University of Houston's senior night showcases men's basketball program's incredible values

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Senior Night at the University of Houston reminded everyone there's a purpose behind Kelvin Sampson's basketball program.

Saluting his five departing seniors, Sampson said, "They're going to go on from here, and they're going to be great husbands. They're going to be great fathers. They're going to be great in their communities. And that's part of being a Cougar basketball player. You learn how to be a great human being."

The UH seniors have won 123 games combined in the last four seasons, with the opportunity to add to that total.

Sampson saluted star guard L.J. Cryer as a "winner" before the Morton Ranch product summed up the reason behind the Cougars' success.

"Attitude and effort. He preaches that day in and day out," Cryer said of Sampson. "You've just got to show up with the right attitude and give the right effort, and things will go your way."

After six seasons at UH, J'Wan Roberts will leave UH with more wins than anyone in program history.

Fans saluted him with good-natured chants of "one more year" before Roberts reflected on how Sampson and the UH program had changed his life.

"I'm overly proud to call those guys my brothers," Roberts said. "Ten or 15 years from now I'll always hit those guys up to see what they're doing. We'll always be a family."

UH has won back-to-back Big 12 titles, winning 33 of 37 games in one of the top conferences in America.

Kansas coach Bill Self, who has won two national titles, offered the ultimate compliment to Sampson and his program.

"They've made it look easy," he said. "It's not as easy as they're making it look."

Self added that Sampson has done "the best job that anyone has done" while leading the UH program.

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