Houston coach Kelvin Sampson edges UConn's Dan Hurley for AP coach of the year

There was a moment during the NCAA Tournament, when top-seeded Houston was well on its way to a 40-point rout of No. 16 seed Longwood, that helps to capture why the Cougars have become so dominant under Kelvin Sampson.

It was late in the game, and Mylik Wilson was late closing out on the Lancers' DA Houston, who buried a 3-pointer over him.

“They were up 30,” Longwood coach Griff Aldrich recalled, “and I thought DA barely got the shot off. And Sampson's screaming at Wilson like that's an emergency. ‘Get out there!’ It's like, damn. I thought he was out there."

That's the way Sampson coaches, demanding excellence no matter the score or time left in the game. And the results speak for themselves: Houston won the Big 12 regular-season title i n its first year in the league, earned a No. 1 seed in the tournament for the second straight year and advanced through the opening weekend for the fifth time in a row.

The superlative season, which ended with a Sweet 16 loss to Duke during which All-American guard Jamal Shead hurt his ankle, allowed Sampson to narrowly edge UConn's Dan Hurley for his second Associated Press Coach of the Year award, which was announced Friday.

Sampson received 23 of 62 votes from the national panel that votes for the weekly AP Top 25; balloting closed before the start of the NCAA Tournament. Hurley, whose top-seeded Huskies will play Alabama in the Final Four on Saturday night as they chase a second consecutive national title, finished second with 21 votes.

“He coaches 40 minutes of a 40-minute game. I think that’s what makes us good,” Shead said of Sampson, who also earned AP coach of the year in 1995 with Oklahoma. “He holds us to the same standard, day-in, day-out, practice or game.”

Lamont Paris of South Carolina received eight votes to finish third. T.J. Otzelberger of Iowa State and Danny Sprinkle, who was recently hired away from Utah State by Washington, had four apiece. McNeese State's Will Wade and Kyle Smith, who coached Washington State to the second round of the NCAA tourney before leaving for Stanford, each received a vote.

Sampson is the 10th coach to win AP coach of the year multiple times, among them Guy Lewis, who won it twice with Houston during its previous heyday. Sampson is only the fourth to do it at separate schools and the 29 years between his awards is more than double the next-longest gap.

Themes of accountability, consistency and hard work at Houston can be traced to Sampson's upbringing in North Carolina.

His grandparents were products of the Depression. His father, Ned, was a high school teacher and coach who made ends meet by finding part-time jobs in the summer. His mother, Eva, was a nurse who put in 12-hour shifts. With four kids at home — Sampson had a twin sister, along with sisters older and younger — there was no alternative for them but to work.

“I didn’t realize what latchkey kids were until I started reading about it. ‘Hey, I was one of those!’” said Sampson, who often came home from school to find an empty house. “Back then, that’s how it was. You got up and you went to work.

“So when you ask me where I got that from,” Sampson said of his work ethic, “I got that from my mom and dad.”

He has passed it along to his players.

Starting with the first Monday in June, the Cougars are out on baseball fields, running 18 100-yard sprints for time. On Tuesday, they head into a parking garage, running up ramps with weighted vests — also for time. They have shooting practice Wednesday, hit the gym on Thursday and on Friday, their coach is out with a stopwatch to time them over a mile.

“When you go through stuff like that at 5:45, 6 in the morning,” Sampson said, “you learn to respect the guy beside you.”

Along the way, Houston has earned the respect of everyone in college basketball.

It had made one NCAA Tournament in 22 years before his 2014 arrival, and those heady days of Lewis and Phi Slama Jama had become a distant memory. Sampson's first season was rough, too. The Cougars went 13-19, winning just four American Athletic Conference games, and some wondered whether he could still win in college after six years in the NBA.

Yet the groundwork was laid for all that has followed: four regular-season AAC titles in a five-year span, a trip to the Final Four in the one year they did not win it, and back-to-back 30-plus win seasons that ushered them into the Big 12.

