cannot say enough about what he did both on Thursday night and in building program as a whole so shout out to SAS um for the great singer night and the performance the standing ovation as he exited the court for the final time the standing ovation as he got his record setting basketballs he got a little Jordan basketball with the white patch on the front so it had the listing of whatever record that was going for each of those on Thursday and the uh overwhelming shears as he was cutting down the Nets and the Fertitta for winning the regular season American Athletic Conference um I even if you put all three together I don't know if it's quite enough for what he meant to this program what he means to this program moving forward so thank you Marcus thank you to all the seniors Reggie Chaney and the sacrifices he made and coming to Houston uh when he could have gone a lot of places Darius Bowser again did not have to come to a place to be a practice player that I cannot stress that enough um he had job offers he had other college basketball offers he could have done other things and he decided to come be a part of a culture and program so to all the seniors thank you very much on your senior nights obviously there's a lot of work left to do this this season we're not done but man oh man if we're going to spend the night celebrating those guys they got a lot of things to celebrate speaking of things to celebrate you could be celebrating with your winnings from FanDuel our buddies or FanDuel are the number one Sportsbook in America and we are excited to have them in our Corner because it's the Midway Point NBA season it's the perfect time to download FanDuel America's number one sports book new customers get a no sweat first bet up to one thousand dollars that's bonus bets back if your first bet doesn't win just download the FanDuel Sportsbook app it's safe secure and super easy to use then you can bet everything the money line to point scores and threes drained I'm gonna go ahead and tell you that they don't quite have anything lined up for Sunday in our matchup with Memphis yet but what I will say is if you're interested in putting bets together Houston is the favorite to reach the final four at plus 100 so I mean do put down uh sorry you bet 100 get 100 right uh better get 100 more and they are the favorite to win the whole thing at plus 600. now I'm not a mathematician but I I do coach basketball and I've watched basketball for the 31 years I've been on Earth and I will tell you for free that to win the championship you do have to also get to the final four so I'm thinking if you're putting bets together in some sort of a parlay find some way to get those kind of things on the same ticket uh FanDuel does let you combine your beds for an even bigger payout with the same game parlay don't miss the chance to get your no sweat first bet up to one thousand dollars in bonus bets when you go to fanduel.com locked on that's fanduel.com locked on to learn more make every moment more FanDuel an official sports betting partner of the NBA all right in the second segment now that I've talked a lot about how much I'm gonna miss on these guys um let's talk some about how the game actually went because frankly pardon me let's say go back and watch the episode from the last time Houston played Wichita State it was a very very similar basketball game um this one finished at a 17-point win and it was as nailed biting a 17-point win as you could realistically have right um it was a very it was a was it what I have here a six-point game with five and a half minutes left um and then suddenly it was a 14 point game with two and uh two minutes and six seconds left that stretched there of basketball is what makes everyone think Houston's got a real shot to win the whole thing and frankly it's what makes me agree with them that three-minute stretch of basketball in the latter fourth of the game right um we don't play quarters in college basketball you follow me um was when Houston started to run away with things there was Jairus Walker Steals and dunks um there were made threes by Jamal shadowmark assasser they were these kind of gut punches down the stretch there that really really embodied like why Houston Cougar basketball is what it is and they're in a boxing fight in the middle of the ring and that's their Landing some blows they're just walking that guy back to the ropes right that that's what they're doing with these kind of big dagger type plays in that three-minute stretch to stretch this to a 17-point win um worth pointing out that Wichita State is a I don't say hardened matchup for Houston they won both games uh this one by 17 the first one by nine but they made a buzzer beater so it was really 11 uh or felt like 11. um what I will say though is that they are a tough matchup for Houston because they're one of the few teams that matches Houston physicality uses played teams that match them athletically and the virginias or the Alabama's I'd argue the organs and frankly sneaky when I say here is the Kent states of the world that match them up with them athletically right I'm not saying that they're always in the fastest team in the floor there are games that they are but that's not where Wichita State offered stuff match up the physicality of guys like Rojas or poto they're two bigs um that was incredibly influential on how this game went and why this game was so close for so long the other thing that happened here was their guard the same guy I can remember from when we talked about you're not your head already