{"id":146919,"date":"2026-02-01T23:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T23:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/146919\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T23:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T23:49:15","slug":"houston-hc-kelvin-sampson-appreciates-jojo-tuglers-progress-in-cincinnati-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/146919\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston HC Kelvin Sampson appreciates JoJo Tugler\u2019s progress in Cincinnati win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston HC Kelvin Sampson appreciates JoJo Tugler\u2019s progress in Cincinnati win<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Houston head basketball coach Kelvin Sampson<\/a> believes his team is coming together at the right time following its win over Cincinnati. Specifically, Sampson likes how Cougars forward Joseph \u2018JoJo\u2019 Tugler has played recently, believing the junior is finally back in rhythm.<\/p>\n

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Speaking to reporters after the game, Sampson said he believes Tugler\u2019s defensive \u201ctiming\u201d is back. Sampson pointed out that Tugler, the 2024-2025 Defensive Player of the Year, had not been blocking shots<\/a> as effectively lately, but he is now back to being one of the best all-around defensive players in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoJo\u2019s timing is starting to come back,\u201d Sampson said, via Cougars Sports. \u201cThe thing you can tell is, he wasn\u2019t blocking any shots for a while. JoJo\u2019s an elite shot blocker. There\u2019s a reason he was the Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tugler is averaging 1.5 blocks per game as a junior, slightly down from the 1.9 he posted in 2024-2025. He rejected three shots in Houston\u2019s 22-point win over Cincinnati on Saturday.<\/p>\n

After beginning the season with 19 blocks in Houston\u2019s first six games, Tugler had just nine total rejections in December and November before Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

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Tugler\u2019s new frontcourt pairing with freshman Chris Cenac Jr.<\/a> has been a big factor in Houston\u2019s success during the 2025-2026 college basketball season. Tugler and Cenac spearhead a Cougars defense that allows the fewest field goals in the country and ranks in the top 20 in fewest points in the paint allowed.<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s defense as a whole returned to its typical stifling form after allowing 70 points in its previous three games. The Cougars held Cincinnati to just 38 percent from the floor, allowing just 18 field goals the entire game.<\/p>\n

Related: Why Kansas State\u2019s Jerome Tang isn\u2019t disappointed after 34-point loss to Iowa State<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Kim Mulkey applauds Jada Richard\u2019s growth after LSU crushes Alabama<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston HC Kelvin Sampson appreciates JoJo Tugler\u2019s progress in Cincinnati win appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[27383,9914,9197,61351,56,58,57,61350,3113],"class_list":{"0":"post-146919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-chris-cenac-jr","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cougars","11":"tag-head-basketball-coach","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-headlines","14":"tag-houston-news","15":"tag-joseph-jojo-tugler","16":"tag-kelvin-sampson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}