There, they won the regular-season title with two games to spare and finished 32-5 this season.

“I'm so blessed to have coached that first team that went 13-19," Sampson said. "That was the only team that my wife's ever asked, ‘Could you get them to sign a basketball for me?’ We have a lake house in North Carolina, and I see it every summer. She has that ball displayed in a prominent position there, and that's the only one.

“We've been to Final Fours, won a ton of conference championships,” Sampson added, "but she's only got one ball. That's from that 13-19 team. She appreciate that team because they never quit.”

Just like their coach. No matter the score or time left in the game.

AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

UConn head coach Dan Hurley celebrates with center Donovan Clingan, left, after defeating Illinois following an Elite 8 college basketball game in the men's NCAA Tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

UConn head coach Dan Hurley catches confetti in his cap after defeating Illinois in the Elite 8 college basketball game in the men's NCAA Tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

UConn head coach Dan Hurley celebrates after defeating Illinois in the Elite 8 college basketball game in the men's NCAA Tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson reacts during the second half of a Sweet 16 college basketball game against Duke in the NCAA Tournament in Dallas, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson, left, talks with Damian Dunn (11) during the first half of a Sweet 16 college basketball game against Duke in the NCAA Tournament in Dallas, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson looks on during the first half of a Sweet 16 college basketball game against Duke in the NCAA Tournament in Dallas, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Houston forward J'Wan Roberts (13) and head coach Kelvin Sampson celebrate the team's 100-95 overtime win after a second-round college basketball game against Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament, Sunday, March 24, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Michael Busch hit a three-run homer into McCovey Cove beyond right field in the fifth inning to back Javier Assad's strong start on the mound, and the Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants 5-1 on Friday night.

Busch's drive was the 176th splash hit at Oracle Park, 68th by an opponent and fourth by a Cubs player — first since Joc Pederson on June 3, 2021.

Seiya Suzuki broke up a scoreless game with an RBI double in the fourth then scored moments later on Nico Hoerner's sacrifice fly.

Assad (4-1) struck out five, walked one and allowed three hits over six innings to win his third straight decision spanning seven starts. His throwing error on a pickoff attempt of Bryce Eldridge in the fourth could have been costly but the right-hander stranded Eldridge on third.

Hoby Milner pitched the seventh and Trent Thornton the final two innings, surrendering Eldridge's one-out homer in the ninth.

Busch greeted reliever Erik Miller with his eighth home run after Chicago put runners aboard on Pete Crow-Armstrong's double and a leadoff walk by Carson Kelly against Giants starter Landen Roupp (5-7). Roupp was tagged for four runs on four hits over 4 2/3 innings.

Chicago won for the third time in its last seven games.

San Francisco had beaten the Cubs 18-3 last Friday then 2-1 in extra innings Sunday — but the Giants dropped to 7-3 overall in the matchups since the start of the 2025 season, outscoring the Cubs 63-35. San Francisco is 6-2 at Oracle Park in the series dating to the beginning of 2024.

Jung Hoo Lee went 0 for 3 and had his career-best 18-game hitting streak snapped — longest by a Giants batter since Angel Pagan hit in 19 in a row from July 31-Aug. 23, 2016.

RHP Ben Brown (2-2, 1.74 ERA) pitches the middle game for Chicago opposite Giants RHP Trevor McDonald (2-3, 4.15), making his second straight start against the Cubs.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

San Francisco Giants pitcher Landen Roupp throws to a Chicago Cubs batter during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, June 12, 2026, in San Francisco, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)

Chicago Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong reacts after hitting a double during the third inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants Friday, June 12, 2026, in San Francisco, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)

Chicago Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong (4) hits a double during the third inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants Friday, June 12, 2026, in San Francisco, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)

Chicago Cubs pitcher Javier Assad throws to first base for an out during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Friday, June 12, 2026, in San Francisco, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)

Chicago Cubs first baseman Michael Busch catches a pop fly for the second out of the first inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants Friday, June 12, 2026, in San Francisco, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)