Shaken Coogs reflect on loss
What-ifs surface in wake of ouster by last-second 3
WICHITA, Kan. — Nearly an hour after a 3-pointer at the buzzer ended the University of Houston’s magical season, Devin Davis emerged from a locker room of teary-eyed and stunned players and walked back on the court at Intrust Bank Arena.
He stood alone at the free-throw line.
It was the same spot where Davis, a senior forward, missed two crucial free throws with 3.6 seconds left that would have punched the Cougars’ ticket to the Sweet 16.
Instead, Michigan ran one final play, with freshman Jordan Poole adding his name to March Madness lore with an improbable 30-foot dagger that sent the Cougars to a 64-63 loss and second-round exit from the NCAA Tournament.
“Disbelief,” junior guard Galen Robinson Jr. said. “Just multiply that times 10. It’s like a nightmare.”
“Heartbreaking. Gutwrenching,” sophomore guard Armoni Brooks said. “So many words could describe it. Those are the shots that you watch every March. To see it happen in person is even worse. Terrible feeling.”
“Just painful,” senior guard Wes VanBeck said.
Coach Kelvin Sampson said the Cougars were “no way even in the game”
without Davis, who finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Davis, 6-6, went toe-to-toe all night with a Michigan frontcourt that included Jon Teske, 7-1, Moritz Wagner, 6-11, and Isaiah Livers, 6-7. Before the misses, Davis was 9-of-10 from the line
Television cameras zoomed in on a devastated Davis lying face-down on the court as Michigan players celebrated, but the outcome of the game could have turned on several plays in the final minutes.
What if UH wasn’t called for a foul immediately after Charles Matthews’ 3-pointer, which all served to wipe out a five-point lead with 5:41 left?
What if UH had come up with a defensive stop after the Wolverines pulled down two offensive rebounds that led to Wagner’s putback with 1:41 left?
What if Michigan forward Moe Wagner didn’t grab the rebound and call a timeout with 3.6 seconds left, giving his team a chance to draw up a final play?
Poole’s unlikely 3
Finally, what if Poole, who had played 10 minutes in the game and missed all nine 3-point attempts this month at the Big Ten tournament, missed the desperation heave at the buzzer?
“So many things could have changed the course of the game — a couple free throws, stops, switches, whatever the case may be,” guard Corey Davis Jr. said.
At the start of his postgame comments, Sampson took a moment to compose himself when discussing his four departing seniors — Rob Gray, Devin Davis, VanBeck and Nura Zanna. Gray followed up his 39-point performance in the NCAA Tournament opener with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
“Sports is a great metaphor for life sometimes,” Sampson said. “It’s not always fair.”
Along the way, the Cougars (27-8) accomplished feats that had not been seen on Cullen Boulevard since Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler were rattling rims for Phi Slama Jama in the early 1980s.
The NCAA Tournament appearance was the school’s first since 2010. The 67-65 win over San Diego State in Thursday’s opener was UH’s first in the Tournament since 1984. The Cougars beat a pair of top-10 teams, Wichita State and Cincinnati, and went 15-0 at temporary home H&PE Arena on the Texas Southern campus. They returned to the national rankings.
All after being picked to finish sixth in the American Athletic Conference.
“The way our team was playing, the route we were going, I felt we were playing our best basketball of the year,” said Sampson, whose team had won 13 of the previous 16 games. “To have our season end the way it did, it just tears your heart out. I hurt for those kids. I hurt for those seniors.”
Exciting end of the season
The final four games of the season all came down to the final play and were decided by a combined seven points.
“It’s called March Madness for a reason,” Gray said. “We could have exited a round earlier, or we could have not even made it.”
But there they were, in the early morning Sunday, struggled to cope with a win that slipped away. Trying to console a teammate, a group of seniors, who helped lead the Cougars back to relevance.
“Devin, Wes, Rob, Nura, I feel terrible for them because they don’t get to do it again,” Brooks said. “I get to come back and try to take the team farther than we went this season, but I really feel for our seniors.”