OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma – Even though it was 346 days ago, the Houston Cougars’ heartbreaking loss to the University of Florida in the 2025 National Championship game still stings.
Senior guard Milos Uzan told us that this year’s team has used that game as motivation for how they’re approaching this year’s March Madness.
“It hurt all of us for a little while just because we know that we had that game, but we kind of let go of it,” said Uzan. “It definitely hurt for a while. I think a lot of us are using that as a chip on our shoulder(s) and a little bit of motivation for sure. But I think now it’s a new season, you gotta put that behind you, and you gotta focus on what’s in front of you.”
Uzan has become a mentor to freshman guard and projected NBA lottery pick Kingston Flemings, who shared with us how the older players on the team have helped prepare him for the NCAA Tournament.
“We have players that have been there that know what it takes, so just following after them,” said Flemings. “Obviously, we got some people that are new, me, Chase (McCarty), and the other freshman we’ve never played in these games so following after Ramon, who’s had crazy games in this (tournament), Milos, Jo-Jo (Joseph Tuglaer) who’ve played in these games every single year so just following them and just doing what they tell us, what coach tells us, and just at the end of the day playing basketball, it’s march madness now but it’s no different than any other Big 12 game.”
The Cougars tip off against the Idaho Vandals at 9:10 p.m. in Oklahoma City.
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