As Kelvin Sampson pointed out after Houston’s 74-69 loss to Auburn saturday, it’s a long season. And Sampson intentionally scheduled Auburn to see early how battle-tested his team is.

“I’m so glad I played this game,” Sampson said. “This is a great learning tool for us.”

Houston (1-1) is still not at full strength, with senior forward Ja’Vier Francis returning to form after missing three weeks with a groin injury.

“Ja’Vier is not ready to play,” Sampson said. “I think his injury is getting better, he’s just not in shape. He hasn’t done anything since Oct. 11. I think he’s missed 20 days or so. So it’s going to take him some time to get in shape. And Auburn it’s not. an ideal opponent when you’ve been out for three weeks, your first game back having to play one of the best teams in the country.”

Francis started but only played nine minutes against Auburn. His presence would have helped the Cougars defend Johni Broome better. Broome finished with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 5 blocks, 3 assists and 2 steals.

“Broome shows you why he’s a first team All-American,” Sampson said. “He’s going to do that to a lot of teams. The way Broome scored … he had 20 points. He’s going to have a lot of 20 games this year.”

Here’s what Sampson had to say after Houston’s loss to Auburn:

Sampson on Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford

“The kid that I thought came in and changed the game for them was Pettiford. I thought he was really, really good. He changed the game. And he did it in transition. A big point of focus for the build-up to this game was transition defense because Auburn is so good at it and we were great in the first half … we were up by five because of our recovery defense.

“In the second half, still playing well, I wouldn’t say any better than that. Solid, maybe. But Pettiford, when he came on, the game changed. He really shot well. . . . He’s a talented little man. “

Sampson on why he scheduled Auburn

“Bruce (Pearl) has a really good team. There’s no shame in us. If we had won the game, it wouldn’t have been a bad loss for Auburn. It’s certainly not a bad loss for us. It’s a bad loss for us. loss we can hopefully learn from We lost to a very good team but that’s why we would have scheduled this game patting ourselves on the back knowing how damn good we are tonight , we were exposed in certain areas that we need to go back and figure out how we can improve and clarify some things.

Sampson on Houston’s offense

“We weren’t very good offensively tonight in a lot of ways, but their defense had a lot to do with it … your offense is always going to look great against bad defensive teams. Against good defensive teams, you” We have to get to a point where you can execute against that level, and I have no doubt our kids will get there.

Next up for the Cougars is a home game against Louisiana on Wednesday at the Fertitta Center.

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