After Houston stunned Duke on Saturday night, coming back in the final minutes of the game to defeat the Blue Devils and advance to the national championship game, Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson made a clear statement after the victory: "Don't sleep on Houston."

Houston trailed Duke by 14 points with a little over eight minutes remaining in the game, and then by nine points with three minutes remaining. Yet despite facing a legacy program and generational talent in Cooper Flagg, the Cougars did not give up. They instead rallied and went on a 9-0 run over the final 35 seconds of the game to ultimately win 70-67, in what has now been deemed a massive collapse by Duke.

"I hear what people say," Sampson said right after the win. "'Duke this. Duke that.' Duke's great. Jon Scheyer is awesome. But don't sleep on Houston. Don't sleep on Houston. We weren't 34-4 playing in the Toy Poodle League." 

Before the national championship game, Sampson clarified the meaning behind his "don't sleep on Houston" comments.

"Duke's one of those magical names that means everything in our sport," Sampson told CBS Sports. "...Taking nothing from Duke, you don't need to. But, when you have a program that's kind of coming from nowhere, we haven't ever won a national championship, but until you can cross that threshold, you're always going to feel like you have to stand up for your program. So when I said, 'don't sleep on Houston,' that was me standing up for our program."

This is a potential program-changing moment for Houston, who are on the verge of winning their first ever national championship. Though the Cougars have been an incredibly competitive team as of late—advancing to the Sweet 16 in each of the last five years and the Final Four in 2021—this is their first time playing in the national championship game since 1984. Houston has previously finished as the runner-up in 1983 and 1984, but they have not been back to the final game until this season.

A tough Florida team stands in the way of Houston winning their first title, but after defeating Duke and returning to this point for the first time in over 40 years, Houston should not be counted out.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Kelvin Sampson Explains Reason Behind 'Don't Sleep on Houston' Message.

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