Kelvin Sampson Calls Out Houston's 'Incomprehensible' Final Plays in Loss to Florida

Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson couldn't believe his team failed to get off a shot in its final three offensive possessions of Monday's 65-63 loss to Florida in the national championship game.

Speaking to reporters after the defeat, Sampson called it "incomprehensible" the Cougars didn't even have an attempt to either tie the score to force overtime or win the game at the end of regulation.

Houston's last field-goal attempt was LJ Cryer's missed jumper with 1:25 remaining. Joseph Tugler got an offensive rebound off that miss, but Alex Condon knocked the ball out of his hands and out of bounds for a turnover.

The Cougars' final four possessions, including the Tugler play, all ended in steals for Florida. Condon was credited with three, with Will Richard getting the other against Emanuel Sharp.

Florida wasn't exactly lighting up the stat sheet during this time period. It only scored three points over the final 85 seconds, with all three coming at the free-throw line.

But that turned out to be enough because of the Cougars' inability to execute their offense. They were leading 63-62 at the time of Cryer's missed jumper.

The final play was an absolute mess that with terrible spacing on the floor. There were eight different players between the two teams bunched together near the top of the arc.

Sharp thought he had a look from three and pulled up to shoot, but then stopped himself in midair when Walter Clayton Jr. came flying in to close out. Sharp dropped the ball to avoid being called for a travel, but no one was there to grab it.

A few players on both teams finally moved in on the ball, causing it to bounce around as time expired.

Sampson did praise Sharp, who was emotional on the court after the loss, as one of the reasons why Houston even made it to the title game.

"I told him I loved him," Sampson said when asked what he told Sharp. "I told him I loved him, and I really focused on the job he did on Clayton. He did an awesome job on him. He made a couple reads that I'm sure he wish he'd had over, but we don't get there without that kid."

It truly was an incomprehensible sequence of events that occurred to prevent the Cougars from winning their first national championship. It was a combination of great defense on Florida's part and poor execution in crunch time by Houston.

Despite the bitter end, this was still one of the best seasons for Houston basketball. The Cougars won a program-record 35 games and advanced to the title game for the first time since the 1983-84 season.