Kelvin Sampson Referenced the Late Reggie Chaney in Halftime Speech vs. Texas A&M
On Sunday night, the Houston Cougars became the first team to win an NCAA Tournament game with four players fouled out since UTEP did it in 1987.
The top-seeded Cougars (32-4) got everything they wanted and more from No. 9 seed Texas A&M (21-15) but managed to move on to the Sweet Sixteen with an incredible overtime victory, 100-95.
It was a night to remember for Houston fans (including Jim Nantz), but it won’t be a game that head coach Kelvin Sampson will soon forget either.
It was the kind of gutsy performance that you’d expect from a Sampson-coached squad, but with three of its top guards—Jamal Shead, L.J. Cryer, and Emanuel Sharp—out of the game, the Cougars really had to dig deep to put this game away.
As he recalled his halftime speech in the game, Coach Sampson said that he brought up Reggie Chaney for the first time this season. Chaney, the 2022-23 AAC Sixth-Man of the Year for the Cougars, died last August from a fentanyl overdose. He was 23 years old.
Chaney was a starter on the Cougars’ 2021 Final Four team and was set to take his talents overseas to play at the professional level. However, just days before he was scheduled to join the AE Psychiko — a professional basketball team in Greece — Chaney was found in an Arlington (Tex.) apartment.
“We lost four starters from last year’s team: Jarace Walker, Marcus Sasser, Tramon Mark, and then a special guy in Reggie Chaney,” Sampson said. “I hadn’t mentioned Reggie other than when we’d watched him on film [to the team this season], but I brought him up at halftime. I said, ‘What would Reggie do, JaWan [Roberts]? What would Reggie do, Ja’Vier [Francis]?’ I didn’t think either one of those guys played very good in the first half. So, I asked them about Reggie. As soon as I said it, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jamal [Shead] got really emotional. Ramon [Walker Jr.] got really emotional.
“That one was for Big Reg.”
Jamal Shead also paid his former teammate some respects on Sunday night, asking, “What would 32 do?” after pointing to the patch that Houston has worn in honor of their late friend.
“It’s the work that we put in, day in and day out. It’s this patch right here, man [pointing to the ’32’ patch on uniform]. Coach [Sampson], during halftime, was talking about its gonna be a war and it’s gonna hurt. What would 32 do,” an emotional Shead told reporters after the game. “Reggie Chaney would’ve fought his ass off in a game like this. So, we were built for this. I just miss my dawg and on to the Sweet Sixteen.”
Houston will face four-seed Duke in the Sweet Sixteen on Friday. Tipoff is scheduled for approximately 8:39 p.m. CT. The Cougars and Blue Devils will play in Dallas (Texas)., with live coverage on CBS Sports.