remember what I'm talking about when uh on his media availability Kelvin Sampson said he was worried about Craig Porter that was like the guy he was seeing in the last you know six games that like oh he's playing really really well for them he came out and shot the lights out to start the game making tough shots Tremont Mark gripped all over him every time he drives in the lane he has arms all over him too and heena was 17 points in 34 minutes and I'm telling you right now that that doesn't tell the full story because he had 14 at half right um the truth is is that in the second half he got his own foul trouble Jamar Mark coming on his head and Houston kind of adjusted what they were doing on the backside to help out right helping off of different guys and those kind of things really really kind of like changed the game up but man oh man did he make some tough shots in route to that 17 points um and I almost want to give him caps off in a moment um but really that's why this game was so close for so long I had people tweeting like this is Houston this is like yes that guy's really are you watching the game that guy's making really crazy difficult shots with Defenders arms all up in his grill and it didn't seem to matter to Porter um so hats off to him credit to him Etc um but I will say like yeah one quite enough um the other thing that happened in this game that made Wichita State play it so close for so long and they came back down to earth they don't have what their stat would have been at like 10 minutes left in the second half or whatever um but Wichita State shot 50 from three on the season they're shooting 35 from three now Houston's adjustments over the course the game became to run them off of the three-point line right they went six to twelve and three so it's not just had a ton of them um but and running them off the three-point line they didn't necessarily deter them from making shots 50 from three had it been a couple S3s in the first half might have made it feel like it wasn't so crazy because as crazy as that shot making was from Porter and as high percentages of the threes were in the first half what you really had was Houston winning at halftime right like it was still after all of that Houston was up to at halftime I mean so it felt like one of those games like God come on man let's start off the game right um offensively Houston struggled at times against the zone and we've talked in the past that sometimes the best way to beat the Zone shoot over the top of it and Houston didn't shoot that well over the top of it to start uh Jamal shed got hot later Marcus saster did his thing but then we're gonna lose him in the zone um truthfully a tremon mark played excellently in a lot of ways um but him going oh for three kind of made his own feel like it was work over three from the three-point line I should say kind of made it feel like the Zone was working because Houston was swinging the ball to tremon was shooting an open or a good shot a shot that he's made plenty of times in his Houston career and it missed right similarly Emanuel sharp was one of three from three um Sharpshooter pun somewhat intended uh isn't usually that guy either and so that he goes the two of them go combined uh one of six from three that six possessions where Houston's getting a shot at once and you're thinking you know can we make another shot or two at that at least to kind of help get them out of the zone and they didn't um really really impressed with uh Jared's walking down the stretch but he also didn't shoot three ball particularly well he shot two twos that were like at this line so I guess theoretically if you add those there's a percentage it looks a little bit better but as far as actual three-pointers he's 104 um he's usually more of a 205 kind of guy um and certainly in the last month he has been and so again you hope for that kind of thing what I thought was interesting was uh there was a handful of possessions on the stretch where with Jairus they decided to make him more of a Creator against the zone and the way I would do it as a coach again Houston born teacher and coach would be to find some sort of a high low set that got him at the nail where he could then do some high low action but they did it from the wing and perimeter spot and got him moving in more of a downhill full speed locomotive kind of way and I do have to say there's a reason they coach Houston and I coach my high school team um like it worked it worked very very well for them and it was interesting to watch like the way they cleared out that nail spot the middle three of the free throw line is what I'm talking about there at the nail in the middle there they cleared out that uh nail spot and then caught him catch the ball but we call a 45 cut where he's running downhill at a four to five degree angle towards the basket as he's catching it and then he cashed the defense off guard he has that locomotive he had a nice drop off one went off of Juwan Robert's hands the other one's a sweet catch for dunk but those kinds of actions I think were really cool to see him have intentional uh down the stretch there I still maintain to go to the next level of this team while you have Marcus shooting the lights on and while you have Jamal shed dishing the ball and all the things he does that are so good I mean his assist turnover issue is crazy the next thing that unlocks his team is Creator Jairus Walker in the half court kind of sets um and I there are flashes of it for minutes at a time um and this team is a very good basketball team and and may be able to win the whole thing without it but man oh man those couple flashes if he could do that for like 12 minutes 15 minutes heaven forbid 40 minutes oh man look out now in the third step I want to talk some about um the program as a whole after this game and and brag on my guy Terence because I like talking about some about Terence Arsenal but I do want to tell you all about our buddies at built bar because frankly as I'm recording this I use late late night snack and Bill Barr sounds like a good one all right so built bar is a delicious treat without all the calories you gotta try it uh we just got through the holidays and a goal of mine is a little bit healthier this year trust me I'm trying I'm trying chill uh but if you are like me and you want to eat healthier but don't want to compromise on taste then man I've got you this thing for you you got to try build bar with built healthy is actually tasty seriously they're so delicious you won't think they're good for you perfect for your New Year's resolution what makes boat bar so good well for starters they're covered in a hundred percent real chocolate that's right real chocolate and they come in ugly little flavors like churro peanut butter brownie and coconut almond I'm not sure how Bill does it but these bars taste like a candy bar while maintaining amazing macros and what's even better is that they are healthy only 130 calories and four grams of sugar with a whopping 17 grams of protein in most bars and now you don't need to wait around to get a box for a year has been talking about ordering built at built bar sorry we've been talking about ordering built bars at build.com now you can throw at your local Walmart or Sam's Club that's right hand to your nearest Walmart today walk to the pharmacy section and grab yourself a box of Bilt bars you can pick up a four bar box of cookies and cream double check chocolate or coconut Puffs if you're close to Sam's Club you can run it and grab a 13 bar box with hip flavors like brownie batter and churro Thank Me Later trust me as houstonborn teacher and Coach they make for a great breakfast too all right so I said in the third segment I want to talk a little bit about just the team as a whole and um there are lots of ways to go about this and I don't mean to be the sentimental person um I understand frankly that before I was alive again I was born in 1991 so before I was alive the Houston gurus also had a very dominant basketball team in the 80s right if I slamma Jamma is a very real part of this history Elvin Hayes is a very real part of this issue like this is a in a lot of ways a school that's been a basketball school in the past um but I don't talk about Joseph Duarte quote um because it stuck out to me as like holy crap this is really happening the Duarte tweet which I'm sure will be part of a story as you're that you can go read as soon as you're done listening to this uh the Tweet says during post-game celebration Houston Coach Kelvin Sampson looked around the Fertitta Center he cradled the AAC trophy a net was draped around his neck the band was playing adoring fans were screaming people began to line up to take selfies with him this was the vision he said and I think that that's so crazy the thing about this is like when Houston hired Samson from Houston because he was already in the city he was just an assistant coach of the Houston Rockets right um everyone thought like you know he had a lot of success you know now that we think about it he had a lot of success at Washington State and he really did a number at Oklahoma and he did pretty well at Indiana and that's a blue blood like Houston produces good basketball players there's a lot of good high school basketball in Texas and like you know he could he could put this together like that that was like that was a thought right that was a thought we had in like 2014 2015 when like things were coming together man he could really do this and now as they have the post game celebration at of winning the America without a conference as they're giving out Awards to guys he's recruited like Marcus right as they're giving out Awards to guys he pulled in the transfers like Darius Bowser and Reggie Chaney guys winning the American Athletic Conference for their fourth time in five years and are heading off to be in the Big 12 thing that like was somewhat of a pipe dream 10 or 15 years ago right um as they're doing all of those things it's like oh this was something he saw when he got here right he mentions whenever he talks about Houston that he did not necessarily want to leave the NBA his dad uh before his dad passed away told him like you were happier in college go back to college you should be coaching college and so he kind of started like telling his age like hey I'd be open to do this you know I think that's my dad's smart guy and I I'd be open to doing this and that's when the agent says well I got a job right um and bluntly when he got to Houston there were some things went really really well but it felt a lot more than eight or nine years away from this right um this is a program that was in the final four two years ago and frankly had a competitive Elite eight game last year while missing two of its highest scores with injury um and is right back in the mix of the top of the charts this season top all the rankings and all of that this year um that's three years of sustained excellence in a row amidst a ton of injuries and a ton of roster turnover and a chaotic landscape I mean like the covet thing in the transfer portal and the changing this and then I am like it all continues to go but the vision was championships and winning and cheering in bands playing and taking it all in in the Fertitta Center on the last night of our last home game of the regular season and it's so so cool to see and there's a great great picture being circled circulated around it's on duarte's Twitter as well so I don't wanna I don't know who should give credit for so I'm not gonna post it um but if you go find it it's just coach sitting there with the trophy under his left arm or his right arm I'm looking at backwards his grandson on his other shoulder then Pat somewhat cocked sideways on his head because Samson's cool like that and that big net that they just cut down around his neck and the smile on that man's face I don't know where the season ends I don't know where the season goes I have high hopes for what happens and I think there's a really like I really really do believe there's a chance it ends 5.6 miles away from campus at NRG cutting down Nets once again but I do know that one guy does see it and does see where it can go and does see this thing for what it can become and he's seen it the whole time and man it's hard not to root for that guy um we'll talk some more about Terence later I will talk some more about the rest of like this cast of characters I just want to shadow that Terence played so well on Thursday night he's kind of had a roller coaster of a season as a freshman and Beaumont United's finest Terence Arsenal great great game commit some guy like they needed it too I know that it's hard to say that when he had um just two points I was like what is one or three from the field like what are you talking about but like the guy played tremendous defense was all over the floor um great your grandmother Terence and so I don't want to leave that out um the other thing I'll say is I'm going to try to also get a Memphis preview out on Saturday um thank you all so much for listening to the episode today by the way I'm gonna try and get a Memphis preview up on Saturday for the Memphis game on Sunday um which leads me to my last Point here then I'll sign off um some family stuff came up with my wife's family and so we'll be traveling this weekend a little bit um you know get on planes get out of state and all that kind of stuff I don't know that I'll be able to see the Memphis game live on Sunday I know that I interact with a lot of you guys on Twitter uh with game threads I'm constantly getting my live thoughts on the game all that kind of stuff um a couple things I I will say that will happen is I will watch the game start to finish before giving out the uh the recap of the game on Monday and I will watch the game start to finish I'm going to try the best I can without knowing necessarily what happened I'm sure I'll find out about it but you know um that said like I just we gotta go be with my wife's family for a little bit so I won't be around I don't think I'll be around computers and TVs and the game on on Sunday and the way that I normally am and so if you're accustomed to being interacting with me in that thank you I appreciate that it's a fun way to watch basketball game and also like um well we're thinking about what my wife's name a little bit um I won't be there but we'll get it fixed up I promise um and uh you know as it is the last regular season game I guess I keep telling myself apart that's too like oh you know it doesn't even really count that much because Houston's already won the conference and we'll see him in the tournament right um it's a fun one it will be a fun one I'm gonna try and get another episode out before we head out of town about the just a preview the Memphis match up round two Kendra Davis should be playing um but if I don't you know just please understand that that's the way things go sometimes um there's not a whole lot of things more important than basketball and football and I do truly believe that that escape from reality that Sports offer is really really important sometimes um but this is just one of those times that is so thank you and thank you all so much for making locked on cougs your first listen of the day we appreciate you sitting here and talking about the seniors and the big win and the dream and all those kinds of things so thank you all for that um if you are looking for a second listen of the day let me recommend going over and checking out locked on college basketball because Andy and Isaac do a great job of recapping all the important games and the calendar is March and so all the games are important make sure you check that out as well um it is an exciting show it's a first year of that show as well it's a new show uh and they're very cougar friendly um remember to subscribe download like leave a comment tell us what you think and uh tell us whatever you think the sign letter in the word sent is if you find me and talk to me about sent or the Houston Cougar basketball football spring practice going on uh baseball just start up I got a wall of sneakers mind I'm gonna talk about the Rockets Astros Texans whatever uh make sure you find me at paynesworth512 p a i n s w o r t h 512 on Twitter Instagram and all of your social media handles I'll be happy to talk to you about all things all the time uh I will say my phone be in my pocket lot this weekend so we can talk some if you'd like uh thank you all so much for bringing a lot of Coach first lesson today locked on cool it's a proud member locked on podcast Network your team or in our case the number one team in the country every day go cougs